This is a story which first appeared on SaintsWeb. Until I can find the actual link again this is basically it: As you may be aware David Cameron has today publicly criticised comedian Jimmy Carr for his 'loop' in which it means he pays very little tax. I would like to add that this loophole is completely legal, but is considered morally wrong. So legally JC has done nothing wrong. Yet when David Cameron was asked questions on PFCs finances back in March he waved it over his yea like nothing was wrong. How can this be? Considering they owe millions in taxes!!?? They have and still are tradin unsolvable and should have gone a long time ago. They have cheated charities and business out of thousands of pounds an have effectively written off nearly £100m of debt (so far) and depending on the upcoming CVA proposal, if accepted, it could be more! Why? I believe DTLW has a bit more on the subject which hopefully he can contribute too
Yeah I feel sorry for Jimmy Carr, I hope David Cameron gets pulled apart over this as his dad put into it and if it morally wrong then his dad was morally wrong, something which I doubt he will answer. I bet if a lot people had the option to pay less tax they would. Why don't David Cameron put more time into sorting out bigger problems like benefit fraud.
Why do you feel sorry for Jimmy Carr? The man is a prick he's not funny and his jokes are borderline sadistic, and now he's decided that he doesn't want to pay any taxes I heard on the radio he saves 3 million a year in taxes. Furthermore there are ways he could go to a lot less trouble and still pay less taxes but he took it upon himself to go through all this trouble just so he can pay NO taxes. On the point of why Cameron is attacking him it seems pretty simple. Pompey have fans and admirers across the country and football is the national sport therefore condemning a football team would lose him votes, moreover our fans and pompey fans know the ins and outs of there current predicament but the general public are just aware they are in a pickle. This means that the non paying to charities would have been news to the entire nation and not a good political move. Whereas Camerons attack on Jimmy Carr is easier he is one man who is constantly in the public eye and is well off Cameron is trying to remove himself from his rather posh upbringing and by publicly condemning a multi-millionare comedian, who does come across rather posh,he does a good job of distancing himself from his upbringing. Cameron is still a ****er, just a clever one.
http://yfrog.com/z/gzxnfynj - I guess George Osborne is 'morally repugnant' - turns out he's been at it as well! Dave has really ballsed this up - fantastic!
I suppose it depends on your political angle whether you think the Government is doing the right thing or are just a load of posh boys trying to shift the blame (or whatever). But the real problem for Dave and George is that a wealthy person can pretty easily move their money abroad and there's not much they can do about it. Not sure you have exactly quoted Cameron word for word there though RLGB as I think he just echoed the local MP's public call for HMRC to meet with PFC.
As a liberal, and as a person who has previously criticised tax avoiders live on TV, he should be ashamed. He's also not funny.
I'm not a big fan of either, although Carr will just edge it over the government. How can he be ashamed?! If you had the option of paying 1% tax through a completely legal loop hole are you saying you wouldn't take it? Good on him, I say. I know if my accountant told me they have a loophole where I pay a hell of a lot less tax than i do I would be straight down there in the morning. James Dyson should be you tax idol. He recently paid £9m or so of the £14m tax from the majority of Uk billionaires! Something like 60% of billionaires tax was paid by him.
There is no similarity at all between Jimmy Carr and Pompey! Jimmy Carr is a tax dodging comedian with a handfull of dimwitted ugly fans whereas.. Pompey is run by tax dodging comedians with a handfull..... oh!
Regardless of whether it is exactly word for word, it is still wrong and PFC is in a far worse case because they HAVEN'T paid taxes for months/years now. Whereas Carr does pay tax, but only a minimal amount. He should be the condemning them for their wrongdoing but instead he sits there and says nothing...
I read somewhere that he made about £3m last year. 1% of £3m is £30,000. I bet that is more tax paid than the majority of posters on this thread criticising him. He hasn't broke the law. He has basically exploited a loop hole that no doubt existed in the first place to benefit politicians and those around them.
What I want to see is a government that will close down these schemes rather than wasting breath condemning people for using them. If people (or companies) earn money in this country then they should pay tax on those earnings - simple.
Interestingly his Dad, Ian Cameron built most of his empire doing exactly that. He was worth £10m before his death thanks to the money he piled away and paid sod all tax if any on. Although he didn't do it himself, I find it hard to believe he got where he is in life with no help from those funds. Also, Gary Barlow wasn't criticised and Cameron refused to talk about him. He just got an OBE for christ sake!
The "sketch/gag" he did on Barclays only paying 1% tax where he pretended to be a cashier offering a new Barclays product, now sounds really funny .... at Carr
That is a little naive. These "loopholes" were probably set up so that those corporate giants and individuals rich enough to have the best tax accountants can benefit from a little legal skulduggery, thus keeping favour with the politicians and not moving their companies out of the UK. Obviously carr isn't keeping "favour", but some will be. Most UK leaders would pee themselves if some of the big guys moved businesses away; it could pull the UK down.
So a company such as Amazon will close down their UK operation if we tax them on the profits they make from UK customers? Governments rule by fear - if such and such happens the country will collapse. Total crap.
I feel quite bad for Jimmy Carr. I don't like him but if your accountant says to you "Do you legally want to pay considerably less tax?" who in their right mind would answer "you know what? No, I ****ing love paying tax!"
As with most things there are shades of grey, but Carr was clearly at the extreme end of the tax avoidance scale and as a comedian who had cracked wise at the expense of other tax avoiders he probably should have thought twice about it. Indeed, as a responsible member of society, paying your fair share of tax is pretty basic when it comes to good citizenship. I look forward to Cameron's spotlight being turned on his wealthy backers also.
Thank you very much for categorising my humble opinion as total crap. If you are interested in a sensible conversation without slagging off, then I'd like to understand your second comment a little more. 1. Are you saying that Governments rule by fear, or that you thought I said that governments rule by fear? - I wasn't quite sure reading your post. 2. The "if such and such happens a company will collapse" comment is referring to what? My comment that used the word "could" pull the UK down? If so, I do believe it could be damaging if too many (not just one!) huge organisations employing people in our country decided to up sticks and leave.
