Jimmy Carr

What annoys me is the government knows its going on so why aren’t they closing the avoidance loopholes? What do we pay Civil Servants for?

The Tax office see the returns of people like Mick Jagger, Bono, Take That and many others… they know the loop holes so are they just resigned to accepting swanky accountants can outwit them by ensuring their clients pay less than the rest of us?

Its disgraceful for the Prime Minister to take the moral high ground by naming and shaming these people….. the government make the rules… they should get their act together and ensure the rules the same for ALL of us.

Just because people do well financially and can afford swanky accountants is not a justification for them paying less tax. I understand Jimmy Carr has apologised for his poor judgement in using the K2 tax avoidance he was offered… to be honest I dont think he should feel he had to do that.

The apology should be from the civil servants who were aware of the K2 tax avoidance and did nothing to bring it into line.

Its not acceptable for high earners to think they are justified in looking for ways to pay less tax… its ended up that poor people pay more tax in percentage terms than millionaires…. that cant be right

Civil servants, don’t make the rules at that level, it would need ministerial approval at least, if not a vote in parliament to change the legal basis on which these schemes run.

All governments have a high percentage of millionaires, so it’s no surprise that they don’t put a lot of energy into reducing the chances of avoiding tax. Be under no illusion that not only do civil servants know about these schemes but that they have repeatedly recommended closing the loopholes, but it has been refused.

The constitutional change to the historical relationship with the Channel Islands on which these schemes operate would be major.

But Governments also are at the mercy of the electorate, who obviously don’t make it enough of an issue and as individuals show no enthusiasm themselves for paying tax – to the point in many cases of paying more to private providers for services than it would cost them in tax for quality state provision.

Jimmy Carr? Admire his wit and use of irony, I do think he goes too far sometimes. He’s by no means the only, first or even most obvious person using this scheme. The fact he’s disliked enough by the government for Cameron to pick him out makes me want to admire him more.

I understand if you use a similar scheme but maintain a safe posture you get an OBE. (Gary Barlow) or if you are an MP and use a similar scheme you get the full support of your leadership. (cough!)

@Sgt Pepper wrote:

Nice fertile ground for a good discussion on legality v ethics here methinks.
Anyone care to take the first, tremulous step? :)

I did :wink: Without exposing myself too much of course :lol: