Britons 'pay £9bn unnecessary tax'

Britons are set to pay £9 billion in unnecessary tax during 2010 as the majority of people fail to take simple steps to reduce their tax burden, research showed. The biggest area on which people will overpay tax is through failing to claim tax credits, with consumers wasting £3.94 billion in this way, according to professional advice website Unbiased.co.uk. At the same time, £1.97 billion will be paid in inheritance tax which could have been avoided through better planning, while a further £742 million will go through people failing to take advantage of the tax breaks available by saving money into a pension rather than a less tax-efficient vehicle. People are expected to waste £516 million in capital gains tax that could have been avoided through better planning, while £328 million will be wasted through people failing to make use of their personal allowances. A further £442 million will be wasted by people who fill in self-assessment tax returns, through errors on their form and fines for getting it in late. Britons will also pay around £36 million more in tax on interest earned on their savings than they need to during 2010 because they have failed to make use of their annual tax-free ISA allowance. Overall, the group estimates that the average person will pay £186 more tax than they need to, although the figure varies according to people's lifestage and financial circumstances. But despite the fact that 86% of people are doing nothing to reduce their tax burden, the group said the amount of money being wasted through paying unnecessary tax had fallen by 9% from £10 billion in 2009. Karen Barrett, chief executive of Unbiased.co.uk, said: "Whilst it is encouraging to see our annual tax wastage is set to go down by 9% this year, £9 billion is still a colossal amount to be lost through error and avoidable circumstances. "Furthermore, this decrease in tax wastage could also be down to the shrunken economy - with simply less disposable income for the tax man to get his hands on."(my view)-1 we shouldn't EVER be taxed to live.......EVER,the government destroyed our homes(caves,forests ect)or made off limits......the government OWES us,and 2 this is a con to get more money from us slaves

Drivers ordered to stop criminal

Police ordered ordinary drivers in Moscow to use their cars as a roadblock to stop a fleeing armed criminal. The cars were parked across the road, with the motorists still inside, but the suspect still managed to smash his way through. The tactics have been condemned by rights activists at a time when police are rapidly getting a reputation as a threat rather than protection despite President Dmitry Medvedev's reforms.(my view)-Ordered lol FUCK YOU PIGS...why should we help the filth?........all they do is poke their snouts in to OUR business and course trouble......and on MANY occasion's....EVEN in my posts.........they have beaten,raped,falsely arrested and planted things on Victim's and even killing innocents in cold blood...SO TELL ME WHY SHOULD WE HELP YOU SHIT FUCKERS?

Corey Haim has died

Corey Haim has died at the age of 38.

Los Angeles police said the 80s actor died in the early hours of Wednesday morning of an apparent accidental overdose, the Los Angeles Times reports. He was found unresponsive inside an Oakwood apartment, and pronounced dead at Providence St Joseph's Medical Centre in Burbank. A coroner said an autopsy will determine the cause of death and there are no other details. Canadian-born Corey became a teen heartthrob with the 1986 film Lucas and 1987’s The Lost Boys. His first role was in the 1984 hit Firstborn, in which he played a young child caught up in a family war. He then appeared in the 1985 television movie A Time To Live. In recent years, he appeared in the US reality TV show The Two Coreys with his friend Corey Feldman. It was cancelled in 2008 after two seasons.(my view)-Good actor.....badddddddddd life style choice

Girl, 3, thought loaded gun was Wii controller in fatal accident

A three-year-old girl accidentally shot and killed herself after mistaking a handgun for a Nintendo Wii video game controller. Cheyenne Alexis McKeehan shot herself in the chest with a .380 calibre pistol after finding her stepfather's gun lying on a table in the living room of the family home in Norene, Tennessee. Police believe she mixed up the semi-automatic with a gun controller for the Nintendo Wii, which looks similar and which she had learned how to use from playing on the games system. Douglas Cronberger, 32, the gun's owner, said he had forgotten he had left the gun out after he took it from its cabinet when he went to investigate a suspected prowler on Sunday evening. He had already gone to bed, but Tina Ann Cronberger, the child's mother, was sitting only a few feet away using a computer when the accident happened, while her three-month-old brother was playing nearby. Prosecutors have made no decision on whether any charges will be filed, but Terry Ashe, the sheriff of Wilson County, described the case as a "terrible tragedy investigation". Displaying the gun alongside the Wii controller, he said: "You can see by the comparison of the toy weapon and the real weapon that there's little chance a three-year-old would differentiate between the two. "'If you have a live handgun with a toy that looks the same - for parents some bells and whistles need to go off." (my view)-Well....there's rednecks for yea!does he care he killed his kid?

Police 'got teenager drunk' for confession

An investigation is under way after it was alleged police officers got a vulnerable teenage prisoner drunk on cider to make him confess to 11 crimes he did not commit. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is looking into claims that two detectives from South Wales Police took a 17-year-old boy out of prison on two "drive arounds" of burglary scenes in Cardiff in an unmarked police car in an attempt to falsify their detection rates by having him ask to have the offences taken into consideration. The teenager's solicitor, Nadeem Majid, said that during one of the trips last month the officers bought the boy cigarettes and two two-litre bottles of Strongbow cider. The detectives are also alleged to have promised the boy, who has been remanded for psychiatric reports pending sentencing for two acts of theft, that he could have a takeaway and see his mother.

The IPCC confirmed that it was investigating five complaints against South Wales Police.

Having "offences taken into consideration" is common practice in the UK and means a criminal can plead guilty to one crime and also admit to others in court without having their sentence affected.