Jaque Thay's Blog

A more fair tax system?

A friend of mine, Jonathan Bishop, often poses questions relating to the fairness of certain laws and social or economic policies. Earlier tonight he asked "Do you agree with a 50% rate of tax? I don't. Many business people have income greater than that needed for the 50% tax but don't pay it. They either pay their spouse a wage below the 40% threshold, or they pay themselves in dividends so they only pay 10% tax. So is it fair that those with less surplus income are taxed more proportionally than those who should be paying 50% tax if they didn't avoid it?" 

It has long been a belief of mine that politics is one of those topics that shouldn't be discussed in polite company, it causes too many arguments – however with the continuing current of global unrest with movements like "The 99%" and last year's attacks in Britain on corporations that were felt not to have paid adequate tax I can see that it is a topic of interest to many people.

Thus I'm going to break my silence on political matters in order to discuss a taxation and welfare system that I have considered at length for some time to be superior to that currently in use in Britain.

The system has three basic principles:

Everybody will always receive a minimum level of welfare that should be sufficient to enable them to live outside of poverty.
Everybody is taxed proportionately to their income with caps at both ends of the scale.
There is a limit to the amount of money that a person can realistically spend in a lifetime. Money earned beyond that should be put to use for the betterment of humanity.

The first principle of my proposed system is that every adult in the country should receive a fixed annual amount as a tax-free allowance from the government. For ease of reference I shall deem this to be £10,000 – whatever the final amount were deemed to be, it would be enough for an individual to survive just above the poverty line.

For any job worked, the first £10,000 earned in a year (or amount equal to the welfare payout) is taken in tax. Beyond that figure a flat tax rate is imposed, with legislation written specifically to exclude the possibility of tax havens or other legal loopholes.

The purpose of tax is to provide public services and funding for initiatives that benefit the public, either in the short or long term. This is largely carried out by central and local government allocating annual budgets to departments and organisations. At present these are penalised for not spending their entire budget in a year in two ways – firstly they lose any unspent money, it is returned to central reserves for re-allocation. Secondly, their budget for the following year is reduced because they did not require the money and thus the assumption is made that they can make do without the excess in future years. This leads to a situation where government is frequently underfunded – because all funds are allocated then spent to avoid losing them, even when that spending is not required – and yet no matter how much money is ploughed into the system it can never be overfunded because departments find any excuse they can to use their funding in order to guarantee at least the same level the following year. If this behaviour pattern were changed along with the tax and benefits system so that money not spent did not cause penalties to be levied then year on year the money that can be put to good use should increase until you reach the point where increasing taxation will not increase the level of benefit to the public from spending. This means that there is a cap above which there is no point collecting further tax because it cannot have an added benefit for the public (in fact, I consider it likely that with tax and public spending reforms it would be found that there is an exponential decline in public benefit from governmental spending past a certain level).

The final principle of the policy that I have considered is that there is a limit to the spending power of an individual. It would be difficult for me to guess what that might be, but then that isn't my role to fulfil in society. We have witnessed "the 1%" become ever richer over the past decades because they have reached a point where they cannot spent money as fast as they earn it. It is likely that for many in this 1% they will never be able to spend all, or even most, of their money. Having it remain unused in bank accounts negatively affects the remaining 99%, so the third pillar of this policy is that income over a certain amount (to be decided by more people better qualified than I) not be taxed, but should be used for the benefit of the world, not just the public. Some members of the super-rich have already begun this trend; Bill and Melinda Gates have established their Gates Foundation, Mark Zuckerberg has pledged to give away 90% of his wealth within his lifetime. There are many more who simply cannot ever hope to spend their money who could benefit the world greatly by putting what they cannot personally use towards helping the world – whether through funding science, the arts, the environment or a thousand other worthy causes. This feeds back on the second principle too because it means that government spending will be required less, which again will reduce tax payments made by the majority.

So, to return to Jonathan's question; I believe the whole point to be moot. What we actually require is a complete overhaul of the taxation system.

Cinema day of awesome

I've had a Cineworld subscription card for… oh, longer than I care to remember. When I first applied for it Cineworld was called UGC and they had only just opened their Cardiff branch. Even before then I loved films. There have been lots of movies that I have wanted to watch this year – the majority of them I have managed to see, but recently that number has dropped. After my trip to London a fortnight ago it was suggested that I need to relax more and so was born the idea: a cinema day of awesome.

