I am better off financially than a great many of my friends, I have a full-time job and earn more money than I need to live comfortably. If the Tories don’t win the election, I may have to pay a little more tax under a Labour or ‘as an eternal optomist’ Liberal government…
Ultimately this will mean I may have to wait another week or so before buying another guitar to hang on my wall with the rest of them…

In return for me being unable to buy another guitar ‘to hang on my wall’ for a week or so, the friends of mine who are currently struggling to pay bills, to put food on the table without going to food banks, to cover the cost of rent, and just to get by week to week, stand half a chance of a government that cares about them, and whom, by taking a little more off me, will actually do something to help them.
These are not people ‘scrounging’ on the dole with just no interest in having a job. These are hard working people who just don’t earn very much, struggling to get by and feed their families… Struggling to feed their families… just think about that for a moment. 

To quote a simple statistic from the Trussel Trust

• Over 1,182,000 three day emergency food supplies given to people in crisis in past year – 436,000 to children

The UK, in case you’re unaware, is one of the largest and most successful economies in the world, yet families are struggling to feed themselves…

Foodbanks and their growing use is just one issue, but of all the issues you should consider when you vote, are the poor getting enough to eat should probably be fairly high on your agenda.

Frankly, I can survive without the cash to buy another guitar to hang on the wall without waiting for a week or so to save up the money. If that is I end up paying a little more tax every month. And I will not mind if that is the case if it is to help those in society who are worse off,  because I am quite frankly a lot better off than most people… I am not rich by any stretch of the imagination, but I sure as hell ain’t poor and living hand to mouth, with an empty hand…

Of course, if you would rather have a little bit more money in your own pocket at the expense of the poorest please by all means vote Tory in the coming election… I believe in democracy and the will of the people. But I can not do so, because I would sooner be able to look my friends in the eye when they talk about using food banks and struggling to get by because the few benefits they have, having been slashed.

I would rather pay a little more tax, so when I talk about the new guitar I have just hung on the wall, I do not feel guilty that I spend money, I have more than enough of, on things I don’t need, while they fall deeper into debt just to get through the week. I don’t want to look at my new Epiphone, a beautiful cherry red ES 339 hanging on the wall and feel guilty that I can afford such a thing because I live under a low tax, fuck the poor, government.  

In the end, it comes down to who do you think about when you vote. Yourself or the society you live in.
I would sooner vote for myself to pay a little more tax and have fewer guitars, in return for living in a nation where the poor, the less able, the unfortunate and those who frankly are less lucky than myself to have a better life.
So, #taxthereasonablywelloffwedontmind
which is a terrible hashtag, but you get the point.

I should add, I have a lot of guitars, I hang them on my walls and occasionally pick them up and strum away at them. I can’t play them for toffee, and they are utterly wasted in my hands, but I buy them anyway because I can. And if I paid 2% more tax, or 5% or 10% come to that, I still could not play them. I could also still afford to buy them, I would just feel less guilty about doing so. So perhaps this is an entirely selfish concept, I want to be taxed more so I feel better about myself, but hell if the poorest in society are better off because of my selfish desire to feel better then it’s win win …

Links that you should read before you consider voting…

https://www.trusselltrust.org/2017/04/25/uk-foodbank-use-continues-rise/

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/feb/03/cut-to-disability-benefits-may-make-return-to-work-harder-claim-mps