Property News · May 9, 2012

Ten things you need to know about tax


The UK’s tax system is fiendishly complicated. Are we right to be outraged at how the rich avoid paying it? Why should we hand over our cash to the exchequer, is it right to punish pasty-lovers – and could we create a fairer system?’Taxes are the price we pay for civilisation,” said the great US supreme court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. Perhaps, but sometimes it seems that those of us who can’t afford clever accountants or offshore havens are paying the most for it. We poor saps don’t know about such tax avoidance schemes as double Luxembourgs, Dutch sandwiches or Irish branches. Worse yet, we can’t afford to hire people who know about them – probably because so much of our disposable incomes disappear in taxes. Is it only me who’s spotting the irony?Ken Livingstone set up a company to reduce his tax bills and several members of the prime minister’s Business Advisory Group legally minimise tax exposure through offshore avoidance schemes while Cameron promises to clamp down on tax avoidance. Last week it was reported that 2,000 public sector officials are being paid through private companies, following an investigation begun when it came to light that one civil servant was paid a £182,000 salary with no deductions for tax or national insurance. Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
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