Haha, yes. AFAIK, Berlin does the same. The didn’t need that letter of confirmation, though. My own signature was good enough for them. 
Talking about bizarre German taxes: I just arrived in Cologne where they introduced a “culture support tax” amounting to 5 % of the hotel price on December 1st. You do not have to pay it if travelling because of business, but in this case you have to fill out a one-page-form and produce a signed letter of confirmation from your company 
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This must be absolutely unenforcable, even if they draft all Hartz-4-receivers into the tax collection authorities …
Pontious was a pilot!
LOL!!!
Remember Mel Brooks excellent movie “History of the world?” That scene in the Roman senate is still very valid even today.
The poor have been fleeced by the Left for decades
Left, Right, Top, Down…. The poor have been fleeced by everyone, since before even Pontious was a pilot!
But interestingly, the left are quite fond of VAT increases, which hit the poor hardest, too.
what else is new. The poor have been fleeced by the Left for decades.
Also the socialist argument is that it would hit the poor the hardest, which is true
Actually, it’ll hit accountants and bureaucrats hardest – they’d be out of a job. How sad…..
it would hit the poor the hardest, which is true
But interestingly, the left are quite fond of VAT increases, which hit the poor hardest, too.
yet my suits are not deductible
The argument here is that they are dual use.
I think times have changed. Today, there are many men (speaking of “suits” hence men, mostly) who never wear a suit unless they have to for work and possibly even then only for meeting customers. I have a suit which I bought about 20 years ago and which has been worn maybe 5 times. It’s never been washed and is dusty but doesn’t smell too badly But many men – especially the “London crowd” – wear suits every day.
no-brainer tax system with a flat tax rate that everyone has to pay
They have that on the islands around the UK, I believe. But those places don’t have the mainland’s huge appetite for public spending. Also the socialist argument is that it would hit the poor the hardest, which is true
but why does it consistently refuse to pay for your fancy suits that you have to buy and clean for your job?
I’m not getting my head around this, either. Other groups can deduct their expenses for work clothes/uniforms, yet my suits are not deductible. Doesn’t make any sense and either calls for another rule (……) or proves you right in what you say next…
Trying to create justice by subsidizing a large number of specific hardships just creates a complex tax system with some people benefiting and less justice in the end.
I’m dreaming of a no-brainer tax system with a flat tax rate that everyone has to pay, but as long as we HAVE the system of a thousand and one exceptions, I find it legitimate to highlight those exceptions (to the exception of the exception…) that are particularly absurd, such as the suit example or now the airline “meals”.
