Quote Originally Posted by KavKav View Post
I have a painter.

A first-class old school painter.

He is VERY VERY good.

He can natter like an old woman, his views on this government are uncomplimentary and pretty much mirror mine, I care not and just keep feeding him strong English Breakfast tea. He has earned (via performance) his access to a caddy of decent tea as opposed to the general tradesman’s caddy.

I pay him in cash.

Tax and VAT are not discussed or ever mentioned.

I talk to him about paint and the state of the nation generally, not tax.

How much he pays in taxes is ALL of his personal business and NONE of mine.

IF he chooses not to pay all his taxes and does not contribute his correct share to the government, I have no knowledge or suspicion of that and I consider that it is not my job to pass any moral judgement upon him.

I care about the quality of his painting, not his tax affairs.

The government get their full share of taxes from me, they do not pay me to spend any of my time moralising about the tax affairs of my painter or anyone else for that matter.

I sleep well at night, I suspect my painter sleeps well too judging by his calm demeanour and painting skills.

I have a painter, a first-class old school painter who is choosy as he has more work available to him than you could shake a number of sticks at and he selectively does listed building work. I do not have a listed building but he cares not and I get his standard of workmanship at a perfectly fair price.

I am lucky to have a painter of this calibre, a painter whose identity I do not share for purely selfish reasons, he will slot me in to do a job where he can, he knows that if I say that I will pay him £X tomorrow, that will happen without fail and he can rely on me as I can rely on him.

If I had to choose between having a politician to dinner or my painter, I would choose my painter, he is knowledgeable and interesting and in my experience he does not lie.

I am fortunate to have a painter, a first-class old school painter and we understand each other.

Have a good day.
I've a good painter too but it's not rocket science.
There's a saying in the trades I believe
"if you can piss you can paint"