Is anyone else concerned about the tax changes?

[apexblue]

These purposes are: (A) Loss relief: Currently losses made in one year may be offset against profits in the following year; (B) Capital Allowances: Currently you may claim capital allowances on expenditure incurred in providing 'plant and machinery' (read that as beds washing machines. etc). This means that you can deduct a proportion of the cost of those carpets and wardrobes from your taxable profits and reduce your tax bill; (C) Pension Relief: Income from holiday lets wont be included within an individuals relevant earnings when calculating the maximum relief due for their pension contributions, from 2010; (D) Capital Gains Tax Relief: When you sell your cottage etc. you can currently enjoy some advantages in respect of CGT. For example roll-over relief applies when you sell one property and later buy another. As always with taxation, the devil is in the detail, and much of the detail of implementation remains unclear.

I can see (B) and (C) affecting us. (A) we (fingers crossed) make a profit and (D) have one house in my name and one in OH's the other one we manage for a neighbour.

Have I got this right?

[Windy]

Well I would have thought that D would affect you too over time. It's probably the most contentious area as it impacts the RoI over the lifetime of investing in your holiday property.

To put it another way, if you factored it into your initial calculations the resulting decrease in final value after CGT might have deterred you from investing in the first place.

I don't suppose C will affect most of us because if you are anything like me you are doing this because, after Gordon's smash and grab raid when Labour came to power, it swiftly became evident that piling thousands into a pension fund was a mug's game, and I'm doing this as an alternative mean sof providing for my dotage.

A & B can be quite closely linked as when you make a major capital purchase the 50% first year write down can have quite an impact on the bottom line. Being able to apply that loss "horizontally" is part of the "being a trade" thing, and losing that could on occasion be quite expensive. Having said that it won't affect most of us in most years.

[Windy]

Dear John

Thank you very much for your recent email copy of the letter that you had written to the Minister at DBIS with regard to the proposed repeal of FHL legislation.

I can fully understand your anger and frustration about this straw that threatens the camel’s back and I would certainly be interested to see a copy of the reply.

With best wishes

Yours sincerely

TIM FARRON MP

Well at least one of them is awake and interested.

[greenbarn]

Windy - aka Mr Angry - I can see a whole new career opening up for you as a letter writing consultant.

You could, of course, do something similar to the actions in 1995 of a Mr Michael Howerd:

Charged £20 for a £10 overdraft on his bank account at Yorkshire Bank's Horsforth branch, the 30-year-old marketing consultant changed his name by deed poll to "Yorkshire Bank plc are Fascist Bastards". Not only could he then sign his letters to the bank with this moniker but the bank had to use this name on a cheque repaying the residue of his account.

I shall leave you to enjoy your medication and ponder a suitable change of identity.........

[Windy]

ROFL

I've calmed down now (a bit)

Nurse - more of those nice pills please

[harcourtv57]

Dear All

Been out of the loop for a while and just caught up with this - thanks to all esp Windy for the extra info (and 'Mr Angry' letters - noted that my MP has signed, so will be lobbying him further as well as writing a reponse to the 'standard' nonsensical letter I received from Mr TImms. BTW, we now have a much welcome break, as quite by chance, two of our properties are let for a longer term over the winter. With this issue in mind, OH is now making noises about keeping long term tenants and giving holiday lets (and ourselves) a bit of a break . . . . I must say at the moment it does seem quite tempting

[greenbarn]

OH is now making noises about keeping long term tenants and giving holiday lets (and ourselves) a bit of a break . . . . I must say at the moment it does seem quite tempting

I'm sure that Margaret Hodge MP, Monster for Tourism, will be delighted.......

'Real help for businesses now' - message from Margaret Hodge, Minister for Tourism
As part of the Government’s drive to aid economic recovery, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has developed a range of free support measures to help businesses, including tourism businesses.

Yes Margaret. We know. Thanks.

[Windy]

What with all the help we are getting from the government about FHL legislation and Visit Britain regarding our (now disposed of) DVD collections I think we should all be looking forward to a bumper year in 2010

Er hang on....

[greenbarn]

I suppose it might be a bit premature, but having sent what I thought was a very nice email to Margaret Hodge MP, Barking Minister for Tourism, some sort of reply - acknowledgement even - would be welcome and help restore my belief in the interest our leaders show in us little people.

I also copied a few others, with a tailored covering note - my own MP, David Maclean, the MP for the neighbouring constituency, also with a major stake in tourism, Tim Farron, The Shadow Minister with responsibility for tourism, Tobias Ellwood (who he?), whom I also asked if he could help me understand why he hadn't signed the Early Day Motion on FHL rule changes, and Janet Anderson MP who kicked off the said EDM .

