Does anyone vote for the good of society and the country anymore? Seems everyone is too interested in what they can personally get out of it to look at the bigger picture.

Parents seem to moan about not getting completely free child care or that working mothers get more benefits than those not working.

Are people that selfish that they only vote for the part who puts the most money in their pocket?

I know you're all going to have a go at me because I'm only 18 and am in full time education, but I honestly think that higher taxes would benefit the nation. Certainly higher taxes on the rich, and a couple of pence here andthere on everyones. You can't complain about the public services and expect the funds to come from thin air.

robbie, i will vote for lib dems. That means that under the local income tax i will pay more.

Is that altruistic? Or just that I believe that i'll personally benefit 2nd hand from the entire country benefiting, whilst loosing out slightly in the immediacy. You decide.

A fair number of people in this country were used to getting something for nothing in the '80's.

If you had enough money you could by shares in privatisation of water / gas etc which was way undervalued by the government - and then sell it on a bank at a good profit.

And back in the late 70's it was "common currency" that whoever won the general election c 1979/80 would be in power for 20 years because of the revenue from North Sea oil. At that time we naively thought that the governemnt would spend money on infrastrucure like schools, hospitals, roads.

Instead it got spent on tax cuts - which mainly benefitted the well off - or on "dole" for the massive rise in unemployment.

So now if we want to improve things for society in general - yes I'll hold my hand up and be prepared to take a hit on my take home pay - but only if people who really made money out of tax cuts over the last 20 odd years will take a bigger hit - say 50% on all earnings over £1000,000 pa.

I pay top rate tax of 40% on part of my earnings; were we ack in the 1970s I might pay as high as 90% tax on that part of my earnings and would probably not bother.

Altruistic voting isn't just about tax - it should be about who will genuinely do the best for the people of this country in the widest way. Money seems to be a shorthand for everything nowadays, but just looking at tax take is pointless - it's where that money goes that matters. If I pay 1000 extra in tax I'd certainly prefer it to go on something ore useful than a 'Holistic Training Coordinator', for example. :)

I genuinely believe that altruism and philanthropy start with the people - relying on the state to be altruistic gives us the current invasive and intrusive 'nanny state knows best' approach to many social issues that the current government has trie dintroducing.

We shouldn't be waiting for permission from our elected representatives to get out their and benefit society - just get on with it every day of our lives.

Joe

Originally posted by JoePritchard
I pay top rate tax of 40% on part of my earnings; were we ack in the 1970s I might pay as high as 90% tax on that part of my earnings and would probably not bother.

Altruistic voting isn't just about tax - it should be about who will genuinely do the best for the people of this country in the widest way. Money seems to be a shorthand for everything nowadays, but just looking at tax take is pointless - it's where that money goes that matters. If I pay 1000 extra in tax I'd certainly prefer it to go on something ore useful than a 'Holistic Training Coordinator', for example. :)

I genuinely believe that altruism and philanthropy start with the people - relying on the state to be altruistic gives us the current invasive and intrusive 'nanny state knows best' approach to many social issues that the current government has trie dintroducing.

We shouldn't be waiting for permission from our elected representatives to get out their and benefit society - just get on with it every day of our lives.

Joe

I saw you getting of of the bus in your suit Joe. Worth 40%;)