Take That!

Fella

Tax certainly isn't binary. For starters HMRC can and does retrospectively change the rules.

chucknorris

BillJones wrote: »

Something I'd favour, especially as it could well mean a flat rate of tax, which would likely be below my current marginal 47%.

That probably wouldn't suit me to be honest, despite paying less income tax, because I am approaching retirement (so not that many more years of employment income) but I do have quite a bit of property to (eventually) dispose of at only a (current rate) 28% capital gains tax. I am also hoping that eventually an indexation/taper system will be reintroduced.

BillJones

chucknorris wrote: »

That probably wouldn't suit me to be honest, despite paying less income tax, because I am approaching retirement (so not that many more years of employment income) but I do have quite a bit of property to (eventually) dispose of at only a (current rate) 28% capital gains tax. I am also hoping that eventually an indexation/taper system will be reintroduced.

Everything I get (banking bonus included, should that happen...) is on PAYE and, as I'm not so old yet, most investment funds outside of ISAs just went into paying off my mortgage. This means I don't really benefit at all from low rates of capital gains tax, corporation tax, dividend tax, etc, as nothing that I earn comes through those routes.

I'd benefit from the lack of capital gains in my primary residence, should I ever sell up and leave the country, but if that did happen, it'd likely be decades away, so I'm still left being mainly affected by income tax for the foreseeable future.

wymondham

Fella wrote: »

I don't actually care about them dodging tax I just wish they hadn't inflicted so many horrible songs upon us.

ah the true crime!


Can I sign up for the same scheme he was in or do I need a few mil? I rather fancy not paying so much tax if it's entirely legal and above board especially if this is ok as far as Cameron is concerned...

GeorgeHowell

wymondham wrote: »

ah the true crime!


Can I sign up for the same scheme he was in or do I need a few mil? I rather fancy not paying so much tax if it's entirely legal and above board especially if this is ok as far as Cameron is concerned...

Did Cameron say that ? I thought he said it was wrong and they must pay the tax. Admittedly he seems to like Gary Barlow more than Jimmy Carr -- but does anyone really want to argue with that one ?

MrRee_2

It makes me laugh how these pop stars always complain about poverty, they do red nose day, and pudsy ...... yet they deprive the Government of the money with which they could ease the suffering!

Same with MP's .. they line their pockets and then berate others for keeping as much of their own money as possible .....

Annie1960

chewmylegoff wrote: »

Eh?

Tax is binary. It is either due or it isn't. It is easier to work out if your tax affairs are simple - eg a PAYE employee on £30,000 a year with no tax deductible expenditure and no other income can work out exactly what is due very easily. This isn't a compromise between HMRC and the individual.

When you are a millionaire in the entertainment industry with different income and expenditure streams then things become more complicated, but there is still an answer to "what exact amount of tax do I owe". Receipts of money are either subject to a certain tax or they are not. Expenses are either tax deductible or they are not. It may take a court to decide but that is not a "mutually agreed compromise".

Corporation tax is a bit of a different matter cos you can't chuck a company in jail and HMRC therefore has to be a bit more pragmatic about collection.

I agree. When I did my accountancy exams there was always a correct answer as to how much tax should be paid.

The problem arises when people decide they don't want to pay their tax, and they come up with schemes that are based on lies. For example Chris Moyles pretending to have financial losses through his work as a used car salesman (which was just a paper exercise to move money around and avoid tax) and Take That doing a similar thing, pretending to invest in the music industry when they were just circulating money from one place to another, with the sole aim of avoiding tax.

If people did not try such nonsense schemes, the tax due is quite straightforward to calculate.

Annie1960

GeorgeHowell wrote: »

Did Cameron say that ? I thought he said it was wrong and they must pay the tax. Admittedly he seems to like Gary Barlow more than Jimmy Carr -- but does anyone really want to argue with that one ?

Barlow donates to the Conservative party, and Carr does not.

chucky

Annie1960 wrote: »

Barlow donates to the Conservative party, and Carr does not.

Typical politicians looking after their mates.

Labour, Tories and Lib Dems all are pretty similar. I won't include UKIP, They're not politicians, they're just clowns.

Fella

Annie1960 wrote: »

If people did not try such nonsense schemes, the tax due is quite straightforward to calculate.

The UK tax code doubled in size to more than 11,000 pages under Labour and at that point was the longest in the world.

I have no sympathy for boring singers or dull comedians who try to dodge tax, but the UK tax system is a minefield for anyone doing their best to pay tax correctly. Anyone who's ever run a company of any size knows this. Furthermore we now have the ridiculous state of affairs whereby over ten million individuals have to complete the overly complicated self-assessment.

Hardly straightforward.