Rachael Basak

I am passionate about good health & social care for ALL. I love my family, my friends, my campervan & my job at Princess Alice Hospice. Views are my own.

[Martin Lewis @MartinSLewis]

I was interested to see some on here asking "why should a rich person pay more for the same services than a poorer person?" on the back of council tax/poll tax discussions. Now of course no one likes tax, but we need to understand it, so I wanted to bash out my quick, unpolished thoughts on tax in general.

Of course tax should be minimised, spent wisely, efficiently and productively. I'm opposed to punitive taxation ie just for the sake of punishing those with more - even though it doesn't help or raise more revenue.

Yet for me, tax is the cost of living in a legitimate civil society. It should pay for society's law and order, defence, hospitals, education, rubbish collection, legal aid, social care for our elderly, state pensions, special ed needs, disability protection, medical care and help for those who can't help themselves and more.

So it's the cost of being part of both broad national and narrow local communities - hopefully for the collective betterment of all.

If you were simply to say "you only pay for what you use" that isn't tax, that's service provision. Never mind the tricky questions of how you assign the cost of things like defence or policing (some may say that view'd mean if your house burnt down the fire brigade should bill you after).

As for why a rich person pays a more. Well because if you take £500/mth poll tax off someone who earns £1,000/mth it's crippling, off someone who earns £100,000/mth it's hardly noticed, and they still have far more disposable income.

And so if you tax everyone an equal amount, when it has a disproportionate and more damaging effect on those with less, then you start to move people into desperate situations, which risks higher crime, less safe streets, social unrest and eventually societal breakdown.

So I am generally in favour of progressive taxation, which means those say with more income , pay a reasonable higher proportion of tax, because they can afford to.

After all those who are more affluent, have broader shoulders, and have likely made money from society as a whole - and a well functioning society is needed for wealth creation.

PS I've been deliberately unspecific here, this isn't about supporting one structure of tax, just being about tax as a concept.

And equally I think tax planning is fine (ie working within the rules to minimise tax - often because you're doing something the state is trying to encourage you to do - like save in an ISA or invest or put money aside for your future)

[Princess Alice Hospice @PAHospice]

We're thrilled to announce that the Compassionate Neighbours network has passed an huge milestone: 4000 individuals matched with compassionate neighbours!🎉🤝

Projects from across 14 hospices have created connections, providing support and companionship to those who need it.💞

[Princess Alice Hospice @PAHospice]

Our Hospice at Home team cares for patients in the comfort of their own homes making sure they can stay at home with loved ones for as long as possibe. ☀️

Donate today and help our Hospice at Home team bring light to local families.👇🏽

https://t.co/zi5SLumTo1

#donate #hospice

[Rachael Basak @raechaep]

@LesleyJMunro It beautiful. Congrats

[Richard Murphy @RichardJMurphy]

This is, I admit, a long thread. But it explains why the government is needlessly giving £18 billion or more a year to the biggest banks in the UK when it is claiming there is no money for essential services and pay rises. I also change. So that has to be worth a read......

[BBC Question Time @bbcquestiontime]

“You were told that it would be pain-free. You were told that it would all be upsides, no downsides”

Former No 10 Press Secretary Alastair Campbell claims the British public were “lied to” and calls for Boris Johnson to be held accountable

#bbcqt https://t.co/Si2VWgjgt1

[Rachael Basak @raechaep]

@LesleyJMunro You look so relaxed 😎

[Rachael Basak @raechaep]

@bt_uk I thought you’d say that. Afraid they’re not much help. It seems you don’t have much control over BT Openreach or even any reliable SLAs

[Rachael Basak @raechaep]

@bt_uk I’m a very disappointed customer. Around the 20th Jan we applied to you for internet in our new house and still nothing. Comms has been terrible, the hub you sent us is awful and now we can’t connect to the BT hotspot - help!!!!

[Rachael Basak @raechaep]

@bt_uk There’s one visible with seemingly strong signal. It no longer transfers us to the BT to website to connect. So strange as it worked until last weekend. Is there a wider issue?

[Rachael Basak @raechaep]

@bt_uk Afraid BT you’ve let us down again. Open Reach are still yet to do what’s needed. Now not coming for another 2 weeks. 18th Jan the order was first made 🤯🤯🤯. Also, your BT hotspots aren’t working either. Is there anything you can do to help?

[Rachael Basak @raechaep]

@bt_uk Thanks Mark, just called. Afraid I don’t have much confidence that the issues will be resolved but we’ve now invested a couple of months with BT. We’ll give it another week or so.

[Rachael Basak @raechaep]

@LesleyJMunro @PAHospice Already on our #inclusionhub - looks like a very valuable and much needed piece of work!

[Rachael Basak @raechaep]

@LesleyJMunro @TallTim2021 Lovely photos Lesley. So sorry for your loss xxx

[Rachael Basak @raechaep]

@LesleyJMunro @SarahDowdSW Absolutely! Good spot Lesley

[Rachael Basak @raechaep]

@LesleyJMunro Hopefully you had a good nights sleep tho!

[Rachael Basak @raechaep]

On International nurses day thanks to all those nursing teams up and down the country who keep us all going. What would we do without you.

Special thank you to all the nursing staff in the London @mariecurieuk team - very proud to work alongside you. #TeamLondon #nursesday2021

[Rachael Basak @raechaep]

Join @mariecurieuk on 23rd March, the first anniversary of the first UK lockdown, for a National Day of Reflection to reflect on our collective loss, support those who've been bereaved, and hope for a brighter future.

https://t.co/eeYSNr2Y4N

#DayOfReflection

[St Joseph's Hospice @StJoHospice]

We're proud to host the @MarieCurieEOLC Rapid Response Service at St Joseph's Hospice. We work closely with the wonderful team to reach patients in City and Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets who need urgent help during the night. Find out more https://t.co/ds9RFumpBS