Myself, @alciusystargaze and @tnjh agreed to meet and see as many films as we could in one day. Planning ahead a bit we worked out that we could see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, One Day, Trollhunter and Colombiana over 11 hours – we could have seen a fifth but only if we snuck into a children's showing.

We started with Tinker Tailor, the 2011 adaptation of  John le Carré's novel. With an all star cast this was definitely the blockbuster for the day. It was a very good film, let me be clear on that. The acting was both compelling and fascinating… but it was so slow! I think a lot of context has been lost too which didn't help. I like spy dramas but I struggled to keep interest throughout. I think the film will win awards – I'm sure of it, but I didn't like it.

Next up was One Day – a concept film telling the life of it's two protagonists by showing how they change year by year while only letting us see a single day each year of their life. Engaging and amusing it was a welcome change from Tinker Tailor and much more enjoyable.

The third film we saw was Trollhunter – I'd best describe this as a Norweigan Blair Witch, but one where you actually see the monsters. Filmed entirely as if from a handheld camera and following three students and the titular Trollhunter, the film purports to be made from real footage delivered anonomously to the police and details the last hours of the group. Despite the language barrier I felt the film worked really well and is probably my favourite of the day.

Last of all was Colobiana, a typical popcorn film about an assassin seeking revenge for the death of her parents. Cliched in most ways, with unimaginitive plotting and quite a few loose ends, it still managed to be better than I had expected. If you're looking for an easy watch and are willing to settle, this isn't a bad film to kill a few hours.

Although it was a long day we all had fun, and hopefully we'll have the chance to do similar events in the not too distant future.

500 days – just about

That was a little nerve-wracking. Today marked 500 days of uninterrupted daily twictions posted on Twitter. I wrote the story as usual and prepared to post it… and Twitter wasn't working. So I waited… and I waited… and I waited…

It's not uncommon for Twitter to go down. Their fail whale is well known and has spawned a number of memes over the years, but as the site matures and continues to gain popularity the frequency and duration of such unexpected downtimes has decreased. A lapse as long as this though was unusual. By 11pm I was practically spitting feathers because I thought a situation wholly outside my control was going to stop my uninterrupted run. Fortunately about twenty minutes ago, after several hours of downtime, Twitter started functioning again and I posted my twiction.

Day 501 tomorrow, lets hope all goes well.

EDIT: It would appear that the fault doesn't lie entirely with Twitter. There was a major internet outage across several American states, Canada and Mexico. In hindsight I was lucky to be able to post my twiction at all as the issue lasted in some areas for several hours after Twitter resumed service.

A day out at the Globe

I've been a little quiet recently – partly that's down to the absolutely terrible internet connectivity issues I've been having, and partly it's down to my workload. This summer has proved particularly busy for me so it was nice to get away to London with some friends yesterday. We went to see Doctor Faustus at the Globe.

This is only the second time I've seen a play at the Globe theatre – I watched Othello there in 2003 and greatly enjoyed it, so was relieved to see Marlowe's play performed as well. The cast were excellent all round but it was Arthur Darvill as Mephistopheles who stole the show. His sinister, eager, slightly homoerotic shadowing was such a departure from his role as Rory Williams in Doctor Who that although I knew it was him, I could scarcely believe it was the same man.

I'd like to think that the next show I see at the globe will happen before 2019… but with my workload right now… oh well, at least I enjoy my breaks when I get them.

Birmingham Comic Con

Phew! Yesterday was a long day. I was up at 5am in order to catch a train up to Birmingham for an appearance at 2011BC - the 2011 Birmingham Comic Convention. As normal I appeared as a guest of Deadstar Publishing and spent the day showing off my books – and their other titles. I think by now I must know their books as well as they do!

Mark Millar was supposed to be guest of honour at the event but had to pull out due to sickness which was rather dissapointing. I also wanted to speak to Dave Gibbons and have him sign my copy of Watchmen – unfortunately it's currently on loan to a friend and I couldn't get it back in time. Ah well, there's always next time. Deadstar's Danny J. Weston managed to get through the crowd and have a chat with him though, which was a triumph for him. He spent the rest of the day showing off his mini Rorschach signed sketch that Dave Gibbons drew for him.

