Jimmy Carr & the PM

PM describes Jimmy Carr's tax arrangements as 'morally wrong' ....

Opening a can of worms ..............

This could backfire ...

Let me see. I have a choice. One of the choices is expensive and one is cheaper and legal? Which one am I going to go for? Yes! The cheaper option.

'Morally wrong'

I don't get the joke.

I think the PM has made a big mistake bringing this to light. As Frehley says, he could be opening a can of worms. Some mps and financiers in their favour are probably doing the same thing.

I don't think he had any right to attack an individual in that way. I also wonder why it was ok for him to comment on Jimmy Carr and not on Gary Barlow who appears to be doing the same thing....hmmm....I wonder why that might be???

It was legal; if the government has any problems then they should tighten the law.

I wad hoping to come here for a ding dong, but alas, no. I concur with everyone else. If I had an accountant and he asked me if I'd like to legally pay less tax, I'd jump at the chance.

If I were Jimmy Carr, I'd flip Cameron the bird, carry on paying tax at 1% and make it my mission to humiliate Cameron at every opportunity.

... and he can. Oh yes. He can do that.
And as to Mr Barlow ...

Setting aside the individual case of Mr Carr there is, of course, a much bigger issue here. For example, are we talking about tax avoidance or tax evasion? Jimmy Carr was practising tax avoidance, which we might all do given the opportunity. Tax evasion though. That's immoral.

That's a quote from Richard Murphy of Tax Research UK.
The hard truth is that an obscene amount of money is being 'hidden' from the system which, if you think about it, could translate into a few extra deaths in the armed forces or in our hospitals because of the lack of resources arising from the lack of funding due to these tax-avoidance/evasion exploits.

Maybe we should all give a thought to the bigger picture here. Sneaking around and cheating the tax system, whether legally or not, costs lives.

Sorry, Les, but I disagree. Taxes are high enough as they are and the tax system is a pyramid type sheme/scam as it is.

I'd even go as far as saying that taxes cost lives because we depend on tax funded institutions to save our lives or because after paying our taxes we still have to much income yet not enough to seek private care.

Too many people are denied free medical care and can't quite afford to finance it themselves...Good grief, even cancer treatment is taxed!!!!

I have a feeling you were refering to the higher income individuals evading taxes there, Les, but I disagree that we should have different rules for different people, correct me if I'm out of line?
One rule should fit all.
Taxes are disgustingly high and they seem to breed and mutate into 'fees and fines' like there is no tomorrow at the drop of a hat.

One thing I think could make a difference is raising the personal income allowance higher, and again higher. It has now reached £8105 per year per individual, yet if it is combined with that of a concubine, the allowance is scrubbed.

If we are to believe that the cost of living in the UK is ~£15,ooo per year per individual, then please help me out with this equation because I seem to be missing a factor or two here! The sums do not add up!
We are getting robbed, pure and simple!

I'm not sure we disagree on too much, Fwenchie. I certainly agree that the system of taxation in this country needs reviewing.

Yes, I think I was. The problem seems to be that there are different rules for different people. By that I mean that the more money you have the more chance you have of finding ways to 'cheat'. If you're on PAYE, which most of us are - there isn't a lot you can do other than pay up and shut up. I'm not sure about this (Fells?) but I suspect that if I could afford to hire someone to sort my money out for me, I could save some of my tax money. I can't afford one though and I'm not sure I'd choose to use that particular area to save myself a few quid.
There's another side to the tax debate though, isn't there? What happens to my tax money. As some of you know, I have every reason to be grateful to the 'system'. If it wasn't for the fact that we all pay our taxes, I'm certain that I wouldn't be here to whinge on about rich people cheating the system. So I'm grateful. I like having my bins emptied. I'm grateful that the system allows children to be educated. And so on.

I'd also like to ask how much money large companies are responsible for siphoning out of the system too. I have a feeling that that constitutes a large amount. Anyone?

I bet some of Camerons 'friends' are wishing he'd kept his mouth shut.

Cameron criticised Carr but when it came to those that donated to the Tory party he refused to comment.

Tax evasion isn't immoral, it's illegal. Conversely, tax avoidance isn't immoral - it's legal.

I see no point in bringing arguments of morality into it (I'm referring to Cameron, not you btw Les).

There is no benchmark for morality - it's arrogant in the extreme to enforce one's morality over another.

The taxation of our society is governed by benchmarks of legal and illegal. No other posturing is relevant and people should not be bullied into changing their stance based on arguments of morality in this regard.

If government doesn't want these tax loopholes, then it should make them illegal. They are not in any position of moral authority.