Let’s blame the economic collapse on Jimmy Carr and Take That
HAVING shone a harsh light on Jimmy Carr’s tax affairs, the Times leads with “Taxman v Take That”. No, not a fight to the death – in which case we’d place a fiver on Take That – rather news that Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen, three of the group’s members, invested “at least £26m in a “scheme that…is a mechanism for tax avoidance“.
The Times believes that Carr and Mark Owen’s private tax matters are important enough to be front-page news.
It’s all about loans: the client loans money into a scheme, in Take That’s instance, one run by Icebreaker Management Services, who then loans the money back to the client’s companies. As a loan, the money is not liable for tax.
Carr is portrayed as a hypocrite for hitting bankers for not paying their dues whilst, reportedly, not paying his in full. Who knew that Carr would make so much cash attacking soft, liberal-friendly targets while coining it in?
But is Carr’s reported £3.3 million a year investment and Take That’s £26m the reason for the economic meltdown? Are we all such fans of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs that Carr and Mark Owen are pariahs? The Times announces:
“Tax avoidance has got out of control and is now financially significant.”
To whom? The country? Is the country’s financial mess down to tax avoidance? No. Of course not.
This is about is finding faces to fit the role of official hate figure of the right-minded, identifying people we can blame for the economy being shafted. Does anyone think Jimmy Carr is responsible for that? Gary Barlow? The elite are telling us to blame the individual, but it was the system created by politicians that failed.
George Osborne said “aggressive tax avoidance as morally repugnant”. What he means is that anyone wanting more is greedy and, as the polemic goes, destructive to the greater good. Less is better. To pay your taxes in full is to be virtuous. To live simply is to right and proper. The idea is that humanity should strive for less.
Posted: 20th, June 2012 | In: Money Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
