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Martin
I now have the accounts from WHBC
When can I pass them to you?
Richard
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-----Original Message-----
From: stalbanstaxpayersalliance@...
Date: 17 Nov 2007 08:55:14
To:stalbanstaxpayersalliance@...
Subject: [stalbanstaxpayersalliance] Casual leafletting at market (Richard G &
Martin T), 1/12/2007, 9:00

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Reminder from:   stalbanstaxpayersalliance Yahoo! Group:
<http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/stalbanstaxpayersalliance/cal>
 
Title:   Casual leafletting at market (Richard G & Martin T)
 
Date:   Saturday 1 December 2007
Time:   9:00 		 - 15:00
Next reminder:   The next reminder for this event will be sent in 10 days, 4
minutes.
Location:   Hatfield Farmers' & Traders' market, Hatfield
Street:   Market Square
City County Postcode:   Hatfield, AL10 0LJ
Phone:   07 947 035 000
Notes:   Event will be publicised.

Asda-Wal Mart and Tesco might also form part of the day, subject to permission.

Map: http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=522517&Y=208610&A=Y&Z=1

 
  Get reminders on your Yahoo! Messenger or via email.Edit reminder options:
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You can find the press release and appendices on
http://tpa.typepad.com/research/files/PublicSectorRichList.pdf .

• next leafletting campaign Sat 1 December 2007, Hatfield market (and possibly 2 superstores).
• continue writing/blogging campaigns, consider forwarding to local political parties.
• start of a major research project into the financial performance of neighbouring boroughs.
• a more structured approach to analysing government waste.
• a more structure use of FoIA requests.
• read Bumper 2007.
• reports of campaigns in October.
  

The proposal to introduce 20mph driving speed limit in all urban areas comes from a private charitable lobby group, the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/16/20mph_speed_cam_big_bruv_disguised_as_nanny_state/

Aside from the damage of zealous of health & safety on our ability to survive the future, the other key issue is how the demand for government spending arises.

Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that councils are encouraged by
central government to "tick" the right boxes and add to more "bumpf".

I agree that Supermanrkets could do the job just look at the bottle
banks at the stores. In the USA, stores have boxes at the entrance
just for plastic shopping bags and they are used constistently.

Michael



stalbanstaxpayersalliance@..., "stalbanstaxpayersallianc
e" <stalbanstaxpayersalliance@...> wrote:
>
> Supermarkets want to provide a service to their customers in the
most
> efficient way possible.   The major supermarkets have already
installed
> incentives to encourage their customers to recycle bags and go
green.
>
> So why are local councillors trying to re-invent the wheel?  What
can
> the councillors do that the supermarkets aren't already doing?  Why
is
> the taxpayer funding this project?
>
>
> http://www.royston-crow.co.uk/content/crow/news/story.aspx?
brand=ROYWest\
>
Online&category=News&tBrand=herts24&tCategory=newsroynew&itemid=WEED11
%2\
> 0Oct%202007%2014%3A41%3A08%3A453
>

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   Description : 20071008 (October 2007)

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Hello,

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stalbanstaxpayersalliance <stalbanstaxpayersalliance@...>

Like a self-obsessed child squabbling in a play pen, the Government has announced yet another review of the rules by which activist parents can close (or convert) grammar schools.

The Government isn't really getting the message that "it ain't broke".  On the contrary, it seems rather happy to waste yet more public money on pursuing an ideological vendetta against focussed eduction, on the rather spurious claim of "creaming-off".

Meanwhile, politicians themselves stand idly by, letting the purist demagogues unleash their aggressive zeal against pragmatism and relevance.

http://education.guardian.co.uk/specialreports/grammarschools/story/0,,2186370,00.html

Can anybody provide examples of where the Government could better apply public resources to education policy?

BBC 4 You and Yours, 12:45pm on Thursday 4 October 2007.

The sub-postmaster in Beverley, Martin Billy-Dalton, purchased the freehold, using a mortgage, to a property in which he planned to instal a sub-post office.

His post office had apparently appeared in the top 20.

The Post Office told him that he had to close the post office because it is too expensive for the Post Office.

The sub-postmaster's income is a proportion of his turnover on Post Office business.  So the more Post Office business the sub-postmaster does, the more he earns and the more the Post Office needs to pay.

The Post Office is wholly owned by the government, so any additional funding comes from the taxpayer.

So, let's get this straight: the state intervenes to provide "social" services (including local post offices), but then closes them to preserve money.  Yet the cost of the state continues to rise....  so the state fails both its duty to care to the taxpayer and its provision of "social" services to rural communities.

Trade unions succeeded in keeping the Post Office in public hands, and look at what's happening to it.  This week's postal strike will probably finish off the Royal Mail, unless the government splurges huge amounts of taxpayer's money to keep the edifice alive for political reasons.  In this respect, the trade unions have been as selfish with taxpayers' money as politicians typically aspire to.

The BBC will follow Mr Billy-Dalton until the closure of his post office in Mid-January.

Transcripts of You and Yours become available on http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/transcripts_index.shtml in due course.

Hi ...

