Ceri JC

This.

It is bureaucratic and inefficient to give with one hand and take with the other. There is an inherent cost of administering tax, that we gain no benefit from, it's simply "the cost of doing business" of taxing people and it doesn't wind up in the public coffers. It's in everyone's interest, rich and poor that this cost should be minimised. A really cost-efficient way is to set your minimum wage at the right level and then not tax people on it.

If we're saying there's a generalised, minimum amount people can survive on and use this as the basis of a minimum wage, why roll tax onto it? Either the tax will drive it below the 'survivable' threshold of that income, or, more likely, you're artificially increasing the minimum wage, above what it needs to be, solely in order to tax people on it. You're also artificially inflating the cost of basic labour, which arguably contributes to unemployment.

Spank86: I feel I contribute to society more through doing my job than through the taxes I pay. Perhaps if I did something socially irresponsible/negative/selfish like working in cold call telesales, or selling snake oil, I might feel worthless unless I contributed through taxes.

When I see all the tax I pay, I am reminded of the useless/non-existent service I get for it when I drive out of my glass strewn, graffiti'd lane, onto my potholed road. I often question whether my tax does any real good at all, or if it just keeps a load of useless non-entities off unemployment benefit (which, in any event, I would also be paying for).