Tax avoidance is legal and there are teams of accountants around the world making pots of money, saving the ultra rich pots of money. Legal yes, immoral definitely. One of my beefs is the NI contribution. Capped at £35k, why is that anyone earning less than that pays 12% on all of their salary whereas those earning over that pay 12% on the first £35k and then 2% thereafter. And they the rich are being fleeced. I leave you to draw your own conclusions.
NI is capped because it is supposed to pay for pension and healthcare and the wealthy need no more of the latter (in fact usually less) and get given no more of the former then the less well off.
Of course in reality it is just another income stream for the government and what annoys me most about it is the way that past governments have made headline promises regarding income tax, then quietly fiddled with NI to recoup the money that way (typically from middle earners).
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50% take out more than they put in, 50% put in more than they take out. Always seems to me that its the 50% who take out more who spend most of the time whingeing about the 50% who put in more not putting in enough. I assume they think if more went in then they could take more out.
Before long, the poop will hit the fan big time, benefits, healthcare and social care are becoming unaffordable, I’ve no idea how they will pay for it in the future, probably end up with can’t pay can’t have.
In the main, tax avoidance is only available to the rich who can afford the cleverest advisors and lawyers. For that reason, the average tradesman doesen’t see much difference if he puts a bit of cash in his back pocket and “forgets” to declare it when he fills in his returns. He may get a bit of extra beer money, but it isn’t going to buy him a private jet.
You will never eliminate avoidance schemes, because the smartest tax men can earn a hundred times as much working as advisors than they could get working for the Revenue.
The rich only accumulate wealth because they think it will buy them respect and admiration. The best way to get them to pay their “fair share” is to reward those who pay the most personal tax with honors and public adulation.
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Tosh!
It’s a public duty just as much as ensuring your car is taxed and insured. If that were the case, every man jack who taxes and insures his car is due a knighthood!
I don’t think so 
I wonder if the LSE would take on an exercise to find out how much everyone would pay if the contribution was amortised. What would the percentage be then. Regards healthcare, I worked as an IFA and sold private health insurance. I can tell you that private medicine does not do chronic. Furthermore when old Wayne Rooney (£250k/week) wraps his Maserati round a lamppost he will be taken to a NHS hospital. Should he need a heart transplant he will also go to a NHS hospital. Pension he won’t need as I wonder if he is one of the ‘off-shore investment wallahs’.
Apologise for taking taxpayers money to fund lavish lavish lifestyle and been fined. Do we realize that its us the poor working class and the disappearing middle one who have to pay more taxes for these at the top. Austerity is their legacy. Off with their heads!
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Tosh yourself, my good friend!
The real problem is that, if our betters (including footballers, racing drivers and even our beloved monarch) are unable to distinguish between legality and morality, you can hardly blame ordinary folks for getting in on the act in the only way that is accessible to them. The truth is that the rich are just naughty children who cheat to win and like children, the most effective way to control them is by giving gold stars for good behavior.
And while on the subject, “Chapeau!” to J. K Rowling, one of Britain’s most willing taxpayers.
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Perhaps the best way to eliminate both evasion and avoidance by the general public would be to start by ensuring that our politicians are themselves paying up appropriately.
How about requiring our general election candidates to publish their total income and amount of tax paid so that a calculation can then be made to express the amount of tax paid as a percentage of income. Include a provision that giving false information bars a person from being an MP and the political parties would have a huge incentive to enforce the matter themselves.
Just an idea, but perhaps if our MPs were all paying their way along with the rest of us, then they would have a bit more incentive to close down all the loopholes.
Ironically Robert I thnk after the expenses scandal of a few years ago MP’s are one group that we can have confidence in that they’ve paid all their taxes etc. Obviously abuse of power and sexual harassment are different.
You can search this database for the guys who financed Brexit campaign.
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Tax optimisation