How ironic that the self same MPs, who have been bleating on and on about the "immorality" of tax avoidance, have themselves been using taxpayers' money (as a tax deductible item) to fund advice to ensure that they avoid tax themselves.
As we all know, though some of us don't like, tax avoidance is perfectly legal; no matter what Hartnett, Brown, Darling et al might try to have us believe.
Tax does have to be taxing.
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I didnt believe in bad karma until now.
ReplyDeleteWhere are the RISK teams, that they cannot have a field day with preparing Standard Intellegence Packages (SIPs) for Aspect Enquiry ? Gordon's centralised them, so HMRC cannot create some nice Aspect Enquiries ? The time was that an Aspect Enquiry could be converted to a Full Enquiry, which would be what is needed to bring this pilfering brood of vipers to book.
ReplyDeleteIt's a deliberate ploy... HMRC's staff are bullied into filling out endless spreadsheets and providing meaningless stats for a totally inept and incompetent senior management so there is simply no time to look at the greedy brood of vipers lining their own pockets.
ReplyDeleteHark... is that the sound of Nazi jackboots approaching?!!
Yeah: I knew of 2 inept managers on RISK, that both had me pursuing music teachers, and people in their 90s with foreign credit cards.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting too see that you, like most of the rest of the country, are (rightly) disappointed at powerful people who exploit loopholes in the system to rip off the taxpayer, yet you still keep pushing the line that, as tax avoidance is legal (when it works!) it's perfectly acceptable and HMRC shouldn't be working to tackle it. That's pretty ironic too, I think.
ReplyDeleteNo, I'm "disappointed" that people who tell us tax avoidance is wrong are then avoiding tax.
ReplyDeleteOut of interest, apart from Vince Cable, which MPs have been bleating about the immorality of tax avoidance? Always nice to be able to put names to the hypocrisy!
ReplyDeleteIt's Labour policy, as far as I can see, to reduce tax avoidance.
ReplyDelete"Tax avoidance in the Labour Party is unacceptable"
http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1212185?UserKey=
Today one tax specialist has accused the Government ministers of "double standards".
He said: "The Government lectured us about tax avoidance. At the same time they are employing tax accountants to help them cut their own tax liabilities and think it is acceptable to send the bill to the taxpayers to settle for them."
http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/Miliband-under-fire-again-over.5301132.jp
The government is stepping up its clampdown on tax avoidance and hopes to raise £1bn by closing tax loopholes over the next three years.
In the budget, the chancellor said that measures taken over the last decade to tackle tax evasion had reduced avoidance by more than £3bn a year on average.
"I intend to build on this today," he said. "We have identified loopholes and schemes, which, when closed, will result in £1bn of extra revenue over the next three years."
Among the wide-ranging measures announced by the chancellor today are:
• New duties on senior executives to ensure tax returns are accurate.
• New requirements on tax advisers to identify avoidance schemes.
• A crackdown on banks that exploit foreign exchange loopholes to escape paying tax.
• New rules that bear down on companies that exploit overseas tax rules that currently mean they receive double tax relief.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/22/budget-tax-avoidance
That stuff, of course. I just wondered who had actually used the word "immorality", as you'd used speech marks. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to make excuses for the government - I'm just wondering whether one of them actually described it as immoral before vein exposed as a tax avoided themselves. That would be hilarious!
ReplyDelete