As JC pointed out earlier - avoiding tax is not exclusive to any flavour of politics.

management I don’t want to explain hypocracy to Michael
Knowledge would only confuse him

That’s true management I’m not particularly intelligent
But I recognise what hypocracy is  when I see it

See the difference  , I’m not sure Michel can , he’s like that

I think it's attributed to Disraeli:

"A Conservative government is just an organised Hypocrisy".

Like I say, I hate it when every discussion turns party political but I do struggle with the concept of voting for a government that doesn't believe in government.

The mega rich DONT pay tax,all hidden Cayman Islands, all mugs like us play the game,and if you don't pay your council tax off to jail you go, one rule for us and one for them-and its monumental boll0cks

Ah there we go , I don’t know a great deal about Tony Benn I must say
But I do know he didn’t pay his taxes , and there’s another pr att in the Labour Party now called Benn trying to stop the democratic vote and keep us in the eu
No doubt you think he’s a great man also md

That’s the one lol

Hi akabula - I thought the question had very little/zero bearing on the topic.

I guess JC (knowing that most people have or have had an ISA) was hoping to make me feel like a hypocrite or worse still was going to level an accusation that I am a tax dodging Champagne Socialist.

I am game for anything that doesn't require a specialist lawyer/accountant to set it up, or significant bending of the truth to set it up. I don't think ISA's fall into that bracket. I didn't send back my children's' Child Benefit either if you feel that is relevant.

Retyped hat as I thought I'd lost it lol
Not sure what happened.

It never fails to amaze me, that the "people" who defend high earners who use legal loopholes to avoid paying their fair share of tax, are the same folk who hate the wee man down the road for claiming £60 (or whatever) a week for not being able to get a job.

Like an earlier poster said, if the likes of LK just paid her full taxes without employing a fancy accountant to save money, the NHS and other social services would not be in the mess it is in.

And don`t give me that crap that everybody would do the same if earning vast amounts. Poppycock! Speak for yourselves, you greedy ********. There are many big earners who don`t revert to this scenario regardless of their political allegiance.

It`s got nothing to do with this leftie-rightie **** that this forum is obsessed with, it`s about having a moral compass and scruples which one either has or doesn`t.

..... mind you, the biggest crime is how that talentless woman, can earn such vast sums.

Wow, what a lawyer she must have!!!! Or just a gullible Judge....

Judge Dean said: 'We did not accept that Ms Kelly simply appeared as herself - we were satisfied that Ms Kelly presents a persona of herself, she presents herself as a brand and that is the brand ITV sought when engaging her.'

The judge said that Kelly could be classed as a "theatrical artist", which would mean any payments to an agent would be allowed as a tax-deductible expense.

- If her additional tax bill was £1.2m HOW much was her agent getting then?!!!!!!

Sorry akabula - had a phone call (not my accountant though!).

I guess we all draw the line somewhere. Claiming you are "self employed" solely for tax purposes and then continuing to exclusively work for your same/current employer doing exactly the same job (but pay much less tax than before) is what I witnessed many colleagues doing. LK looks to have done similar.

I'm up for an ISA and have benefited very significantly from Share Save Schemes and other stocks and shares. As stated I'm not a communist (!!) but I draw the line at setting up a PO Box as my Guernsey office, flying to Jersey or some far flung tropical island twice a year, even though I know it's technically legal to do so. I also draw the line at claiming my cars, clothes, eye liner, loo rolls, etc are all tax deductible.

You are correct that HMRC make the rules but in a world where money often trumps integrity anybody at HMRC with more than a sniff of intelligence is lured across to the "opposition".

I guess unless the law changes it boils down to Legal versus Moral but it surely isn't Party Political or Left versus Right.

I think the only Party Political aspect should be about the rate of tax - rather than if it should be paid or not.

When I worked on the market I was v a t registered and because I was over the threshold where you have to pay v a t I was discriminated against

If I bought a fashion garment for Ten pounds and wanted to sell it for 15 pounds I would have to pay v a t on the 15 pounds and reclaim the ten that I payed to purchase it .the Pakistani in the next isle who was not v a t registered and probably on benefits as well did not have to pay vat so he could afford to charge less than me for the garment to make the same profit as me .I had to charge the same as him meaning he would make more profit than me because people go for the cheapest they don't care that I'm legal and vat registered

Every three months I had to pay  the v a t office thousands while he paid nought

The problem is that SOME people - who earn lots of money, pay large sums of it to avoid paying any to the society that has allowed them their wealth.

If they paid the tax - and not the accountant, they'd still be well off and so would everyone who never gets the chance to avoid theirs.

Ess-aitch-one-tee!
I must be a corbynista too then?

Surely the problem then lies with the rules and not the taxpayer or non payer.
Easy enough to tighten them up but never been addressed by either of the main parties.

Maybe the Commission/Premium Charge team should be in charge at HMRC?

Avoidance and Evasion both futile - just need to get the rules watertight.

The majority of people try to avoid paying tax (not illegal as opposed to evasion)
Transferring shares into your spouses name to get their allowance when selling is commonplace.
Do you think that is wrong?
Biggest problem we have is companies registering overseas to pay less in corporation tax.
Individuals should be easier to attack by constantly closing the loopholes.

Carillion etc starting to look like a Ponzi scheme where govt (tax payers) are the victim.