Biblical Echoes

The world seems an unsettled place. The outbreak of Swine Fever in China, followed by the Coronavirus pandemic, in conjunction with the plague of locusts currently afflicting Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, in addition to the forest fires in the Amazon and Australia, all sound familiar in historical terms.

Psalms 78, 105 and Exodus educate us as to how Moses was trying to negotiate Jexit for the Children of Israel from their enslavement in Egypt. Pharaoh disclaimed the god of the Israelites, Yahweh, who promptly warned of ten plagues as retribution – a biblical version of Project Fear; the last and most telling of which was the death of the firstborn in households not displaying a sign daubed in lamb’s blood above the front door of a property.

So, as usual, nothing is new under God’s sun, apart from the changes to personal and corporate taxation, as set out on the enclosed tax tables. It is almost inevitable that a harsher fiscal climate lies ahead for you in order to deal with the costs of the Coronavirus outbreak. I would remind you that, mostly, taxation is voluntary with good tax planning.