Is Osborne really this stupid?

[Lutin]

Seriously, he didn't know that this was going on? He is either a much, much bigger idiot than I gave him credit for, or he is just another tory liar.

Millionaire tax avoiders 'shock' chancellor.

[Lulu]

Seriously, he didn't know that this was going on? He is either a much, much bigger idiot than I gave him credit for, or he is just another tory liar.

Millionaire tax avoiders 'shock' chancellor.

My thoughts exactly Lutin on hearing the 'news' on the radio this morning. Either way, it's pretty scary to know that someone that out of touch and/or dishonest is Chancellor of the Exchequer.

[jarl]

lol, that was my thought process too. But £145 mil between 20 people isn't exactly a country changing amount of money, especially once you realise that some* of the tax avoidance is because of charitable giving!!

*I'm fairly willing to bet it's a far bigger proportion than sensationist media would like you to think!

[Lulu]

The 20 people and £145 million is surely only the tip of the iceberg, though. Given that most of it is 'legal' (but certainly not ethical!) avoidance, it just highlights the case for reform of the tax laws. And NOT in the favour of the super-wealthy, either...

[Boris]

lol, that was my thought process too. But £145 mil between 20 people isn't exactly a country changing amount of money, especially once you realise that some* of the tax avoidance is because of charitable giving!!

*I'm fairly willing to bet it's a far bigger proportion than sensationist media would like you to think!

Yes but that's only 20 people. There are probably close on to one million millionaires in the UK and even if only one percent of them are fiddling / being creative with their tax that's 10,000 people not paying their fair way. Yes, the numbers won't echo the top 20 but I still think it will be a few billion lost every year.

A lad that worked for me a few years back was getting paid £40 an hour but with his creative accountancy he appeared to be low paid so his kids were entitled to and receiving free school dinners

[hotbulb]

lol, that was my thought process too. But £145 mil between 20 people isn't exactly a country changing amount of money, especially once you realise that some* of the tax avoidance is because of charitable giving!!

*I'm fairly willing to bet it's a far bigger proportion than sensationist media would like you to think!

But aren't such schools as Eton, Harrow and Westminster registered as charities? I suspect a lot of the "charitable giving" by the extremely rich is to such "charities" as these ....... not things that benefit society as a whole!,

[winxp-master]

Theres a reason why these people are rich and stay rich, i'm only shocked that he is shocked!

[Kjell Lindberg]

Theres a reason why these people are rich and stay rich!

The only way a person or a country can become rich, or stay rich is to profit on the poor masses or the countrys of the third world.
I nourish a faint hope that the common masses one day will understand that the game with stocks and bonds is nothing else than a massive Pyramidal game were the ones that were first in and at the top are the only winners.


I'd say, Let them burn! Burn them! Burn them all !

Sorry! I'm having a bad day. There is an BMW R1200R Classic (Black with white stripe, and some nice wire wheels) for sale at a VERY good price!
AND I HAVE NOT THAT KIND OF MONEY!

Now, were are my Valiums?

[thetimkirby]

If he isn't that stupid, then he must think we are, to believe him (and I don't). And if he is that stupid, then he is the last person to employ in his current job. I don't really think he can win this one.

[pale rider]

he really should have said nothing about this.... as the chancellor, that kind of makes him the nation's accountant and an accountant that doesn't know tax "avoidance" as opposed to "evasion" and all the ways to exploit it has to be an out-and-out liar. isn't that what people hire accountants to do

kind of like one of us off this site saying we dont know what a motorcycle is.........it's pathetic.

but we are so used to politicians lying to us that it gets all forgotten about in a matter of days