This is the fourth expo I've been to with the Deadstar team now and the response they get is fantastic. My books were among their first products but from there they've gone on to pick real gems again and again so now they have a growing catalogue of exceptional titles. I've read them all of course – perk of the job. In coming months (if I'm allowed) I'll give you some reviews and maybe a few sneak previews at what they've got coming out. Chief among these (as I mentioned a while back) is my third book, volume 2 of Twictions. Now, I'd better get back to work. Got to finish a short story I've been working on all week.

Clic Creative Writing Workshop

I've been a member of TheSprout for a few years now and although I'm mainly involved behind the scenes I have written a few articles for them – and have been the subject of a few too. Last month I ran a creative writing workshop focusing on short stories in Cardiff Central library which was well received and as a result CLIC, the parent organisation behind Sprout have asked if I can run a few more sessions around south Wales.

Yesterday was the first of those – I ran the session from 10-4 for about fifteen young adults in Miskin, near Mountain Ash. In that time I covered a variety of topics ranging from how to build a character to the difference between 1st, 2nd and 3rd person perspectives, as well as making stories on the fly. The session also includes an OCN accredited qualification in Creative Writing which the participants seemed quite excited about.

I didn't think to take any photos, but everybody enjoyed themselves and I'm looking forward to running another session in the near future. As they're arranged I'll announce them on my appearances page.

Going to have a third print run of my book!

A few days ago I spoke to David at Deadstar Publishing to find out how sales were going for my book, Jaque's Magic Beans, and he gave me the good news – there are less than twenty copies left from the second run and they're now looking at a third printing.

Apparently Twictions is selling well too, but appeals more to a niche market. Makes me wonder how the second book will be received in November. Well, I hope.

Either way, show the Deadstar Team some love by becoming a fan of their Facebook page.

If you do nothing else today, listen to Supermarket Matters

Over the past year or so you may have heard me mention Supermarket Matters on my blog once or twice and on Twitter quite a few times. What is this mysterious thing, you might wonder. Why does a supermarket matter? It matters, dear reader, because that supermarket is the setting for a podcast comedy produced by Mark Chatterly, a friend of mine, who owns In Ear Entertainment. Supermarket Matters is his brainchild, and his attempt to break into the world of podcast entertainment.

The story revolves around the sleepy little Welsh town of Llanmorgan and the new shop, Grab'n'Go, opening there. When I first got involved at the end of June last year that was pretty much all I knew. Since then the world has been fleshed out, plots planned, scripts written, rehersals, recordings and now releases and media attention. Everything connected to this drama has blossomed outwards, gaining momentum as it travels so that now, today, the fourth episode of this excellent podcast drama debuts on iTunes. Why is this one particularly special? Well, it happens to be the episode that I wrote – I'm sure the other authors have promoted their episodes similarly (and if they haven't, shame on them!)

To get back on track, the first season of Supermarket Matters is eight episodes long and features some very talented authors and voice artists. You should go listen to it now. You'll enjoy it!

Click here to go to the iTunes store where you can hear Supermarket Matters for free.

A super time in Weston-super-Mare

A few minutes ago I got home from Weston-super-Mare where I've spent the day signing books and chatting with people about writing. Absolutely knackered now so I'll be retiring for the night fairly soon.

All I want to say before I go is Thank you Weston-super-Mare and especially thank you to the sweet shop owner who liked my books enough to give me a free stick of rock. I can't wait to come back again!

Cardiff Bloggers meeting

On Wednesday I went to the latest (and definitely not the last) Cardiff Bloggers meet-up. It's moved venues a few times recently; previously it has almost always been held in Pica Pica but following the departure of original organisers,  Hannah Waldram and Ed Walker, the new team found a location at the Maldron Hotel worked better.

The event is intended to act as a social gathering for people in Cardiff who blog, work online or are otherwise involved with social media on a professional or semi-professional level and is a really good chance to meet people that you've previously spoken to online (granted, you and they both need to be in the Cardiff area for that to happen!) or to find similar minded people… this is starting to sound suspiciously like a dating advert now…

Back on track, it took me quite a while to find the Maldron as it only opened a few weeks ago and before Wednesday I wasn't aware of its existance. This really isn't a good blog. Oh well, that's what I get for trying to work at this time in the morning.

EDIT 06-08-11: The next meet-up has been announced for September 5th. This was a horrible write-up and my next one will be better. For more details check the Cardiff Blogs website.