Obscene ?

[observer]

Read a report that Rooney has been offered a £million per week, to play footy in China;  are we now past the point of tolerance with such obscene pay levels ?

[Evil Sid]

If people are willing to pay that amount then what is the problem. He has not asked for that amount has he?

 

For that sort of money he would be a fool not to go for it, not that he needs the money like.

 

What I find obscene is the wages paid to our parliamentary representatives. If you have ever watched the parliamentary sessions it is a joke. Very important bill going through parliament, twelve people in attendance, of those twelve one was the speaker and two were security. Vote on what wage rise they will get this year and it is standing room only.

[asperity]

It's no skin off my nose how much Wayne Rooney gets paid, either by Man Utd or the Chinese. However, if you want to complain about inappropriate pay, as Sid points out there are targets a lot closer to home in public service who are getting paid far more than they are worth, and out of the public purse (my pocket). When you complain about the pay of footballers it just smacks of envy.

[observer]

Seems anyone wishing for a fair system of reward will be accuse of envy by you Asp. We've got the NHS and the rest of our public services dying on their feet through lack of funding, and a Gov and HMRC incapable of redistributing wealth to pay for them. So we have such obscene amounts being paid to someone for kicking a piece of inflated leather around a field for 90 mins, while essential public servants are starved of resources. At least with their bread and games strategy, the Romans supplied the bread; all we're left with is the new opiate of the people - footy.

[asperity]

So by your logic Obs, if professional footballers in this country were only allowed to be paid, say, £500 per week the NHS would magically have all the money it needs? Pure nonsense and you know it. Envy covers it perfectly :lol:

[observer]

Not just footballers, but pop singers, CEOs and anyone else taking obscene amounts out of the common wealth. No doubt the sportsmen could all flee to that bastion of capitalism - China !  IF. the tax take of our Gov is increased, it has more to spend on public services - not too difficult to work out. Not envy, and certainly not docility - only those with the mind of a peasant can be kept in a state of servitude and poverty. The fact is, that there is enough wealth in the world to solve most of it's problems, alas we have 8 people in the world who's combined wealth is more than 50% of the rest of humanity, certainly not moral, and not even pragmatic. 

[asperity]

You are talking codswallop as usual Obs. How is Wayne Rooney being paid a £Million a week by China taking money away from the NHS, or anybody in this country for that matter. You need to take more water with whatever you're drinking this weekend.

[Davy51]

I think, in football terms, the person really affected is the man in the street who would love to take his kids to watch the likes of Man U but can't because he can't afford it. The stranglehold of tv & sponsorship that is inflating players wages is coming between Joe Bloggs attending live games & turning him into yet another subscriber to the bloated coffers of the tv companies just to get his football fix.

[asperity]

Anyone who wants to get his footie fix can go to his local non-league ground and see live footie for £10 (see what I did there Gary?)

 

I understand that, with the amount of TV and sponsorship money available to Premier League clubs, they could afford to let the fans in for free. But of course they can't do that because riots and deaths...........................

[observer]

Errm, switch on Asp:   Wayne Rooney and all the other over-paid individuals, can afford to pay more tax, if we had a Gov and HMRC with the gonads to do it.  If more money goes into Gov coffers, that provides more money to fund public services, should we have a Gov intent on doing so. Not exactly rocket science is it ? 

[asperity]

So now you're changing your story Obs. You aren't objecting to Rooney going to China and getting £million a week, you're objecting to him not paying a larger proportion of that £million to the UK treasury. Except that if he was earning that money in China he wouldn't be in this country to pay the tax would he? Personally I think that if the government wasn't getting so much revenue from the taxpayer, perhaps they wouldn't waste so much of it with the gay abandon of a sailor on shore leave (trust me I've been a sailor on shore leave!)

[observer]

Not "changing story at all";   depending on how the legislation is framed, a British citizen could be taxed on income, whilst resident in the UK; so Rooney et al, would have to live permanently in China and help them win the World Cup !      The way in which tax legislation is framed is the key, as to date it's been overly complicated with so many loop holes, the big fish aren't even being caught in the net.  This is exacerbated by the fact that many advisers to Gov, on framing legislation, then leave for the private sector to advise on how to avoid it. Game Keepers turned Poacher !   As for the "gay abandon" argument, I would be first to agree, but that's then a question of political practice rather than principal.

[asperity]

I think you're confusing UK tax legislation with US tax legislation. If you are a US citizen you are liable for tax wherever in the world you are, UK tax doesn't work that way. The "big fish" as you call them pay more than their share of tax if you're going to go down the "fair" route where fair = equal. i.e. where everybody has to pay the same percentage of their gross income to the taxman. The fact is that the top 5% pay something like 50% of the income tax in this country.

 

And, by the way, anyone earning £million a week can live just about anywhere they like and not worry about tax.

[observer]

I was thinking of more like 99.99999999% over certain amount ! And they can go and live where they want, as tax exiles.

[Evil Sid]

Get rid of 50% of the gov departments. cut mp's salaries to "a living wage" by their standards for the rest of the country, flog off all the empty government property to housing groups. would probably fund the NHS and other stuff for the next twenty years.

[asperity]

The problem with the NHS is that it will never be "fully funded" as the expenditure always expands to exceed the income. Always on the brink of collapse.