Taxing Times

Remember the good old days of the late nineties, when Major's Tory government was clearly on the way out, collapsing under the weight of its own sleaze, and its various showbiz supporters were quaking at the thought of a Labour government?  Hardly a day went by without one of the right wing tabloids publishing a story in which some celebrity or other threatened to leave the country if Labour were elected, citing the spectre of high taxes.  As if that was going to deter any of us from voting Labour.  On the contrary, the thought that a Blair victory might drive the likes of Andrew Lloyd-Webber or Paul Daniels out of the country was a positive incentive to vote for them.  Sadly, in the event, none of bastards buggered off and we're still suffering their presence.  Of course, this sort of thing isn't unique to the UK - only recently Gerard Depardieu left France in a huff over the government's taxing of rich bastards, but we haven't had much of it on this side of the Channel for a while.  Until top geezer, cockney stereotype hard man and West Ham supporter Ray Winstone recently appeared to threaten to leave the country over the issue of tax.

Naturally, my first reaction to the headline I saw about this development was to think it was a case of another working class actor making good and turning Tory-voting class traitor.  But upon a closer reading it seems that, unlike Depardieu, Winstone isn't set to disappoint me.  On the contrary, I was left respecting him more than I had before (even if he does support the Hammers).  It seems that the crux of his objections to paying taxes isn't that he thinks he pays too much, but rather that he objects to the fact that his taxes aren't being spent on things like road maintenance, public transport and state schools.  Which, to me, seems like a rebuke aimed at the government and its economic 'austerity' policy which sees public spending being slashed.  It's things like this which help to restore my faith in human nature and reassures me that I'm not alone in understanding the purpose of taxation: it isn't - as too many rich bastards seem to think, a punishment - but rather a contribution to building and maintaining a civilised society which benefits us all.  Thank God for Ray Winstone!