Happy US 4th of July

[jemhouston]

[Nathan45]

I

[Craiglxviii]

I

Literally never heard them called anything but Oreos…

[Craiglxviii]

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[MikeKozlowski]

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...During the Bicentennial, the Massed Pipes and Drums of the Scots Guards did a tour here, and whenever those guys were in town, Dad made sure we went. The guest of honor, in a proper seating box and everything, was Her Majesty's Consul to the City of Cleveland.

After the respective Anthems, His Excellency rose to say a few words:

"We are here tonight to take note of.....certain events....."

(polite laughter)

"...that Her Majesty's Government now recognizes may be of a permanent nature."

Brought the house down and got a 30 second standing ovation.

Mike

[Micael]

Happy Independence Day!

Here’s an early print of the declaration of independence located in Sweden to set the mood:

[Zen9]

Enjoy not paying 3% tax for your own defence.

But on the upside. When it goes wrong, it's all your own fault.

Happy Independence Day

[Nathan45]

Yeah you take your 3% tax and sh.....




Wait.


3%...?

Seriously?

[Calder]

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I prefer an old British friend's version of this. He called July 4th the day we got rid of those smelly tax cheats. laugh.

[Craiglxviii]

Yeah you take your 3% tax and sh.....

Wait.
3%...?

Seriously?

3% of GDP is spent on Defence.

Income tax is split: the first £12.5k earnt in the year is tax free, then from £12.6k- £40k has 20% tax, then from £40-100k has 40% tax, then after that it gets complicated.

As well as that, there’s National Insurance which is about 8% up to £967/ wk and then 2% of anything over that. All cumulative with income tax.

Then there’s council tax (local authority), which for me this year is £2,408.

On top of that, 20% Value Added Tax (sales tax) is applied to most products sold- product is advertised with the tax included, by the way, so it’s fully transparent. Utilities will include VAT, but council tax doesn’t attract it.

So all of that means that the typical tax bill is a shade over 50% of earnings. Out of that comes all government spending including Defence and the NHS.

I should add, most of this tax is taken at source, most British workers will never need to submit a tax return.