Another example of Money Wasted for NO GOOD CAUSE. Refer to newspaper
article entitled: "Big Brother spied on tip workers", BY STEVE LOWE
£14k of taxpayers' cash fails to find a scrap of evidence.

http://www.bedsonsunday.com/bedsonsunday-news/DisplayArticle.asp?
id=138052

Happy reading.. Saverio
saveriobongo@...
GSM: 07771-955227

This is beyond the scope of St Albans, but interesting nevertheless.

http://www.epolitix.com/EN/News/200710/4b1cc7a7-cb09-4ad7-a098-
1ae087370aa7.htm

The government seeks to encourage independent schools to take public
money.

The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference is not particuarly
impressed, who see public money as a rachet of control.

Yet another intruiging use of public money: rather than fund services
that the private sector should provide, the government appears
willing to use public money to exercise politicised (and almost
certainly ideological) control.

I wonder, how does the taxpayer benefit from the nationalisation of
independent schools?

Definitely beyond the scope of St Albans, but nevertheless the local
taxpayers will end up funding it.

The Sustainable Development Commission has recommended a plan to
build a hydro-electric barrage to bridge the mouth of the Severn
Estuary.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?
xml=/earth/2007/10/01/easevern101.xml

Other independent commentators appear in the above article, and their
degrees of dissent demonstrate that the SDC has likely jumped to a
conclusion.

Certainly, when the Welsh Secretary refers to the scheme as
a "trailblazer", by virtue of his position (not his expertise), then
one has to ask what the SDC's vested interest is.

The SDC is a government organisation, funded by the taxpayers via,
amongst others, the Welsh Assembly Government.  Aha!  There's the
vested interest then!

http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/pages/aboutus.html
(see bottom of the above page)

Can we trust anything that government agencies and politicians say?

Article "UK falls further down European health league despite rise in
funding"
Source: Guardian online

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2181427,00.html

The article discloses facts about a league table and draws a contrast
to the performance of the NHS, after additional public funding.

The data originates from Health Consumer Powerhouse, a "do-tank"
(presumably as distinct from a think-tank).
http://www.healthpowerhouse.com/archives/cat_news.html#689 .

A summary matrix of findings appears on
http://www.healthpowerhouse.com/media/Index_2007_matrix.pdf .

The HCP's own views appear on
http://www.healthpowerhouse.com/archives/cat_a_personal_view.html .

Guys

This is beyond the scope of the local group, but it interesting
nevertheless.

Article: Virtual businesses: taxman gets unreal
Source: AccountancyAge
http://www.accountancyage.com/accountancyage/comment/2198629/virtual-businesses-\
taxman-gets

This is a very scary development: the American Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) is looking at taxing virtual profits.

You can be sure that the UK's HMRC is thinking the same greedy way.

An accountant wrote into Accountancy Age with the following queries:
* Wouldn't a virtual gain only become taxable when it becomes a
realised gain (i.e. when converted into a real currency)?

* What if the virtual currency cannot be traded legally?  For example,
in the World of Warcraft, the website's terms & conditions clearly
states that the currency is illegal and that Blizzard still owns it.

* In what currency is the tax payable?  If you make a profit in Second
Life, do you need to pay 'Lindens' to HMRC/IRS?  Would they accept it?
  Would they know what to do with it?  Where is the product made?  Who
buys it?  Where are they (in which jurisdiction)?  What about foreign
exchange gains/losses?  What about allowable expenses incurred in the
course of making such 'profit'?

The accountant wrote in its letter, "Your article highlights the
possibility of something a lot of people would consider ridiculous.
There are people who are drawing $2,000+ a month from such games, is
this fully taxable?  It already is!"

Kind regards

Martin

Guys

This article is beyond the scope of the local group, but is
interesting nevertheless.

Article: Pre-packs boosted by High Court decision
Source: AccountancyAge

http://www.accountancyage.com/accountancyage/analysis/2199746/pre-packs-boosted-\
court-3501406


The story illustrates the general commercial stupidity of HMRC in its
business of collecting taxes.

A firm of solicitors owed HMRC some £1.7m.  HMRC took the firm to
court to wind the company up.

However, the administrators noted that this would not deliver the cash
to HMRC.  A better solution for the firm and HMRC was that the
business continues to trade.  So, the administrators instead sold the
business (as it turns out, they had a buyer already, giving the sale a
"pre-packaged" title).

Stupidly, HMRC attempted to block the sale of company.

In other words, HMRC chose to i) sacrifice any chance of collecting
tax owed to it; and, more importantly, ii) screw the interests of the
firm's clients.

Fortunately, the court saw the light and blocked HMRC's idiotic
witterings.  Both the taxpayer and the firm's clients gained as a
result of this decision.

But the taxpayer will need to suffer the on-going lunancy of HMRC.
After all, it is highly unlikely that a bureaucracy without any
commercial awareness whatsoever will learn from a single case.

Kind regards

Martin

Guys

This is beyond the scope of the local group, but is interested
nevertheless.


Article: "Advisers shun HMRC advice"
Source: AccountancyAge, a free magazine for all accountants,
especially those in business (rather than public practice).

http://www.accountancyage.com/accountancyage/news/2199705/advisers-shun-hmrc-adv\
ice-3509800

The point is that a more simple tax system would not require so many
professional advisors to confirm simple things with HRMC.  This
article paints a symptom of an over-complicated tax system.

Kind regards

mjt