Jeremy Corbyn

So. Tax evasion good, education bad?

What an interesting world you live in.

Quoted from Maringer

So. Tax evasion good, education bad?

What an interesting world you live in.

Get off your high horse maringer its a small perk of being self employed these lads and lasses don't get the paid holidays or bank holidays we all take for granted, no sickness pay etc, so I for one don't begrudge them hiding a few quid away to cover hard times, and I'm talking hundreds not thousands so get a grip.

When have I ever said education is bad? stop with the pettiness.

I'd just like to point out that i declare all my earnings and always have. I'm not getting on a pedestal but believe that everyone should contribute toward the wellbeing of the nation. I just wish that everyone thought this way but i'm not going to condemn a tradesman for doing a saturday morning cash in hand job. That's for them to decide. Too many people who can well afford to pay their taxes, find ways not to.

My accounts show that my earnings have decreased over the last 5 years but that has somewhat been counterbalanced by my tax burden being less than it was, so swings and roundabouts. I'd much rather be earning more and paying a greater contribution toward health and welfare and the like. VAT has forced prices up for the customer and i feel it should be lowered, as it was in Germany to get the building trade moving more healthily as it is a huge part of the economy with all it's spin off jobs.

I've semi retired recently though, so it's more in hope for those following on.

Quoted from Grim74

Unless your talking about our towns and city's such as Boston or London for example, where a high European migrant influx courtesy of new labour has saturated wages for the self employed tradesman then I suggest you are talking bollox.

I know a local gas engineer who left East Coast gas services when they folded a few years ago, he went self employed and is now raking it in, he's moved from a council house to the top end of Cleethorpes in  250,000 house.

If your not in an over prescribed immigrant town i suggest you work harder or your not very good at your job.

I know brickies and joiners in this area who have been effected by migrants dropping their rates to under cut local tradesmen both in Town and jobs further afield. These are hard working lads who do the work to a better standard than migrants, so I would like to know where you get the notion otherwise.  It wasn't so long ago that small building firms were being undercut and either going bust or laying lads off and this was one of the major factors.

I'd like to know why a gas engineer was living in a council house to start with, you never said what his wage was and is now. Do you know his personal circumstances ie deposit against overall debt?

Quoted from Marinerz93

I know brickies and joiners in this area who have been effected by migrants dropping their rates to under cut local tradesmen both in Town and jobs further afield. These are hard working lads who do the work to a better standard than migrants, so I would like to know where you get the notion otherwise.  It wasn't so long ago that small building firms were being undercut and either going bust or laying lads off and this was one of the major factors.

I agree with this was what I was trying to say.

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I'd like to know why a gas engineer was living in a council house to start with, you never said what his wage was and is now. Do you know his personal circumstances ie deposit against overall debt?

Working people can actually rent council homes and he was on a very modest wage at the local company, his earning shot up once he went self employed, he does work hard to be honest late nights, weekends etc very unsocialist, his company is now doing really well and that's aspiration for you.

Quoted from Grim74

Working people can actually rent council homes and he was on a very modest wage at the local company, his earning shot up once he went self employed, he does work hard to be honest late nights, weekends etc very unsocialist, his company is now doing really well and that's aspiration for you.

Nothing wrong with council houses and social housing at all. They are a very sensible idea which is why the Tories have been intent on selling them all off so the lower-paid in society are left at the mercy of the poorly regulated private rental sector.

Incidentally, the "very unsocialist" comment is possibly the most inane thing I've ever seen you write. And believe me, that's going something. If you seriously think anybody with a left-wing bent is lazy then, well, words fail me.

Edit: It's just occurred to me that it may have been an autocorrect typo from "unsociable". If so, then ignore the final paragraph.

I also have a mate who worked at East Coast and i don't remember him earning a modest wage. I doubt any qualified heating engineer earns a modest wage. He also went self employed when it closed but carried on doing work for the now Westlands and was struggling so much, he had to take a job in London before Christmas.

Anyone can buy a £250,000 pound house if they take on a massive mortgage and work all hours. Is that success? I learned long ago that time is more precious than money and possessions.

Quoted from ginnywings

I also have a mate who worked at East Coast and i don't remember him earning a modest wage. I doubt any qualified heating engineer earns a modest wage. He also went self employed when it closed but carried on doing work for the now Westlands and was struggling so much, he had to take a job in London before Christmas.

East coast gas employed a lot of sub contractors who could earn good money on the goverment funded installation scheme,  the lads on the books also did well if they worked on these contracts as they got good bonus, but the lads who didn't want to work away and longs hours were doing the private local work on a 40hour week and they wasn't on a big wage, I know for a fact Micron heating a rival firm in town at the time where only paying there install lads £10 p/h.

Have I misread you I'm not having a go but on one hand you seem to disagree on my modest wage for an engineer in this area comment, then you go on to say he had to leave town because maybe his wage was to modest ?

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Anyone can buy a £250,000 pound house if they take on a massive mortgage and work all hours. Is that success? I learned long ago that time is more precious than money and possessions.

Agree I would rather have my days to myself rather than work when I don't have to life's is to short, my friend once said to me that one day he will be on Humberstone ave, now if that's his aim and ambition and he deems himself successful by getting there then good luck to him, I'm not going to judge him.

He earned a decent whack at East Coast fitting boilers mainly but i'm not certain if he was self employed or not. When they went bust, he bought a new van and struck out on his own, finding his own work, which included some for Westlands as they became. He was on a contract fitting new bathroom suites, might have been for Shoreline i think, but the contractor lost the contract and he took a job in London because he was skint and had no work of his own. I know that before he went down there, he was not earning as much as his skill level warranted.

Quoted from Grim74

Working people can actually rent council homes and he was on a very modest wage at the local company, his earning shot up once he went self employed, he does work hard to be honest late nights, weekends etc very unsocialist, his company is now doing really well and that's aspiration for you.

I know working people can rent council homes, it's just I don't know any gas safe/corgi gas fitters who do due to the income they earn. As a registered gas safe engineer I know people can and do put the hours in, and I also know gas engineers that are that busy, they inflate their rates to put people off.

The big risk with being self employed is chasing payments, it only takes one company not to pay and you could be anywhere from £5k-£10+ in a hole.  Also you end up picking up work that others have turned down because of where boilers and pipework is located, believe me there are some right jobs out there. Pushing yourself with the risks involved working all hours isn't worth the risk, you only need to make one mistake and you could kill someone and end up in prison or even lose your business.  The last gas man on site is responsible for the whole installation, you have to be spot on with every job you do, can he be confident of that when he is tired. I aspire to be able to sleep at night after a days work, freedom is something you can't buy from a cell.

Good luck to anyone who is self employed, but for me at this moment in time, I'd rather have steady work, be home early and choose if I want to work late or not.