I don’t think you need to hear it from this publication that this week has a General Election happening.

But keeping to the political theme, I reckon that to some extent or other most politicians are strangers to the facts…so I thought I just list some facts that I know to be true, regardless of the colour of your convictions:-

• No matter who wins on Thursday, the yellowish sun will still rise on Friday morning
• And it will probably rain at the weekend, a fact which will make some see red
• The sky will be blue, with some clouds on the horizon
• And I bet the grass will still be green. The grass, incidentally that will grow a bit longer on Friday
• Taxes will increase (or at least feel like it - they always do…)
• Statistically at least one person reading this will write a tyre off in a pothole within the following seven days
• And Nigel Farage will still be a complete - - - -. (the blank is for a four letter word. Hero is a four letter word, although it isn’t the one I’d personally use)

There are a few themes that clients have been discussing with me in advance of the election, I thought I’d share them…

• Will there be reforms of pensions ? Nothing in the main manifestos, which of course therefore rules nothing out. Bear in mind though that the most recent relaxation of the Lifetime Allowance allegedly came about due to NHS consultants retiring in droves as their pensions were overfunded, it's probably unlikely
• Is Agricultural Property Relief under threat ? This is a familiar ‘bogeyman’ threat, one that people were jumping at in 1997 when Bliar was first elected. Probably not, and probably not without some form of warning.
• VAT on public schools. Yes, definitely, it’s there in red and white. The thought was to pay fees in advance and avoid the VAT charge (as all parents who can afford private education obviously could do that…).
• But the words ‘anti-forestalling’ have been mentioned by politicians. Anti-forestalling is all about taxing people doing something now that gives an advantage later. Eg bringing the point when VAT is chargeable in line with when the paid for terms start, not when the payment is made.
• What is a ‘working person’ ? Apparently it’s someone not in the 40% tax bracket, with no savings and unable to write a cheque (?) for more than £1,000. Guess that is most of you readers disqualified ? The importance here is that the ‘working person’ is supposed to be better off under Labour. I'll leave you to work out the inference...

Incidentally, if you are not a ‘working person’ what are you ? One of my colleagues has suggested ‘martyr’, any better ideas ?

The subject of elections and politics brings me on to my first Positive….

I love cooking and enjoy rummaging through the cupboard of herbs and spices. Yes, that cupboard which has habit of getting untidy. So at the weekend I had a sort out, and found one or two pleasant surprises…Resulting in tonight enjoying a Conservative Curry.

‘A what ?’ I hear all our readers ask in unison. (OK, so that is at least three of you). I’ll say it again, a Conservative Curry. The spice label is photographed below, the clue is in the top left corner.

Moving on quickly, I am pleased to report that George (name changed to protect the innocent) doesn’t have a UTI.

I’ll explain, George needs a self assessment return for the first time, and to do this needs a Unique Tax Reference (UTR). We've applied to HMRC it hasn’t arrived yet. He called me this afternoon asking 'how I get a UTI'…which I think is something rather different. I wasn’t quite sure how to advise on this….

And sticking to the positives - at long last the A14 by Woolpit is open properly ! I confess to being worried when I saw signs like the one below. I mean, I can’t be the only one to recall how often, when seeing something like this I’ve had to press Ctrl-Alt-Delete and start the whole thing over ?

But luckily they got there and our office is properly, fully and quickly accessible now ! Lastly, I’m pleased to report that ‘A’ Levels are over in our house. Charly’s favourite subject is maths. Algebra is fine, I can tolerate calculus. But geometry is where I draw the line…

Probably time to go !

Categories: Positive Accountant