Tax avoidance...

[Master Ray]

OK, my blood is boiling, feel like a bit of a rant... 

So, David Cameron is defending Gary Barlow after Mr Barlow has been found out for his tax avoidance... you know, the same thing that the rest of us unquestionably pay because, I dunno, it's the right thing to do..?

Apparently the Take That boys put tens of millions into a fund that would exempt them from paying tax.  This despite the fact that they're already wealthier than the likes of you and me could ever be.  And this in a culture that is currently demonizing the poor thanks to crap TV shows like BENEFITS STREET that are telling us that people on benefits are sucking the country dry... Newsflash!  Tax avoidance costs this country £90 BILLION a year...  Last year alone benefit fraud didn't even make up 5% of the staggering figures connected with corporate and tax avoidance fraud. In fact, of the total welfare bill in 2013 fraudulent payments distributed cover 0.7%. And that doesn't include what was recouped from the fraudulent claimer when they were taken to court and prosecuted.  These are facts, people.

And so Mr Cameron lets Mr Barlow (who has donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to the Tory party) off for his 'charity work'... yet a certain Jimmy Carr (who did a similar thing, not that I'm excusing it) who donates a similar sum to the Labour Party, gets smeared all over the newspaper headlines...
 
And lets not forget that the biggest benefits payment of all time was when the banks got bailed out a couple of years ago to the tune of billions... and then paid six-figure sums left right and centre to their people who did, ahem, such a good job... 

Anyway, that's my rant over, be interested what you lot think of it... I'll leave by saying where the **** is Guy Fawkes when you need him...? 

 

[szmurf]

You think you got a bunch of scumbags, well, we in the United States of America have got it down to a tee.  We have big pharma US trying to buy big pharma UK for a tax avoidance.  And these are the people that the Tea Party offer as candidates: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2014/04/02/matt-bevin-attended-cockfighting-rally/7223291/

[Master Ray]

Interesting, szmurf, gotta be honest, I'm not that familiar with US politics, but that's an interesting read...wow, scumbags are scum the world over, eh?

[Pol]

Hard to believe that more is being made of Gary Barlow and the take that crew tax avoidance,seems to be if your flavour of the month and the media darling then you can just about get away with anything.
  On the benefits issue and " poverty porn" we had up there was the Scheme witch portrayed Onthank in Kilmarnock as cesspool of Scotland when in truth its nowhere near like that. Would also like to add that the torys and certain sections of the media have conned middle Britain in to believe that people on benefits are well off,they all smoke and drink heavily and can go foreign holidays,when the truth is that they get £70 a week to live on and have to pay part of their rent and council tax out that as well as buying newspapers stamps stationary etc to apply and look for work. Even Maggie Thatcher in her sickest fantasy couldn't have come up with the bedroom tax. Were all in it together eh David Cameron what a fckin sick joke that comment was  !

Rant over

[Master Ray]

Hard to believe that more is being made of Gary Barlow and the take that crew tax avoidance,seems to be if your flavour of the month and the media darling then you can just about get away with anything.
  On the benefits issue and " poverty porn" we had up there was the Scheme witch portrayed Onthank in Kilmarnock as cesspool of Scotland when in truth its nowhere near like that. Would also like to add that the torys and certain sections of the media have conned middle Britain in to believe that people on benefits are well off,they all smoke and drink heavily and can go foreign holidays,when the truth is that they get £70 a week to live on and have to pay part of their rent and council tax out that as well as buying newspapers stamps stationary etc to apply and look for work. Even Maggie Thatcher in her sickest fantasy couldn't have come up with the bedroom tax. Were all in it together eh David Cameron what a fckin sick joke that comment was  !

Rant over

Pol, as someone laid off recently, I am one of those unemployed folks trying to live on scraps.  I'd love to have a fine life on benefits but it just ain't so.  Foreign holidays?  I'd love to be able to afford to get on a train and see my mate 20 miles down the road!!! 

This 'coalition' government... oh, who are we kidding, the Tories and some soppy useless fuckers who came along for the ride just so they could taste a little bit of 'power'  ... have done more harm to this country than the last Labour government ever did.  And I hated the last Labour government!

 

[Anna Woman von NRW]

Now then, does any of this truly surprise anyone?

Tax breaks and tax "incentives" are there for the benefit of shareholders and the hallowed corporate entities. Nothing (bar a few minor scraps) is aimed at the benefit of the "people" or even society as a whole. It is driven by the interests of the deity Business which has become the sole driver and motivation for the governance of Great Britain (and probably wherever you are too). If it brings in business = good, if business might not like it = bad. And for businesses equally insert Take That, Jimmy Carr or whatever. Taxation as a progressive mechanism for improving the country's lot? Forget it, those days are long gone. Anything that does or may signal a reduced tax liability is a golden beacon to the worlds boardrooms as it signifies a potentially greater dividend and that is what they are there for, it's how success is judged and how more can be got. Unless it affects the dividend - me, you, all of us can go **** ourselves. (Obligatory quote: "Lonely sharks from everywhere smell the blood and head for town")

And with that ethos ruling the roost, shady quasi legal avoidance schemes are not to be looked at as unethical or slippery but rather as a smart move to be applauded. Sure there will be a token "Tut-Tutting" but I bet most of us would if we could. After all if every other fucker is on the make then why shan't I? It's a pretty good gamble that an avoidance loophole won't be declared illegal and most ,remember , are not. Shabby Westminster types will jump on the passing media moment to try and gain some attention and moral highground for a nano-second but they're no doubt doing what they can to save themselves a few dodgy quid.

As for the comparison to those at the other end of the spectrum and the judgement and difficulties piled on them well that's a really handy scapegoat to put the attention on. Doesn't matter how shit we feel, it's nice to feel better than someone else so play to the gallery and demonise the ones we can feel better than. Meanwhile no-one notices the cash bolting out the back door behind us.

I'll get of me soapbox tower now.

 

[szmurf]

scumbags are scum the world over, eh?

You got that right.