Should Gary Barlow return his OBE?

Easyrider said:
If he wasn't... then that politician or newspaper would be done for slander.

The mere fact he hasn't pursued it further means he is not completely legit.
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Or it means he doesn't care because a newspaper claiming he avoids tax, whether legitimately or otherwise will have absolutely zero bearing on his life whatsoever.
 
HMRC only go after the low paid working class for tax as it is easy for them to screw them over. If you have more money and can afford better lawyers, then you can avoid tax all you like as HMRC won't bother with you.
 
Easyrider said:
I have added a question mark to help you...

:)
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:D

Not really slander is it?
AN MP says he and his other band mates have put money in a fund to avoid paying tax and if true the Taxman will find out and take what belongs.
I can't see any update on this whether the Taxman did take any money so it must have been legal and he has paid the correct amount.
It isn't anybodys fault if there are legal tax avoidance things put in place.
Around 2000 I was told by my accountant I had to pay so much or I could buy more music gear so I had a Gibson Les Paul Standard for £1600, a Korg Trinity for £1700 and a Zoom 1608 multi-track studio for around £800 - it was either giving it to the Government or stocking up on toys.
 
LeeUK said:
HMRC only go after the low paid working class for tax as it is easy for them to screw them over. If you have more money and can afford better lawyers, then you can avoid tax all you like as HMRC won't bother with you.
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No, HMRC go after the low paid working class tax evaders. The ones that do cash in hand jobs and don't put it through their books to evade tax. One is illegal and the other is not, however a large company paying some tax but not necessarily all the tax many think they should pay is seen as bad whereas Gary down the pub is "sticking it to the man" by evading all his tax...

elmarko said:
A flat rate can work, just not a low flat rate (as that would result in a huge deficit in public finances).

A flat 50% rate for everybody (with the government providing significantly more to off-set the balance), you could have a functioning system - but it may not be desirable.

You are completely correct about the rest mind.

Edit - on a side note, I don't think he should return his OBE mind - but I don't even think OBE's should even exist .....

Rubbish, a flat rate would not reduce tax avoidance.

People don't avoid tax due to some view on the morality of a variable tax system - they avoid paying tax because it yields them a greater amount of money, as long as large sums of money can be made avoiding tax, people will do it - regardless as to what a mythical flat rate was set at.

If it is about fairness, would you be happy with a flat 60% rate then across the board? - or let me guess, when you say "I want a flat rate" what your really mean is "I want to pay a lower rate than I do currently"?.
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Where do you get the idea of a 50-60% flat tax rate? The current maximum rate of tax is 40% so any flat rate of tax would need to be 40% or LESS to balance the books.

Personally I'd go with a £15k tax free limit to allow everyone to buy "essentials" without paying tax and then a flat rate of 30-35% flat rate tax on everything else depending on the need to balance the books.

On the other hand if we want to change the system and the ideology, becoming a more socialist nation then maybe we can start looking at a 50-60% flat rate tax, but that all depends if most people are happy to have 70% of their working effort given to the government (Income tax + national insurance) and only a third of their effort goes to help them directly.
 
Easyrider said:
If you are worth millions and have nothing to do in-between albums then chairty work is where its at.

a: It makes you look good
b: It relieves Boredom

I mean Gary just can't sit in his big house all day can he?

Or like Elton...Just auction off all the **** you buy on a regular basis and give it all to charity.

I would be more inclined to celebrate the full time working mum that needs to work to eat that fund raises on a regular basis.



Just sayin
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Why does being worth millions suddenly mean you have loads of free time. Just because someone is in the public eye doesn't mean they don't have to work hard for their money and because they're in the public eye doesn't mean they should be victimised for their success and accountancy.

The Royal Family are worth millions, they do a lot of charity work. Should they be giving up their titles because there is a single Mum working minimum wage to make her money?

Business owners that are worth billions probably through good management of their money, probably also give money to charity, but Gary Barlow is the bad guy because he is on TV every week and is trying to be a successful musician by releasing a new album.

I didn't see him releasing any songs when he helped arrange the Queen's Jubilee concert, but no doubt there is some other conspiracy between him and the BBC to trick people into donating money while he sits on his piles of money he avoided giving to the British tax system.
 
StriderX said:
Children in need.

Celebrities in need of Ego boost.
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I'm confused as to why we should care about anything these celebrities do. Or value their opinions in any way.

If Gary Barlow himself appeared on my doorstep and asked me to donate to charity, I'd tell him to politely mind his own bloody business and stop bothering me.

People who do things because celebrities endorse them are a bit mental.
 
regulus said:
Yet the contractor should be on an hourly rate that's x10 that of the PAYE worker.

I'll give you an example;

Project Engineer I work with. £450 a day. He's a contractor. Pretty much booked up till 2016.

Project Engineer working for a very very large civils multinational. £35k a year ...
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But that 450 headline figure seems large but you forget

- he probably has to pay an accountant
- he doesnt get holiday pay
- or sick pay
- no pensions benefits
- in fact no company benefits at all
- he has to have several insurance policies
- supply his own laptop / tools
- possibly doesnt live locally so has costs which he cannot pass to the client
- in the event of a downturn in the market that 2016 contract is as much worth as toilet paper and is given next to no notice and walked out the door
- may not be able to find work 12 months a year

Permie position - well just turn up Mon-Fri (where I am you dont even need to do that) and collect pay cheque all worked out for you at the end of the month

So whilst a contractors life seems great when he is busy there are lots of hidden costs that people dont appreciate. If you want to try it - upskill and leave the comfort zone of Permieland. Many moan about it where I am but maybe the odd one or two will strike out on their own.
 
jimjamuk said:
But that 450 headline figure seems large but you forget

- he probably has to pay an accountant
- he has to have several insurance policies
- supply his own laptop / tools
- possibly doesnt live locally so has costs which he cannot pass to the client.
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All of which are tax deductible...and it is a pretty poor accountant that doesn't save his client far more than he charges the client.
 
Jokester said:
It's still all a cost to his business though.
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A cost that can be set against liabilities. In fact he would have the opportunity to set other costs against those liabilities as well...such as a proportion of household bills and so on. The contractor is more able to avoid tax and potentially pay far less tax than the PAYE Salaried man. So that potentially offsets the issue of not receiving company benefits such as sick pay, pensions and travel allowances, if the company even offer such, which many do not.
 
Castiel said:
All of which are tax deductible...and it is a pretty poor accountant that doesn't save his client far more than he charges the client.
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What has that got to do with anything? The accountant you've paid would then pay the due tax on his profits?

The work the consultant does is also tax deductible to the company who employs him and so and so on.

Tax systems how do they work?
 
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