Originally Posted by
madasahatter
That's my thought's too. My gross is around the 17K mark and around 9 to10K after expenses. Quite a chunk of my expenses are things that directly or indirectly benefit my family. If I went out to work I am certain that my electric and gas bills would not be much cheaper than now. I wouldn't be able to deduct part of the water rates and council tax. We would have far fewer toys/games etc that my DS can also play with. In the hols I wouldn't be able to claim for trips out that DS also enjoys and yes there are lots of things that I buy purely for the minded children. How many other self employed workers can immediately deduct 10% of their gross income and put it down as wear and tear? That's like giving me an extra 1.7K on the tax threshold.
I know it's hard giving our hard earned money to the tax man but it's much easier if you put something away each month. After all we should all contribute towards all the things we often take for granted....NHS, old age pensions, child benefit to name but a few.