Peston: 'I'd be bust if I ran my business the way government does'

lemonjelly

Anyone else see an irony in posts which criticise the public sector spending, (& generally these type of posts argue in favour of the honourable private sector) whilst at the same time are expressly stating that the private sector knowingly & happily rip off the public sector?

lostinrates

lemonjelly wrote: »

Anyone else see an irony in posts which criticise the public sector spending, (& generally these type of posts argue in favour of the honourable private sector) whilst at the same time are expressly stating that the private sector knowingly & happily rip off the public sector?

absolutely. But, also the inverse...those critising the selfish, rip off private sector while praising the wasteful public sector..

I'm ok, I hate 'em all.

JasonLVC

Hauptmann wrote: »

The tax issue is neither here nor there.
Branson is in a different league to Green. He's innovated across a wide range of business sectors and has run quoted companies, so we know what he's been up to. Green has run one type of business (importing and retailing clothing from manufacturers in the third world).

If the tax issue is "neither here nor there", why go on to compare Branson to Green?

Branson may have 'run' (and I use that word lightly, he basically sells the Virgin name, rather than actually 'runs' any of his businesses) listed companies, but those many companies come under the Virgin Group, a family owned Trust.....which is based in the (off-shore) Carribbean haven of the British Virgin Islands....and still his Virgin trains gets a half billion pound subsidy each year to run (and I use that term lightly as well) the train network.

If Branson was so clean cut (and in charge), he would have ensured Virgin Blue didn't even attempt to dodge $70m of GST in Australia by reworking existing plane leases.....or Virgin Entertainment (Japan) Ltd which dodged billions of yen by use of off-shore disposal of subsidiaries.

Seeing as Branson is somewhat reveered as the beacon of business let us remember that each Virgin business is run autonomously, filing separate accounts to avail itself of every tax allowance and exemption that would be unavailable to a single entity corporation. Also, all acquisitions or disposals are overseen by Virgin Investments, based in Switzerland, thus shifting executive control of the empire to a renowned tax haven which allows further exemptions and tax planning opportunties.

So I put Green and Branson into the same pot of murky, disguised tax planning.

But I do agree with you that Green's report is hardly a surprise. It doesn't take an expert to see where the waste can be trimmed.

ILW

lemonjelly wrote: »

Anyone else see an irony in posts which criticise the public sector spending, (& generally these type of posts argue in favour of the honourable private sector) whilst at the same time are expressly stating that the private sector knowingly & happily rip off the public sector?

If the public sector were not such a shambles of useless, unsackable idiots, they would not allow themselves to be ripped off.
I am not referring to front line staff here, but the legions of middle management time servers.

Old_Slaphead

Hauptmann wrote: »

Sorry, that sounds like BS.

You clearly haven't worked for an SME supplying M&S, Glaxo or Fisons (as was) on a largish contract then if that's the case.

nb - re. medco issue - it wasn't drugs supplied !

Andy_L

olly300 wrote: »

True- Thatcher found one outsourcing company had hoodwinked and ripped off the tax payer while she was in power so banned them from doing government work.

but amusingly also broke up the civil service into smaller units to make them more efficient, disbanding the centralised purchasing/services departments. What goes around, comes around

moonrakerz

The usual ill-informed tirades about "tax dodgers" !!

Tax avoidance is legal, tax evasion isn't - simple.

Of course NONE of the people on this site who condemn Philip Green, Richard Branson and all those Parliamentarians who saved tax by "flipping" their houses, have EVER bought anything from Play.com or any of the dozens/hundreds of companies who set up "offshore" to reduce their tax liabilities and thus reduce their prices to those very hypocrites who rant about "dodgy" tax avoidance !!!

Don't tell me that these people wouldn't, quite legally, "avoid" tax if they could.

tomterm8

moonrakerz wrote: »

The usual ill-informed tirades about "tax dodgers" !!

Tax avoidance is legal, tax evasion isn't - simple.

Of course NONE of the people on this site who condemn Philip Green, Richard Branson and all those Parliamentarians who saved tax by "flipping" their houses, have EVER bought anything from Play.com or any of the dozens/hundreds of companies who set up "offshore" to reduce their tax liabilities and thus reduce their prices to those very hypocrites who rant about "dodgy" tax avoidance !!!

Don't tell me that these people wouldn't, quite legally, "avoid" tax if they could.

Of course we would. However, unfortunatly normal people don't have the wealth to buy the government, and have them put in all kind of loopholes specifically designed to make rich people pay less tax than their cleaners.

Basically, people who go on tirades about how tax avoidance is legal ignore the inconvenient truth that the system is as corrupt as a casino owned by the mob.

Jonbvn

ILW wrote: »

It is the government that set the rules and laws regarding taxation, you cannot fault anybody for just working within them to their best advantage. Brown was keen on making thing very complicated and this tends to lead to all sorts of anomalies and loopholes.

Don't you know that there are also special unwritten Guardianista laws that everyone must obey?;)

bendix

carolt wrote: »

That someone who personally chooses to deprive the country he lives in of £300 million in taxes by dubious avoidance schemes is not really the best person to be telling the rest of us where to save money.

As always, you couldn't get it more wrong if you tried.

A guy who finds perfectly legal ways to save money is PRECISELY the sort of person who should be telling the government how to save money.

He is the ultimate moneysavingexpert. Who better to advise on such things?

Every single one of us uses tax avoidance schemes to enhance our financial position - personal allowances, pension relief etc. You likely do too.

Stop being a hypocrite.