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Gary Lineker: Asylum policy comments and the BBC

Yes it's legal, that's why I said "albeit by legal means"

Doesn't make it morally right though when very rich people do all they can to pay as little tax as possible via various loop holes in the system. But that's up to the government to crack down on I suppose.

When it comes to tradesmen, they are probably doing a bit of tax evasion as well as tax avoidance. Not that I would accuse you of such things Rob.

Who's round is it ? Got to be mine or @Dipper_Dave , if he ever returns.

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Again the point here is he wasn’t arguing that the tax should be avoided he was saying it wasn’t his tax to pay.

IR35 was a reaction to the government realising that when someone is contracted and paid as a company they miss out on the employer contribution of NI. Since IR35 came in the contractors said the employer contribution should be paid by the company (as it is in PAYE) and the company’s argued that it was the responsibility of the contractor.

The court have sided with contractors.
 
Yes it's legal, that's why I said "albeit by legal means"

Doesn't make it morally right though when very rich people do all they can to pay as little tax as possible via various loop holes in the system. But that's up to the government to crack down on I suppose.

When it comes to tradesmen, they are probably doing a bit of tax evasion as well as tax avoidance. Not that I would accuse you of such things Rob.

Who's round is it ? Got to be mine or @Dipper_Dave , if he ever returns.

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Yes, it is the round of either of the gentlemen from Yorkshire.
The two fine gentlemen from Lancashire made sure they got a round in early, as they do.
People get accountants to advise them on the best way of living within the law.
They would be foolish to ignore the paid advice of a professional in the circumstances.
The tax lawyers had been predicting a walkover for months, it was no suprise.
 
A tradesperson or in this case someone with little talent creates a LTD company solely to avoid the 40% tax bracket, they pay 20% on all of their earnings over £12,500, that’s not fair on anyone earning over £50,000.
It’s legal yes but morally it’s not correct but I could almost stomach that if said idiot doesn’t stand on a soap box criticising how a government spends tax payers money whilst at the same time using a legal route to avoid paying your fair share.
Yes the system is wrong in allowing that but he could also pay himself £1,000,000 from his company using PAYE and then pay the fair taxation on it but he chooses not too.
 
Tying in with a post elsewhere...I couldn't be bothered to post twice...(edit...I did in the end...)
The courts decided Lineker had been treated unfairly... by both his bosses and the taxman...but others know better.
There are lots of idiots about at the moment though.
Idiot teachers who stay on low wages instead of getting a better paid job.
Lots of idiot nurses doing the same.
Life would grind to a halt if all the idiots started working for other, better paid employers.
My hourly rate as a jobbing gardener is far greater than a newly qualified junior doctor.
2nd edit...
Just calculated, after realistic conversion for all the unpaid overtime...I earn a fiver an hour more than a newly qualified teacher.
As a technically unqualified manual worker, with zero stress and lots of happy punters who feed me tea and cake.
Beer sometimes.
 
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So just to close this off for anyone that’s interested take a look at this company.


Legal yes, unscrupulous absolutely.
A long list of famous directors including yes a certain Mr Lineker for a company who’s sole purpose is to funnel fees through a company to avoid tax.
HMRC took them to court and again lost because it’s legal but these people are taking the rest of us for a ride,
 
Is that how you avoid the taxman by being paid in beer?

Good business practice.
Sadly no, if I was actually paid in beer, it would have to be declared for its value.
Free refreshments as gifts for busy workers are not taxable!
Likewise I get gifts from customers at Christmas, as tips would be taxable.
 
So just to close this off for anyone that’s interested take a look at this company.


Legal yes, unscrupulous absolutely.
A long list of famous directors including yes a certain Mr Lineker for a company who’s sole purpose is to funnel fees through a company to avoid tax.
HMRC took them to court and again lost because it’s legal but these people are taking the rest of us for a ride,
Totally agree, the law needs changing to stop this .

Isn't one of the reasons that the government give for not raising the top rate of tax is it would encourage even more people to use loop holes like this ?

The answer is , change the law so it can't happen.

Mr Lineker and others like him have the means to pay their tax at 40% without it affecting their lifestyle in the slightest. But while they have a perfectly legal (but in my opinion underhand) way to avoid some of the higher tax band, they will, because they can.



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Spot on comment about the original issue from Chris O'Dowd, from an interview in The Independent...

The week we speak, he’s been tweeting about Gary Lineker’s BBC impartiality row. “Always worth remembering that their ‘absolute’ aim is to make you hate the BBC,” he wrote of the Conservative government, “so they can manipulate public apathy into a workable path to privatisation. It’s working 100 per cent so far. In football terms, the current situ is s****y ownership. Don’t jettison your club. Once it’s gone…” (O’Dowd is a supporter of Liverpool FC, a club almost as widely loved as the BBC.) He is very animated on the topic of BBC impartiality when I raise it. “Gary should be allowed free speech, and it’s been proven time and time again that it wasn’t even against their own code of ethics, so him being suspended is f***ing ludicrous,” he tells me. “But the fact that it’s been turned into such a circus is much more fascinating, because that’s deliberate. [The Tories] are wanting to absolutely defund the BBC as much as they can, they’re wanting to turn people against it, and they’re using this because they think it will work… and it probably will in the long term.”
 
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