...AND I KNOW WHO`S DOING WHICH..

Most days when I take Barney for his walkies, we drive to different places where he can be off the lead and have a good scamper around - it not only keeps life interesting but also keeps him used to car travel.   Anyway, we have at least six petrol stations/garages within a five mile radius of home and as we have driven past at least three of them over the past week or so, I`ve noticed that the price of petrol has been going steadily up and up.   

Today, unleaded petrol was on offer at £1.39.9p per litre - an increase of at least 5p a litre over the last week.   I don`t know why they mess around with the .9 of a penny business - much easier to call it £1.40 a litre.   I think - but I`m not too sure - that works out at well over £6 a gallon.   Now we know that, for each £1 spent on petrol, 82p goes in taxes to the government, so I don`t complain about the price of petrol - I complain about the punitive amount of tax involved. 

But it got me thinking just how much tax I`m shelling out each month.   There`s the direct tax whipped away from my monthly pension before I ever see it;   the VAT on just about everything, the indirect taxes on things like wines, spirits, beer, cigarettes, insurance premium tax, betting and gaming duty, air passenger duty and the rest.   Fortunately for me, but not HM Gov., I don`t drink, smoke, gamble or fly anywhere and I`m not sure I could afford to even if I wanted to do all those things because the burden of taxation is becoming serious.

Other things that add to my frustration include, for example, the recently announced rise yet again in the cost of tolls for using the Dartford Crossing which was supposed to be free once the original construction costs had been met - which they were years ago.    And it doesn`t help when local councils reject pleas to forego increases in council tax and put them up anyway, none of which helps pensioners like me struggling to survive on a fixed income in the most trying financial circumstances.     

The cost of pretty ordinary everyday stuff like bread and milk has risen sharply and although I am nowhere near approaching penury, I can well imagine how difficult life has become for thousands of people across the country and especially at the wrong end of the social divide.  Seems to me that in the game of give and take I`m doing a lot of the giving and the tax man is doing most of the taking. So what`s the answer?   Well, it might be time to move to Greece where it seems others are doing the giving and the Greeks are being bailed out.

I wonder what Barney would make of that, especially as the world probably makes more sense to a golden retriever than it does to me.