Should Gary Barlow return his OBE?

I hope no one complains about the state of our roads, or the NHS, or lack of govt backed research projects into x,z,z.

Alternatively, I hope everybody who does complain is 100% behind full privatisation of state provided services.

The current govt understands that nobody wants to pay tax. And so they are doing the completely logical thing in that situation: full speed ahead to sell off all state assets/services and move them into private ownership.

Then we can have really low taxes. Of course by law we'll still have to pay for street lighting, trash collection, etc, but we'll pay in quarterly bills to the utility companies who provide such things. And much like the energy providers, you'll be able to choose which company you pay your bill to - they'll all cost the same, anyhow.

You'll be no better off after all this, but you won't feel so bad about giving your money to the benefit scroungers. They'll either be on the streets, begging, or be imprisoned by the local law franchise, who you pay quarterly to keep such filth out of sight. Or they might be staffing Primark on a five-year forced labour scheme.

But it'll be so nice not paying so much tax.
 
FoxEye said:
I hope no one complains about the state of our roads, or the NHS, or lack of govt backed research projects into x,z,z.

Alternatively, I hope everybody who does complain is 100% behind full privatisation of state provided services.

The current govt understands that nobody wants to pay tax. And so they are doing the completely logical thing in that situation: full speed ahead to sell off all state assets/services and move them into private ownership.

Then we can have really low taxes. Of course by law we'll still have to pay for street lighting, trash collection, etc, but we'll pay in quarterly bills to the utility companies who provide such things. And much like the energy providers, you'll be able to choose which company you pay your bill to - they'll all cost the same, anyhow.

You'll be no better off after all this, but you won't feel so bad about giving your money to the benefit scroungers. They'll either be on the streets, begging, or be imprisoned by the local law franchise, who you pay quarterly to keep such filth out of sight. Or they might be staffing Primark on a five-year forced labour scheme.

But it'll be so nice not paying so much tax.
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tbh I'd rather the near 10billion a year we spend on foreign aid was used to help this country really.
 
The thing that bugs me is the hypocrisy of the whole thing - endorsing charities, being seen 'supporting our troops' etc..while simultaneously withholding millions of pounds which would otherwise be put towards education, healthcare, the armed forces, people in need of benefits.

People who dodge taxes then make a big show of supporting charities are just ridiculous. I wonder how much money public services in Ireland are short as a result of Bono/U2's tax avoidance scheme for example.
 
dowie said:
The thing that bugs me is the hypocrisy of the whole thing - endorsing charities, being seen 'supporting our troops' etc..while simultaneously withholding millions of pounds which would otherwise be put towards education, healthcare, the armed forces, people in need of benefits.

People who dodge taxes then make a big show of supporting charities are just ridiculous. I wonder how much money public services in Ireland are short as a result of Bono/U2's tax avoidance scheme for example.
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I hate Bono for this very reason. That and the band keep putting out the same album over and over again.

If people like Gary Barlow and corporations like Starbucks, Vodafone etc.. paid their fair share instead of loopholing their way out of things then there would be no need to slash government budgets or carve up and sell off important state services like the NHS or Royal Mail. But then David Cameron's father is a massive tax dodger so Cameron doesn't seem too concerned about other people doing it.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/apr/20/cameron-family-tax-havens

And of course it was the neoliberal newly deregulated financial sector thanks to Thatcher that started the ball rolling on all this
 
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Every individual or company has a responsibility to pay the lowest amount of tax to which they are legally obliged to.

Issue is with government taxation policy not on those being taxed.
 
Jokester said:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27356896

I'm actually a bit lost as to how on earth this worked? Was the tax relief actually worth more than the money that was lost? That's the only way I can see how this could work.
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I'm struggling with the wording of that, have Barlow and co actually done anything illegal or is HMRC basically saying "wah wah wah, not fair, give us our money or else"?
 
Castiel said:
Tax avoidance is not illegal..it is accounting. It is the Governments responsibility to ensure the robustness of the tax system.

Pretty much every self employed individual (and quite a few PAYE) avoids taxation to some degree, whether it is claiming for the extra PC or doing some cash in hand or bringing in tobacco and alcohol from abroad....I suspect that Gary Barlow has raised and/or donated significantly more than the OP to charities of varying descriptions so perhaps we should simply recognise what he has done rather than vilify for what he has not.
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Totally agree with this view.

In saying that people with a lot of wealth do pay for someone to manage their funds and give advice. They have busy careers and cannot spend all day managing their funds.

I know that were I wealthy and my accountant said that I could write off some tax by giving it to a company helping start up acts what my answer would be.

It seems like Mr Barlow and others are more victims than tax avoidance perpetrators.

But again the tabloids love a good story don't they?
 
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