You know a band is good when you lose count of how many times you've been to see them and the most recent gig seems like the best.
Such was the case with seeing Wilco at the Tivoli in Brisbane. Seriously the place is the size of a pub and getting the chance to watch Wilco (probably the best live band in the world at the moment) at close quarters is going to be hard to beat.
What next... still fancy catching Pearl Jam in Hyde Park but...
Monday, May 3, 2010
Why not have one tax system?
So for some reason this is a question that has been bouncing around my head for a while.
There's few people out there who would hold central government up as a symbol of efficiency.
Likewise there's few people who would argue the merits of complexity over simplicity when it comes down to taxation and financial management.
So why when these things are true is taxation so complex?
Think about it. How many ways do you pay tax? And how clear cut are those taxes? I like to think of myself as reasonably financialy astute but I realised quite some time ago its to complex for me to get completely across.
So why is it so complex? My cynical reasoning comes to one answer. Its so complex so we, the people, have no real clear understanding of how much we are really being taxed at all. Let's just take a couple of taxes.
1) Income Tax - You have a tax free allowance each year. Then above that you have multiple tax rates that kick up to 40% and then 50%.
2) Then we have National Insurance. Last I checked this was 7.5% but it may have changed.
3) Then on everything we buy we pay Value Added Tax (VAT @ 17.5%)
4) Then you have additional taxes on things like Petrol, Alcohol, Cigarettes, TV Licenses.
5) Then you have local council tax
Bearing in mind how inefficient we know government to be would it therefore make sense to have them performing the same task (tax collection) in all the above different ways? Or would it be easier, simpler and more efficient to simply say from now on we are just going to tax your income at a higher rate or we are just going to tax the things you buy?
Now I suspect there is a counter argument here that says if you just tax one thing then it will unfair to certain individuals. But if this is the case with a simple, singular tax system it would be easy to fix this. You dont have to worry about all the far reaching consequences of a change in one tax to the myriad of other taxes.
The fact is we're all being bamboozled by complexity and its surprising to me no one has seriously brought this up as a political debate. Dont we all want to know how much tax we are really paying? Do we really want a million stealth taxes? Wouldnt it be better for everyone to be able to have a clear and simple understanding of their tax obligations. Wouldnt this in fact make it easier for the government to collect their tax revenue? Rather than have to police and enforce some of the most complex financial legislation in existance they can just concentrate on policing one policy emphatically?
Food for thought?
There's few people out there who would hold central government up as a symbol of efficiency.
Likewise there's few people who would argue the merits of complexity over simplicity when it comes down to taxation and financial management.
So why when these things are true is taxation so complex?
Think about it. How many ways do you pay tax? And how clear cut are those taxes? I like to think of myself as reasonably financialy astute but I realised quite some time ago its to complex for me to get completely across.
So why is it so complex? My cynical reasoning comes to one answer. Its so complex so we, the people, have no real clear understanding of how much we are really being taxed at all. Let's just take a couple of taxes.
1) Income Tax - You have a tax free allowance each year. Then above that you have multiple tax rates that kick up to 40% and then 50%.
2) Then we have National Insurance. Last I checked this was 7.5% but it may have changed.
3) Then on everything we buy we pay Value Added Tax (VAT @ 17.5%)
4) Then you have additional taxes on things like Petrol, Alcohol, Cigarettes, TV Licenses.
5) Then you have local council tax
Bearing in mind how inefficient we know government to be would it therefore make sense to have them performing the same task (tax collection) in all the above different ways? Or would it be easier, simpler and more efficient to simply say from now on we are just going to tax your income at a higher rate or we are just going to tax the things you buy?
Now I suspect there is a counter argument here that says if you just tax one thing then it will unfair to certain individuals. But if this is the case with a simple, singular tax system it would be easy to fix this. You dont have to worry about all the far reaching consequences of a change in one tax to the myriad of other taxes.
The fact is we're all being bamboozled by complexity and its surprising to me no one has seriously brought this up as a political debate. Dont we all want to know how much tax we are really paying? Do we really want a million stealth taxes? Wouldnt it be better for everyone to be able to have a clear and simple understanding of their tax obligations. Wouldnt this in fact make it easier for the government to collect their tax revenue? Rather than have to police and enforce some of the most complex financial legislation in existance they can just concentrate on policing one policy emphatically?
Food for thought?
Generation A by Douglas Coupland
So as you may gather I'm a big Douglas Coupland fan. Or should I say was? It's one of those less desirable quirks of time passing that your heroes (ok heroes is probably a little strong but cant think of a better softer term that's less lame sounding than "favourite writer") are fallable and more than that with the passing of time they will disapoint you. And so it is with Douglas Couplands new book that I've just finished reading (whilst on hols in Oz). For any Coupland aware people out there the parallels between this book and his still most famous novel Generation X are clear in both the title and in the subject of young listless individuals searching for meaning by engaging in story telling. However that's pretty much where the similarities end. Where as Gen X was fresh and original when it came out Gen A is like a stale, decaff version of its ancestor. Where Gen X was somehow managed to come across as emotionally powerful and almost spiritual in both its narrative and its characters existential angst and sense of being lost, Gen A is just vacuum packed. There's little story, little difference between any of the characters and after peddling the same uber cool zeitgeist prose for so long little of any originality.
The decline has been coming for some time lets hope its not terminal. But you get the feeling its going to require something profound for Coupland to reclaim his form.
Dont be fooled by the jacket on this novel which seems to carry an incredible amount of praise for the book. Most of the reviews I've checked out online seem to be equally scathing!
