The empty complaints of the taxpayer.

There are many headlines you see in newspapers about certain outrages of obscene Government spending that we, as the group known collectively as the ‘taxpayer’ are footing the bill for. Every time I see one of these headlines, I groan inwardly, because it seems to me that it’s a way to be righteously furious at whatever Government you want while not making a great deal of sense. Things like public toilets for Muslims (which is entirely made up, although I think one paper ran a similar made up story), or salaries for NHS doctors. Wind farms or penthouse suites full of wide-screen TVs, free bars, limitless hookers and a cocaine dispenser for all prisoners.

As a taxpayer, you are paying for these either grossly exaggerated or entirely made up spending sprees. And yet, when I look at my wage slip, I don’t see a tax for silly things the Daily Mail won’t like. I just see tax, national insurance and student loan. I don’t have to fork out extra money when the Government decides to commission a solid gold toilet for the Prime Minister to crap in. Most of us pay tax, and our elected officials decide what to spend it on. Some people don’t want their taxes spent on paying the wages of doctors or teachers. Others have a problem with tax money going to giving prisoners basic rights like food or something to occasionally occupy the mind, or programs that might one day lead to rehabilitation, instead wanting them to fester in a dark stinking hole as a kind of medieval punishment which will in no way inspire them to contribute positively when they are released. I personally didn’t like the thought of a portion of my taxes funding a war effort I vehemently opposed from the beginning. Well, you can’t pick and choose what your tax contribution goes on. If you don’t like what the Government does with the money, instead of getting pointlessly angry about some newspaper telling you that you’ve personally funded the building of a wind farm, try protesting with your vote.

You could always try writing a letter to the chancellor beginning ‘Dear sir, I demand you spend my tax contribution on only the following list of things...’ but I doubt it will work.