Original post by stargirl63I don't give to any charities - reason being is because I know how it works. For example, I work in the pharmaceutical industry, dealing with pretty serious drugs - oncology, neurology and surgery equipment. I have seen (and quoted myself) the cost of these medications. Treatment costs £100k a year for a patient (and this isn't even the most expensive medication we sell). Greedy pharmaceutical manufacturers bumping up the price of tablets from £90 to £1200 per bottle and then us, as a pharmaceutical sales company, having to somehow talk out of our arse, and justify to patients why the price is extortionate. Whilst I watch the CEO drive away in an Aston Martin. So when I see someone saying "donate what you can to breast cancer", I almost find it ironic, that people genuinely think that their £20 donation actually makes a difference...you have probably bought that patient a days worth of treatment, if that. Not considering the proportion of your donation which is given to running the event, paying for the scientists, the background research, the cost of hiring the manufacturing plant to make the medication. Until I genuinely know for certain that my money is going to actually help the people who need it, rather than buying flash cars, I'm not going to bother.
Charities hosted by celebrities e.g. Red Nose Day... I question the % of earnings the celebrities even contributed. Not the amount of money, the % of earnings. Because £10k to me is a lot of money, compared to celebrities who spend £10k on a club night out in Mayfair. So, if they aren't contributing loads for an event they are hosting, should we?! We hear celebrities who donate "millions" to charity - but that money is a drop in the ocean to them. They may as well have donated a tenner.
Animal charities I don't care about.
The way around this, is I give my time. So once every 2 weeks, I volunteer in a call center around 8 hours, for those suffering from domestic violence.
In terms of tax - the reason why I get rather worked up, is not for myself, but for other people. Prior to my job, I worked in a payroll company. We were processing payment for those who were literally living on minimum wage, couldn't afford the electric bill, type of people. And I had to put their tax code on their paycheck and tax them, and I hated it. Because I knew that those people who worked hard, and honestly for their money were not getting their earn because the government think that just because they earn x amount, they can pay y amount of tax. A lot of these people owed money to pay back loans, had kids and dependents to feed etc and it was awful to know that the small amount they earned, they were taxed. The extra £5 a week that they were taxed on could have meant that they were able to keep the heating on a little longer during the night.
I've seen my dad work 2 jobs, 14 hours a day work when I grew up, just to earn enough to live on. He would have probably only have had to work 11 hours a day if he wasn't taxed so much, and I would have been able to see him more as a child.
Anyway , I hope I made sense. I personally don't mind tax that much, because I still get a decent wage a the end of it. But it's those on that borderline, of which there is a lot, that I wish were considered.