Over and out.
The decline has been coming for some time lets hope its not terminal. But you get the feeling its going to require something profound for Coupland to reclaim his form.
Dont be fooled by the jacket on this novel which seems to carry an incredible amount of praise for the book. Most of the reviews I've checked out online seem to be equally scathing!
Over and out.
Apologies
I read with horror that my last blog was in August. Man that shows how busy things have been. I need to up the tempo or this thing is going to become even more pointless than it currently is with its readership of nero (that near zero LOL!)
Sunday, August 23, 2009
On a Mission!
Have come up with some hair brain schemes to entertain myself whilst I count down the days to Cuba:
1) Operation Grand Union
A walk from West Drayton following the Grand Union Canal to its terminus in the City of London. Plan would be to split the walk over 2 days starting on a Sat and finish up in town on a Sunday and just crash somewhere on route whilst partaking in a few ales.
2) Operation Dungeness
Got this idea from a book I read the other day by Alain De Botton called the Pleasures and Sorrows of work. In it the follows the path of electricity pylons from Dungeness Nuclear Power Plant (in Kent) into London. Again its a two day walk and I think would be quite an experience. Dungeness sounds like quite a desolate and strange place. And I've been meaning to check it out for years - and doing it on foot sounds a lot more rewarding than in a car?
3) Operation Go Kart
With Formular 1 actually being exciting this year it's time for me to test my mettle on a track myself. Go karts having the advantage that they are cheap, quick and a pretty pure way of testing your track driving skills!
Any other suggestions gratefully recieved!
1) Operation Grand Union
A walk from West Drayton following the Grand Union Canal to its terminus in the City of London. Plan would be to split the walk over 2 days starting on a Sat and finish up in town on a Sunday and just crash somewhere on route whilst partaking in a few ales.
2) Operation Dungeness
Got this idea from a book I read the other day by Alain De Botton called the Pleasures and Sorrows of work. In it the follows the path of electricity pylons from Dungeness Nuclear Power Plant (in Kent) into London. Again its a two day walk and I think would be quite an experience. Dungeness sounds like quite a desolate and strange place. And I've been meaning to check it out for years - and doing it on foot sounds a lot more rewarding than in a car?
3) Operation Go Kart
With Formular 1 actually being exciting this year it's time for me to test my mettle on a track myself. Go karts having the advantage that they are cheap, quick and a pretty pure way of testing your track driving skills!
Any other suggestions gratefully recieved!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Purple Rain
And now for something else super cool! How about Prince's Purple Rain album covered by a load of modern musicians? If you are interested go to the following website and type in the answer "keyboardist":
http://www.spin.com/articles/get-your-free-copy-spins-prince-tribute
If you do you will be granted access to a free download that was given away with the July 2009 edition of Spin Magazine.
http://www.spin.com/articles/get-your-free-copy-spins-prince-tribute
If you do you will be granted access to a free download that was given away with the July 2009 edition of Spin Magazine.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
The Shield is over - Reflections on a TV great
Just finished watching the final season of The Shield.
And as per usual with great television its a bitter sweet conclusion.
Inevitably two things happen when you finish watching a great series, firstly you wonder what can you watch next that reaches such a high standard, and secondly how does this TV series rate against the other great works we've seen in the last 10 or so years (i.e. The Wire, The Sopranos and The West Wing)?
And it seems like I'm not the only one. A brief search of the web through up the following articles that are worth reading if your interested or are considering watching either The Wire or The Shield. First up there's an article in the Guardian that compares The Shield to The Wire and controversially advocates the former over the latter:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2008/dec/27/tv-drama-david-simon-wire-shield
For me, if you are interested, dramatically The Shield often had highs that I think surpass The Wire. However where I think The Wire may edge it is just the sheer size of the canvas. The Wire is somehow epic, whereas the The Shield is a lot more claustrophobic and therefore sometimes much more intense. The following article also has an interesting counter response to the Wire Vs Shield debate:
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/chris-petit-and-the-wire-v-the-shield
In terms of an ending however I think The Shield really aced it. By comparison the end of The Sopranos lacked something, although it is I have to admit wonderfully ambiguous! But that's both great and frustrating.
Next up Generation Kill the series that David Simon did after finishing The Wire.
Watch this space....
And as per usual with great television its a bitter sweet conclusion.
Inevitably two things happen when you finish watching a great series, firstly you wonder what can you watch next that reaches such a high standard, and secondly how does this TV series rate against the other great works we've seen in the last 10 or so years (i.e. The Wire, The Sopranos and The West Wing)?
And it seems like I'm not the only one. A brief search of the web through up the following articles that are worth reading if your interested or are considering watching either The Wire or The Shield. First up there's an article in the Guardian that compares The Shield to The Wire and controversially advocates the former over the latter:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2008/dec/27/tv-drama-david-simon-wire-shield
For me, if you are interested, dramatically The Shield often had highs that I think surpass The Wire. However where I think The Wire may edge it is just the sheer size of the canvas. The Wire is somehow epic, whereas the The Shield is a lot more claustrophobic and therefore sometimes much more intense. The following article also has an interesting counter response to the Wire Vs Shield debate:
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/chris-petit-and-the-wire-v-the-shield
In terms of an ending however I think The Shield really aced it. By comparison the end of The Sopranos lacked something, although it is I have to admit wonderfully ambiguous! But that's both great and frustrating.
Next up Generation Kill the series that David Simon did after finishing The Wire.
Watch this space....
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