So far, not a peep from anyone.
Now I have no reason to feel that Janet Anderson should respond; her inclusion in my list was really just an acknowledgement of the fact that she sponsored the EDM, ditto Tim Farron, as neither I nor our properties are in his constituency so it was just a bit more ammunition for him.

Should I expect some sort of response from my own MP, although I didn't specifically ask for one?
Am I right to expect a response from the Shadow Minister, especially as I asked about his lack of signature to the EDM?
I asked Mrs Hodge two direct questions, so an answer there might be courteous, or have I completely misunderstood what Ministers do, and that perhaps they only choose to deal with their own constituents regardless of their remit? Should I have included a Plain Brown Envelope containing some sort of inducement to answer?
I did specifically ask them not to respond with a copy of Stephen Timms' guff, so maybe that's caused a problem?

Oh dear, after all these years this is my first real attempt to understand Democracy in Action, and I'm struggling - anyone out there with more experience who can offer me some encouraging words and solace? What is the standard Unit of Time on which these people function? Are they like plumbers, where "tomorrow" translates as "some time in the next few weeks - maybe."?

I suppose they might all be a bit preoccupied with wondering/hoping if our esteemed President Gordon (whom I notice is still Chancellor, according to Mrs Hodge's website, so that might go some way to answering my question on the timescales under which that good lady functions) is going to continue with his public acts of self-disembowelment a la Queen's Speech, but that doesn't explain the silence from Martin Sach, CEO of EASCO (that, as I'm sure you're fully aware, is the English Association of Self Catering Operators. You have heard of them, haven't you? They represent us.)
I didn't copy Visit/Enjoy Britain/England as I couldn't identify who to send it to.

Perhaps I should exercise more patience, but it's lashing down with rain and I'm feeling a bit grumpy.
Sorry.

[harcourtv57]

Greenbarn - In my day job I have the misfortune to deal on a regular basis with central gov departments - speed of response is certainly not one of their strong points! The 'important people' also have a 'minion' who will spend a lot of time collating a response on their behalf, which they then just put their name to. But I completely agree, 'a thank you for your communication, we are looking into it and will respond' is the very least you can expect . . .

[Windy]

Ah Greenbarn - been there

My email to Margaret Hodge got no reponse so I poked her again and got a reply from her offfice saying

Thank you for your email addressed to Margaret Hodge MP for Barking.

There is a Parliamentary convention that Members of Parliament only take up matters brought to their attention by their own constituents. This email address is for the use of Mrs Hodge’s constituents only.

I am including a link for you to follow to enable you to contact your MP should you wish to do so http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/. You can also find their contact details by contacting the House of Commons Information Office on 020 7219 3000.

If you have an enquiry for the Department for Culture Media & Sport please email: enquiries@culture.gov.uk or refer to http://www.culture.gov.uk/

I hope this information is useful.

With all good wishes.

I replied

Back here in the real world there is a convention that people actually deal with things instead of issuing reasons why they shouldn’t bother.

I find it interesting that you imply that Ministers see themselves as above direct contact with the common voter – that’s rather sad from a labour government really.

I don’t suppose there is any chance that you could forward my email to an address that “convention” might allow Ms Hodge to notice is there, or is this “democracy” thing really just a waste of time?

Kind regards

They replied

I’m sorry but I should clarify this as I implied nothing of the kind.

Mrs Hodge’s Parliamentary/constituency office, like every other publicly-funded MP’s office, is there to serve the MP’s constituents for which public funds have been made available. It would be an inappropriate use of public resources to do otherwise. I doubt many people would query that in view of events overt the past 12 months.

Secondly, the convention to which I referred works perfectly well across all political parties and provides that “direct route” via Parliament to Government you seek.

I wish you the very best with your enquiry which although I am unable to comment on, seems very reasonable.

With all good wishes.

So as a parting shot I replied

I think we may have to agree to differ as to whether the act of passing on an invitation to Mrs Hodge, which is related to her government activities, would in fact constitute an abuse of funds – especially as you point out given some of the rather more manifest abuses we have been entertained by so far this year - A PR nightmare for most concerned.

I would thank you for taking the time to clarify your position .

Those of you who have taken the trouble to read Ms Hodge's expenses "issues" may "get" the PR reference

So what about Mr Timms himself

he finally replied

Thank you for your e-mail. I have noted how strongly you feel about this, but I don't think there is much I can usefully add to my earlier reply. We plan to publish an impact assessment for the change at the Pre Budget Report on 9 December.

