The Tories really are the party of low tax.

[Cyclone]

Are we being a a touch touchy?

 

I'm sure if you were to look around the forum you'd find examples of people who admit to paying no income tax. You might not have to look very far.

 

Unfortunately some people think that once they reach a certain level they can stop contributing.

 

I'll ask again if you've got any evidence to support what you've said. I assume your answer above though means "not really" shall I?

 

If however what you actually meant to say was that some people have tax affairs that are different to your own and may not pay anything through PAYE, and that these people organise their tax liabilities as efficiently as possible, then there'd be no argument would there.

If you state or imply though that these people pay no tax then you'd be completely wrong wouldn't you!

[I1L2T3]

Unfortunately some people think that once they reach a certain level they can stop contributing.

 

I'll ask again if you've got any evidence to support what you've said. I assume your answer above though means "not really" shall I?

 

If however what you actually meant to say was that some people have tax affairs that are different to your own and may not pay anything through PAYE, and that these people organise their tax liabilities as efficiently as possible, then there'd be no argument would there.

If you state or imply though that these people pay no tax then you'd be completely wrong wouldn't you!

 

Some large corporations pay zero corporation tax. That is a fact. Some even claim rebates from HMRC. Read Private Eye on a regular basis as I suggested. Or Google it.

 

On an individual level there are examples of individuals avoiding all tax once they get to very high earning levels, e.g. In 2004-5 of 400 people earning 10m or more only 60 paid income tax. Vince Cable was on the warpath about it at the time.

[Conrod]

There may be some people in that category but there are others who earn substantial sums and pay no income tax.

 

For corporate examples Private Eye is good. I lost count of the dodgy tax dealing I seen in there over the years.

Okay, so you say there are plenty of people on SF who earn substantial sums but pay no tax.

 

Is SF awash with multi-millionaires posting from their tax havens in Monaco and the Bahamas?

 

edit- out of curiosity, who's the fat bloke in your avatar?

[Cyclone]

We're not talking about corporations though are we (and you mean zero tax in the UK of course).

 

One way of not paying personal tax would be to stop being resident in this country, that's probably the most common legal way of doing it. And putting up the tax rate encourages that behaviour! It doesn't mean that these people don't pay tax, it means they don't pay UK tax.

[Conrod]

One of Britains more successful companies is Hargreaves Lansdown. The company was stated 30 or so years ago by the 2 partners and currently turns over around £1.2 billion. The directors have made themselves very wealthy indeed and took salaries of over £20million each and paying around £8 million each in income tax. The company also declared profits of over £100 million each year and paid taxes accordingly. There are also 600 employees most of whom earn very large salaries and pay huge amounts of tax in the UK. The 2 directors also were chairmen of the 2 Bristol football clubs into which they put £millions.

All these people spend money in the local economy paying VAT and providing jobs for others.

When tax was increased to 50% Steven Lansdown moved abroad and now pays not one penny of UK income tax. Neither does he pay VAT on his spending and has now quit his position of club chairman at the football club.

Peter Hargreaves decided to simply retire and sold off his stake in Hargreaves Lansdown. Some of the business has been moved to Zurich and plans are being considered to move the whole operation there in the near future.

It is impossible to estimate just how much revenue this one instance will cost the UK exchequer.

This is exactly what happens when taxes are pushed too high - Labour crippled the country in the 70s with supertax as anybody with a good income packed their bags and went, in many cases taking their corporate organisation with them.

[percy filth]

You must have read my mind Percy.

 

Wait now for the leftys to come back with "We're better off without these financial parasites anyway" response, despite the evidence above to the complete contrary....

 

Of course they will. Who would want to work for a business where its founder makes money. It is far better to be on the dole than to work for such a person. These people should be forced to take their money, their business, and their jobs overseas.

Hang on a minute, many of them already have.

[percy filth]

Some large corporations pay zero corporation tax. That is a fact. Some even claim rebates from HMRC. Read Private Eye on a regular basis as I suggested. Or Google it.

 

On an individual level there are examples of individuals avoiding all tax once they get to very high earning levels, e.g. In 2004-5 of 400 people earning 10m or more only 60 paid income tax. Vince Cable was on the warpath about it at the time.

 

What you say is undoubtably true. British Airways is a huge corporation but would pay no corporation tax for the simple reason it is operating at a huge loss. However it does provide jobs for many thousands od people who in turn pay large amounts of tax on their earnings.

Regarding the people earning over £10 million, many of them will spend most of their time outside the UK either for tax reasons or because they work overseas. It is very easy indeed for someone to relocate if they are not working 9-5. I just wonder how someone would set about extracting income tax from someone like Jenson Button who lives abroad and earns his huge salary driving racing cars in around 20 different countries. My suggestion would be to give him the incentive to live here and pay his tax here as he only cleared off to avoid the British taxman.

[I1L2T3]

Okay, so you say there are plenty of people on SF who earn substantial sums but pay no tax.

 

Is SF awash with multi-millionaires posting from their tax havens in Monaco and the Bahamas?

 

edit- out of curiosity, who's the fat bloke in your avatar?

 

Yes there are poster on SF who pay no income tax.

 

My avatar is A picture of Eric Pickles. I like him a lot.

[I1L2T3]

What you say is undoubtably true. British Airways is a huge corporation but would pay no corporation tax for the simple reason it is operating at a huge loss. However it does provide jobs for many thousands od people who in turn pay large amounts of tax on their earnings.

Regarding the people earning over £10 million, many of them will spend most of their time outside the UK either for tax reasons or because they work overseas. It is very easy indeed for someone to relocate if they are not working 9-5. I just wonder how someone would set about extracting income tax from someone like Jenson Button who lives abroad and earns his huge salary driving racing cars in around 20 different countries. My suggestion would be to give him the incentive to live here and pay his tax here as he only cleared off to avoid the British taxman.

 

I found an article about it. I can't easily post links on this silly phone. Google 'thisismoney super rich zero income tax'

[Conrod]

Yes there are poster on SF who pay no income tax.

 

My avatar is A picture of Eric Pickles. I like him a lot.

I thought it was but doidn't thiunk a Tory MP made much sense on your avatar, havign gained the impression that you lean the other direction.

 

That aside, and ignoring dreamers who portray whatever image they choose on the forum, I've not noticed any Richard Branson types devoting their time to SF. There may be people with small businesses who choose not to pay themselves very much thereby avoiding tax (nothing wrong with that), but are you suggesting that we have hugely wealthyy people on SF whose accountants manage to avoid them paying a penny of tax?