Taxes here in Britain are rather simple; if you have a single employer, your taxes are all taken care of, no need to file forms, etc, etc. If you have additional income, you do indeed file, but that can be done through a government website. While there is no equivalent to 'state' taxes here, there is a council tax. While property taxes are paid by the owners, council tax is paid for by inhabitants (covers local services, garbage removal and the like). In some cases, council tax is included in the rent.
There is also no sales tax (or meal tax, for that matter) here, but there is the VAT (value added tax), this is included in the price of every item so what you see is what you pay.
While in the US the tax year is a calendar year (even though most companies run a fiscal year from July-June and the Federal Government's own fiscal year is October-September), the tax year here is...April 6-April 5. Yeah, pretty odd. Explanation from this entry in Wikipedia:
The odd dates are due to events in the mid-18th century. The English quarter days are traditionally used as the dates for collecting rents (on, for example, agricultural properties). The tax system was also based on a tax year ending on Lady Day (March 25). When the Gregorian calendar was adopted in the UK in September 1752 in place of the Julian calendar, the two were out of step by 11 days. However, it was felt unacceptable for the tax authorities to lose out on 11 days' tax revenues, so the start of the tax year was moved, firstly to 5 April and then, in 1800, to 6 April.I like the reference to 'Lady Day'. It reminds me of both Billie Holiday ('Lady Sings the Blues' after paying her taxes.), and the Little Britain character, Emily ("It is Lady Day, therefore I, as a LADY, must pay LADY'S taxes!!!")
Well, it makes as much sense as any tax scheme, I guess.
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