'Would you 'pay in cash' to help people avoid tax?' poll

intrepid123

at least paying cash in hand means less for the politicians to thieve in expenses

harryhound

CutTheJargon wrote: »

welshkatie wrote: »

The key issue here is the actual question in the poll...we were asked what we would do if the tradesperson told us that they weren't going to pay tax on the payment. In this case I would refuse to pay in cash - partly because I would be assisting them in undertaking a criminal offence (failure to pay tax due) and also because, as a public sector worker, I know that our taxes are needed to run the NHS, Education, social services, planning departments, etc...and help pay my wages!

QUOTE]

And pensions, of course! Sorry, could not resist that - and yes, it was very naughty, but some of us feel that we are being overly taxed in order to pay for the pensions of the Public Sector workers who can retire earlier than the rest of us. (Not blaming you personally, as you are only doing your job), but when we hear that up to 30% of our Council Tax is going to pay the pensions and we can't afford to fund one of our own, then some people are going to find ways to avoid their general tax as they feel unfairly treated. Not saying it is right, but there it is.

Unfunded public sector pensions = £ 770 bn = £30,000 per household on the deficit.

(and I thought I had paid off my mortgage).

Gareth_Lazelle

harryhound wrote: »

CutTheJargon wrote: »

Unfunded public sector pensions = £ 770 bn = £30,000 per household on the deficit.

(and I thought I had paid off my mortgage).

Presumably that defecit exists because the government, you know, spent the money on things for the public,

harryhound

Wot like the war in Iraq ?
Like refinancing the Banks massive bad debts through lending on sub prime mortgages?
Perhaps devaluing our money by 25% making everything we have to buy from abroad more expensive and widening the balance of payments record deficit?
Like the growing interest on the interest we are all having to pay?
Like "Trident" so our leaders can posture on the "world stage" in a mine is bigger than yours competition.

MacsReturns

I had to vote C -- if they TELL me they intend to evade tax, then no, I'm not going for it. If they just offer a discount for cash, then that's fine. As others have said, if they fiddle their taxes, that's their issue, but if they try to draw me into it, I won't go along. CYA.

romanempire

Because, like the previous administration, it confuses 'avoidance' with 'evasion'.

Tax avoidance is legal. Nobody is under any legal or moral obligation to maximise the tax they pay. For example:- you inherit £3000. Like a good MSE follower you are debt free. So you opt to save it. Do you put it in a building society account or an ISA? The former you pay tax on the interest, the latter you 'avoid' paying tax on the interest.

Tax evasion is not paying the tax you are legally obliged to pay and therefore illegal.

The average joe doesn't understand the difference because they have no control over how they pay tax.

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KillerWatt

/me wonders how many of the "righteous" on this thread who are smokers would turn down the chance of half price fags/tobacco

harryhound

borray_dista wrote: »

You will probably find that a self employed tradesman pays more to the tax than any of us. Whether he's putting the odd note in his back pocket is irrelavant. If he's not registered for tax, then that is different. But he will be paying tax on his earnings, to beable to prove how he's paid his bills.

A tradesman will be paying more tax, than most of us, because he will need to buy tools, tax added on, buy a vehicle, extortionate tax added on, fuel - to run his vehicle, extremely extortionate tax added on, products to do his trade, tax added on. All his buying of these goods helps the economy in a far better way, than if he was on the dole.

It is also helping keep people in a job, where he buys all his equipment from. People like you and me.

I dare say alot of us have done something for a friend, who has given us a tenner for our trouble, did you declare it to the tax man - NO I didn't think so.

So next time a builder offers you a cash price, don't jump to conclusions and think that he is commiting fraud.

A tradesman has to pay approx £1 for every cheque cashed in his account, so add that up in a year and it soon adds up. It's alot more for card transactions.

Are you assuming that his turnover is less than the 70k registration mark for VAT ie he is treated as a consumer like his customers?

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageVAT_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000081&propertyType=document#P22_956.

Being an unpaid tax collector is very frustrating and bureaucratic..

rickbonar

I went for B

haggle for more. - a lot more!

I figure the cash would go straight into the workman's back pocket and would not go through any books so would not even be considered for any tax let alone VAT.

Of course as pointed out he would not be bound by the normal guarantees .. but then a lot of them aren't worried by that even when they are.

rickbonar

As for VAT registration ... turnover means what you buy and sell.

so you could buy something at £50,000 and sell it for £30,000 and still be supposed to be VAT registered.

Does that make sense?