RECEIVING A HELPING HAND.....

There's a country just south of Zimbabwe, the inflation capital of the world - its called South Africa. I was born, bred and educated there, in and around the coastal city of Durban. This had a fairly relaxed lifestyle, unlike one of its inland counterparts, Johannesburg. There the pace is faster, the distances travelled further and originally the crime was worse. But it didn't matter where you lived - everyone paid the same income tax.

I paid income tax from the day I started to work. With my after tax income, I bought things on which I paid VAT (value added tax). I also filled my car up with petrol on a regular basis and the lion's share of this expenditure was made up of taxes. When I bought my house I paid rates to the local municipality for services rendered - refuse, sewage etc. Cutting a long story short a lot of money went to the government's coffers.

I also paid for the services of a private security company to keep my family and possessions safe at home, I paid for private medical cover and I paid for my children to go to school. Security, medical and education - I'm sure some of my tax contributions should have covered some of these services that should have been provided by the state?

Then my new life started in the UK. My wife is a British citizen and they and their family's certainly seem to get a helping hand from the English/British government.

My oldest son has been at school since the second week after we arrived and there are no school fees. The entire family has had at least one visit to the doctor and not once have we had to pay a bill. My wife receives a Child Benefit payment to assist with the costs of our kids and this was back dated to a week after we arrived. She's also just received a £250 voucher to set up a Child Trust Fund. This is a government sponsored scheme to help provide savings for your children which becomes theirs once they turn 18. Also our neighbourhood is exceptionally safe. We don't have to pay for third party security to protect our family and possessions and we don't even have a wall around our premises!

I know these are two entirely different countries with entirely different systems. Both have good and bad points, but one of them seems to have its priorities right, providing a helping hand and the feeling that one is getting a little value for the taxes one pays.