Noggin wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 8:46 am
Surely avoiding tax in that amounts is bad for people lower down the chain? so, yes, it's pretty bad!!
That's a very left wing redistributing the wealth argument and could be applied to anyone earning money, everyone will have a different opinion on who it should apply to.
Interesting, no one's ever suggested I'm left wing
I am fully aware that most people try and avoid some tax - seems to be a notional sport in most countries. But to do so to the extent that Trump does and then stand for president, well, the country will soon be out of money if everyone follows suit, no?
That probably depends on how you view the money you earn. Does it belong to you and you give some of it to the government to pay for things that only government can provide, or does it all belong to the government who generously allow you to keep some of it?
Whether you believe it's yours or the government's, do you think the government spends it more wisely than you could spend it yourself?
If you think the government spends your money wisely then go ahead, give them as much as they ask for. But if you think the government wastes your money, why would you not try to avoid as much taxation as possible?
Mussels wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 10:02 am
Would you try to conflate his tax avoidance with evasion?
I think there’s a line that doesn’t necessarily equate with the legal line between avoidance and evasion.
Jimmy Carr was a good example. I can imagine him going to his accountant and his accountant telling him he’d had a good year and he could do A, B and C in order to reduce his liability. Carr would have said ‘yep, sounds like a plan’, paid the tax that was legally due after the tax schemes were put in place and not given it another thought. HMRC leaked what he’d done, the PM mentioned him in the HoC and Carr was pilloried. There was never any suggestion that what he did was illegal, it was just an aggressive avoidance scheme.
Mussels wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 10:02 am
I have no doubt that Starmer avoids paying more tax then he needs to? I expect he pays more than the minimum into a pension scheme for starters.
Would you try to conflate his tax avoidance with evasion?
The system was introduced in order to encourage people to make adequate provision for retirement. (Tax is deferred not avoided). In which case he's setting a good example.
If he'd defaulted on his mortgage and bullied the bank into writing the debt off, written down the value of the house and claimed tax relief against the 'loss' we'd be in the right sort of ball park.
Doubt is not a pleasant condition.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Voltaire
US President Joe Biden has announced that he is dropping out of his re-election battle with Donald Trump, in a historic move that plunges the already turbulent 2024 White House race into uncharted territory.
"It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve you as president," the 81-year-old Democrat said in a letter in X, posted while he was recovering from Covid at his beach house in Delaware.
"While it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term."
Mr Biden said he would "speak to the nation later this week in more detail about my decision".
If Kamala Harris steps into the breach it will be interesting to see if the Fat Orange Idiot can keep his Misogyny and Racism in check. Maybe he'll do us all a favour and have a terminal apoplectic fit.
Blundering about trying not to make too much of a hash of things.
Exactly what is this line that does not equate with legal line between avoidance and evasion?
I think that's where HMRC call it evasion and the courts tell them to behave and stop their illegal protection racket.
What is the "illegal protection racket"?
I've helped drag this off topic but there have been many cases where HMRC have threatened court action if payments aren't made but when their bluff is called they lose in court. Demanding money with illegal threats sounds like a protection racket to me.
US President Joe Biden has announced that he is dropping out of his re-election battle with Donald Trump, in a historic move that plunges the already turbulent 2024 White House race into uncharted territory.
"It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve you as president," the 81-year-old Democrat said in a letter in X, posted while he was recovering from Covid at his beach house in Delaware.
"While it has been my intention to seek re-election, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term."
Mr Biden said he would "speak to the nation later this week in more detail about my decision".
If Kamala Harris steps into the breach it will be interesting to see if the Fat Orange Idiot can keep his Misogyny and Racism in check. Maybe he'll do us all a favour and have a terminal apoplectic fit.
There are plenty of skeletons in her closet, she's almost as likely to lose as Biden.
If she does win I wonder if she'll be claiming to be the first Indian president or the first Black president, she seems a little confused.
Lutin wrote: ↑Sun Jul 21, 2024 8:05 pm
If Kamala Harris steps into the breach it will be interesting to see if the Fat Orange Idiot can keep his Misogyny and Racism in check. Maybe he'll do us all a favour and have a terminal apoplectic fit.
I don't think the "Fat Orange Idiot" needs to do anything other than letting her open her mouth, spout her usual word salad and start cackling.
).
