Gary Barlow and tax avoidance

www.actionaid.org.uk/campaign/show-me-the-money-a-tax-treasure-hunt

Anyone living in London and want to go on a tax hunt with ActionAid?

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2014/06/23/if-you-want-to-be-a-tax-judge-nows-the-time-to-apply/

Anyone fancy being a tax judge? Cannot look at the original article, as it's behind a paywall.

I agree gillybob

I think that the 'do-gooding' activities of Barlow et al are just a cover up for taking vast amounts of money from a gullible public and then wriggling away from their normal tax obligations. They just pretend to be patriots whilst lining their pockets. I do not admire them.

There are thousands do people who "do good" tenacre3 . They are mostly ordinary people, living ordinary lives. They are not millionaires and yet they give their time and money for nothing. Sadly no OBE for them. Yet there is one was they differ from Gary Barlow (and the likes) they have no choice but to pay their taxes in full ! I don't think this is a "witch hunt" at all. I think people are just fed up to the back teeth of "one rule for them and a different rule for the rest of us" .

I think Gary Barlow does more good than harm and that should be remembered, it always sounds like a witch hunt to me when a well known person appears to have done something that is deemed "not terribly british" I am sure his advisors arranged the plan anyway.

^ I sometimes really fear for the long-term future of ordinary folk against the dominance of these massive international corporations^

You and I both. Governments are extremely adept at directing public attention where they want it to go aren't they - whilst they quietly sell the population to the highest bidder

Let's face it, Governments don't run countries, they just meddle a bit in the lives of ordinary people. Big business runs the world.

I did not realise what has happened to the ownership of Boots the Chemists and to read, thanks to DJ, about the slippery way the new overseas owners have avoided paying UK tax, aided by the UK Chancellor is, frankly, quite disgraceful (though no doubt not illegal.) These sort of massive tax avoidance schemes, often organised and manipulated offshore by shadowy financial enterprises, are gradually threatening the very existence of conventional democratically-run countries, and in the past this sort of greed would indeed have incited the peasants to revolt and the workers to rebel. I sometimes really fear for the long-term future of ordinary folk against the dominance of these massive international corporations, especially when they are supported by the very governments who should be protecting the public interest. Good luck to the 'We own it' campaign to protect publicly-operated services. They will certainly need plenty of it!

www.weownit.org.uk

The start of the revolution, gillybob?

Shocking reading Durhamjen but nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to big companies, corporations and wealthy individuals and their relationship with HMRC.

As papaoscar said we "little people" are just easy targets, we don't have the know how or the money to fight and have no choice but to just pay up and shut up. I agree we need a party or union ready to take them on on our behalf !

Come the revolution !

Big companies have such an army of clever people working on minimising taxation at the best of times. They consistently out-gun mere politicians and HMRC employees. Throw a few enthusiastic policy wonks into the mix and it doesn't help.
The long term project of getting energy companies to subsidise and promote energy efficiency measures for customers has been a similar dance. Governments come up with an "obligation" energy companies a/ find ways to get the points in the easiest way they can (e.g. giving away lightbulbs). They lobby like mad to change policy - e.g. rebranding the obligation as "green taxes" and getting them slashed. Next year there is going to be very little money spent in this area are a consequence - so anyone who needs a new boiler, get on to it now.
I think Osborne should reduce corporation tax for smaller businesses because that is where the growth of the economy stems from.

This is what you should be complaining about. George Osborne's new rules for corporation tax have allowed this obscenity.
www.theguardian.com/business/2014/may/15/george-osborne-tax-changes-alliance-boots

It's HMRC employees who are sometimes so incompetent - so they are really ordinary people like you and me surely? What makes them think they can be arrogant? Civil SERVANTS! There to serve the public.

Us little people are easy targets for the big guns of government and when it comes to tax even more so. Until we all stand together and say NO MORE it will just go on.

I honestly can't believe what this country is coming to.

Depressing isn't it. They seem determined to make 'the little people' feel and behave as little as possible. Like they're muscle flexing or something. Maybe a new union would be a good thing but one that represents ordinary people trying to go about their ordinary lives without undue hassle from governments ...

I don't know why we bother employing people sometimes if I am honest.

That is how my husband and I felt in the end - not only unpaid tax collectors for the government, having to pay Employer's NI as well for each employee, it was like paying for the priviledge of it; we ended up selling the business as it just wasn't worth the hassle in the end.

Yes they can JessM but as you say they have been found guilty by a court? HMRC make so many dreadful mistakes I fear they will take the money and it would be up to you to fight for it back ! We have been in difficulties with HMRC when a company went bust on us. We did owe the money but were genuinely unable to pay all in one go. My fear is that in that situation they would have simply took it out of the account pushing us to the top of our overdraft facility meaning we would have gone out of business overnight and everyone would have been put out of work all for the sake of accepting payment in 3 installments. I honestly can't believe what this country is coming to. I don't know why we bother employing people sometimes if I am honest.

Sort of 1984 but 30 years on...

They can already do this with drug criminals.... ah but they have just been found guilty in a court of law... that's the difference.

It is a very scary proposal.

Surely it is against our human rights?

We should all be very worried about proposed new legislation that will allow HMRC to dip straight into your bank account and take whatever they like if they think you have an unpaid tax bill. They get it wrong so often I can only see misery ahead

I can envisage a lot of withdrawals from bank accounts and people going back to keeping their money in their homes.

Where do they find them?

The problem with HMRC is they believe everyone is guilty until they can prove themselves otherwise. You have to prove you have not earned a certain amount of money - but I was always taught you could not prove a negative. When I mentioned this to a tax inspector I was told that wasn't his problem!

I don't think any of them have any idea of how a business works. One asked for copies of all quotes and invoices sent out over a certain period, these were supplied and he then said that some of the quotes had not been invoiced! It had to be pointed out to him that when quotes are sent you don't always win the contract!

We should all be very worried about proposed new legislation that will allow HMRC to dip straight into your bank account and take whatever they like if they think you have an unpaid tax bill. They get it wrong so often I can only see misery ahead.

When DH was told he owed over £5,000 to HMRC (which he did not) we spoke to an official who told us airily that it was up to DH to make sure he was paying the correct amount of tax (he was PAYE).
Eventually, after a long discussion with her and still being unable to find out where it had all gone wrong over years, she said that 'It's a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing as more than one tax office is involved'. So I asked her how she could expect a layperson to understand how it worked if the HMRC themselves could not get it right.

We had to employ an accountant to sort it out.