Tax Avoidance

[EvianBaby]

Jimmy Carr (comedian) is being criticised for his use of a tax avoidance system.

http://www.dailymail....s-bills-little-1.html

If you earned millions of pounds, wouldn't you try and find a legal way in which you could retain as much of that as possible or would you think "best get my cheque off to the tax man for this load of wedge"?

Should he feel guilty that he's depriving the country of a lot of money he would pay in taxes or is he clever in working out a way to keep his fortunes that appears to be completely legitimate?

[jno]

unfortunately Carr has in the past criticised others for doing the same thing, which makes him look just a teeny weeny bit hypocritical

http://www.guardian.c...pass-notes-jimmy-carr

[Fibonacci]

[EvianBaby]

That's sort of his job though isn't it on that show. To mock people in current news. He's certainly not the first one to be revealed as a hypoctrite. Does that makes his actions wrong though?

[MoonRocker]

we all would avoid tax if we could, no argument there.

[ummmm]

It's not him who has avoided tax. It's his accountant.

We did it. Things might have changed since then but we shifted the earnings to keep our tax down. We still paid a massive wedge though.

[woofgang]

well he didn't work out the scheme so I don't think he personally should feel clever about it. I don't think he should feel guilty either, what he does is legal; he might feel a teensy bit embarrassed though?

[anotheoldgit]

He is not on his own it seems.

I wonder when Carr will be getting his OBE?

http://www.dailymail....ion-tax-shelters.html

[Old_Geezer]

The issue is not so much doing it when any reasonable person would see it is a way of avoiding paying what one rightfully ought to ask to contribute, but of the rules allowing these loopholes in the first place. I'd have thought it wouldn't be that difficult to spot these things before they get introduced. Isn't that what the folk in change of defining the rules are paid to do ? Check the system and see what it does before introducing it ? Or do they think the MS philosophy of putting out a flawed version and seeing what complaints roll back in, is the way to go ?

Should he feel guilty about letting the rest of us lower paid folk dig deeper to fill the public kitty in his stead ? Probably. Will that change anything ? Probably not.

[jake-the-peg]

Perhaps it's time for Jersey's tax status to be reviewed?

[EvianBaby]

His accountant might be the brains behind the plan and completed the transactions but it's Carrs money and the final decision is his.

I don't think he'll feel embarrassed either. I think he'll revel in using himself as the basis for all the jokes on the next shows and watch the £ keep coming in.

[ummmm]

My friend has set up his business in the Isle of Mann. Different tax laws...perfectly legal.

[EvianBaby]

Well, exactly OG and Jake. What he is doing is permitted according to current regulation so it's the government shooting us all in foot now isn't it? And it's them who should feel embarrassed that they just let millions of pounds filter it's way away from their coffers.

[Old_Geezer]

They may not care if it results in a large contribution to the party, or is that being too cynical ?

It's the same the whole world over, it's the poor wot gets the bill; it's the rich wot gets the breaks, ain't it all a blooming shame? (At least percentage-wise, possibly gross-wise also.)

[VHG]

I earned a good salary in IT about 10 years ago (paying 40% tax on some of my salary), but I was sick to death of seeing the tax I paid paying for the lazy, the feckless, the immigrants, the asylum seekers and so on.

When my company offered me a financial package to leave (generous lump sum plus they put some extra money into my pension pot) I grabbed at the chance.

I now live on my fairly good pension and pay a lot less tax each year.

Anything I could do to reduce the tax I pay would do. If I felt the various governments were spending the tax I pay carefuly I would happily pay it.

Bit it seems a lot of it they just waste, so I became a "taker" not a "giver".

And I think more and more people think that way, becoming takers not givers.

Shame because the more it goes on like this the more we are likely to finish up like Greece.

[Electrochem]

If the man in the street does it it's tax evasion; if the top earners do it, it's tax avoidance.

It's high time we tightened up the laws on this.

[MoonRocker]

avoidance and evasion are two completely different things, the former is legal.

[woofgang]

as i understand it Greece's problems are not just the tax avoidance of the rich, but the massive black economy that all classes of their society are involved in.

[EvianBaby]

Well, personally if I happened to be sitting on a few million I can't say I wouldn't find a legit way to keep hold of as much as possible for myself.

[flump1]

Evian Baby, I most certainly would try to keep as much as possible, the top earners pay enormous taxes. They work hard , I don't blame anyone using legal means to keep hold of their earnings!

[jake-the-peg]

And if someone found a legal way of changing their status to claim benefit - would that be equally acceptable?