Stephen Timms

so I sent him this

Dear Mr Timms

Thank you for at least replying, which is more than your colleague, Ms Hodge, has bothered to do.

"but I don't think there is much I can usefully add to my earlier reply"

Well that lack of ability or interest goes a long way to explaining why we don't expect you and your colleagues to be occupying your current positions after June 2010.

Thank goodness we live in a democracy.

The chief exec of Visit britain did promise to investigate why their cr@p forum is so over-moderated that they prefer to leave inaccurate info on it than allow anything even lightly critical, (including my copy of my letter to La Hodge)

My copy email to Visit Britain got bounced back as the email they give on the web site info@visitbritain.co.uk apparently does not exist.

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software. A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed: info@visitbritain.co.uk
retry timeout exceeded

I can see that they did finally post a highly censored version of my post) minus the mildly acerbic comment about "And what are VB doing about this then?"

Oddly they chose not to allow my post in the DVD concierge licence thread saying that on my recent VB inspection no mention was made of my "disappeared" DVD collection and he didn't take any stars away as a result, so it's just my guests who have suffered as a result of VB's thoughtless sponsoring of Filmbanks get rich quick scheme.

If I could be bothered I think I'd start a revolution.

[Nightowl]

Windy I think you would be a far better politician that these wastes of space we have right now. I will take a leaf out of your book and write to my local MP too.

[greenbarn]

Hi Windy

Let's see if I've got this right.
You send an email to Margaret Hodge MP, in her capacity as Minister for Tourism, to a publicly available email address. Unfortunately, that address is actually for a different Margaret Hodge MP, Member for Barking. There is no connection between these people, except for the easily overlooked fact that they are one and the same person. You, and I, should've used a different email address, which would route your missive to the correct person. There is no connection between the two email addresses, other than the fact that they both exist as a means of contacting a version of Margaret Hodge MP in her political, as opposed to private, capacity.

I think I understand so far.
Next. You, and I, wish to communicate with the said Margaret Hodge MP about a political matter. We use the wrong email address, so although it reaches her office, it comes in through the wrong door and is therefore dumped. There is no response to the email enlightening you as to your error, which was a particularly stupid error as everyone knows that you don't email Ministers, don't we? The email is not forwarded either, as determining that the email should be forwarded, and hitting the appropriate button, would be an inappropriate use of public resources compared with - well, determining that the email should be forwarded, and hitting a different button. Okay.......

So as a good little citizen, I should apparently send my email to my MP, who will then possibly seek to trouble the exceedingly important Margaret Hodge MP, selecting her correct persona, by forwarding it to her. Or not, seeing as how I didn't get any response from my MP either. Not yet, anyway....

Vitriol aside, I find it very sad that the end result of my receiving no response of any nature, not even one telling me to redirect my questions, is bound to leave me with the impression that my voice is irrelevant and so much for democracy. In fact I am merely the victim of yet another level of crass government bureaucracy, although I'm not sure if that's better or worse.

[Windy]

I think you've got it about right GB.

You have no direct accessto the decision maker - you have to contact your MP who may or may not do anything with your request, and is most likely just to forward it and then forward back to you the standard letter he/she gets back. He then feels he's been a "good constituency MP" and goes home to his London flat for a well earned rest. Nothing has been achieved but trebles all round anyway, and he's one step closer to his OBE (or knighthood if he's been really smarmy).

Perhaps we should do a PR stunt where you can dress up as Margaret Hodge and accept my invitation. We can get BBC Cumbria to cover the visit by saying the real MH is coming to view the recent flood damage and assess the impact on tourism (she will be up here soon won't she? Won't she?) and then we can dramatically expose you as an impostor - the false boobs and lippy may of course give you away before that.

By that time though we will have a captive BBC cameraman and we can hold him to ransom until some politician somewhere agrees to come on screen and admit that they are all a bunch of tossers who have no real idea about the world the rest of us have to live and work in or the impact of their lazy legislation on we ordinary people.

AAAGHHHH!!!! Nurse where are those pills again????

[greenbarn]

Hmmmmm. Not sure about the legalities of impersonating an MP, but I find the idea of dressing up in women's clothing and wearing false boobs and lipstick strangely appealing......... especially as I'd have to wear wellies as well. I'd probably qualify for some sort of grant. Or taxpayer-funded treatment. Fat expenses at the very least.