Northern Rock, and why this will be the start of the great House Price Crash.

[manwithnoname]

... I don't want a bloody handout from Gordon Brown and his thieving government. I'd quite like to be able to pay my own way in life. I'm an old-school liberal, and I believe in small government...

Rave think about Tax credits, you are paying your taxes and are entitled to utilise whatever scheme the government has in place – remember you are paying for it whether or not ‘you’ use it. As for feeling hypocritical: I thing we should pay tax at the source of income and not when we spend money (ie remove vat and increase income tax) but I still pay the same income tax and vat as everyone else.

[iranu]

I'm quite amazed.

I'd quite like to be able to pay my own way in life. I'm an old-school liberal, and I believe in small government...

I'd quite like to be able to pay my own way in life. I'm a (pre-Camerloon, non authoritarian) Conservative, and I believe in small government too.

In fact I'd probably say that if you were to push me for a priority on any one topic of government then small government would be the one. I think perhaps that I'd say I was libertarian, because I don't consider myself "liberal" in the current sense. Although don't misconstrue small government with weak government.

I'd love to see zero income tax paid on earnings less than £10K or £12K and a reform of tax credits and "social welfare" (an oxymoron if ever there was one). As a staunch Conservative I was always disappointed that the money made from selling off council houses was not invested in providing more social housing and then after a certain period of time the same thing happening again and again. Whilst some may see this as subsidy I look at it in terms of self empowerment which can be tied in with social responsibility regarding the occupying family. The desire to own your own home is very strong in this country and ownership (of anything) fosters responsibility and pride. The crazy situation whereby people can borrow 5 or 6 times their salary for a mortgage is unsustainable in the long run simply because of potentially volatile markets.

I'd also like to see inheritance tax abolished.

[b0redom]

Rave,
Like Mrs Dak, I don't understand what you reckon a fair crack is? I bought my 1st place in 2002 with a 102% mortgage (with Northern Rock as it happens). I worked damn hard to afford the repayments.

Since then me and the Mrs have rented it out, taken some time off to travel around the world, come back, released a bit of equity, bought a new place to live in and had a baby.

You keep banging on about house price crashes, but really what it sounds like is that you want a massive crash in house prices so you can get a cheap place. That's not a fair crack, that's profitting off other people's misfortune. If it happens then great, you've finally (after about what 3 years?) got what you wished for. If it doesn't, you've wasted years of rental money...