to have reported my "friend" for benefit fraud

[buttercupp]

ok so cant go into too much detail for obvious reasons but i have a friend (not know for long but lives near me) and i have been debating for a while now whether to report her or not for living with her partner who is also claiming as living alone.

so today i have done it finally after being fed up of hearing what other electrical applicance they have bought with the stupid amount of money they have been given when my DH is out at work slogging his guts out just to make ends meet.

The reason i havent done it before is like i say she is supposed to be my friend,we have had nights out together and she has a baby so have felt a bit bad in that respect too but i knew i had to do the right thing.
would i be a hypocrite to continue to be her friend or should i avoid her from now on? i do like the girl just dont agree with what she was doing.and anyone know what will happen now i have reported her?

Oh yes, and as regards whether the OP should stay friends with the thief - presumably you wouldn't want to be friends with a thief anyway, would you? I'd therefore slowly stop seeing her.

Islandhopper, the OP did do the right thing in reporting, it was just so sneaky and underhanded. If she's so strongly principled she should be open in the reporting and tell her 'friend' reasons why she's dropping the acquaintance.

Once again Ladybiscuit - you are trying to grey the lines between avoidance and evasion.

You cant quote 13bn 'lost tax' because HMRC didnt have any rights to it in the first place. How can it be 'lost'?

Playing with semantics over avoidance was Gordon Browns game. His favourite spin saying was 'fair amount of tax'. Give me a break. What the fuk has fair got to do with it? Set the tax law and cut your cloth accordingly.

50m only due to tax avoidance? Think it might be slightly more than that.

50m only due to benefit cheating, sorry.

I hope your spite and envy keeps you warm and toasty.

Why not go after a few of the bankers next time?

You did the right thing - we are lucky in this country to have the welfare system so help the needy not the greedy. When you see the difficulties in other countries at the moment you realise how lucky we are here.

15 years investigating benefit fraud I saw people in mercs with 52inch plasmas living abroad 6 months of the year who have never declared a day?s work in their lives. And this bill is picked up by the tax payer. If we all had this attitude the country would be bankrupt and there wouldn?t be any money to pay benefits to anyone.

if it is not a huge amount they will decide it is not in the public?s interest to prosecute but they will be asked to pay it back. After all some people struggle to get by and they shouldn't be dragged through the courts.

We are lucky to have this safety net if we need it it shouldn?t be abused.

Yes they did ccpccp but I'm not arguing with you about it anymore because a) I have a much better understanding of tax than you do (I work in a related area) and b) we are coming from politically polar opposites.

The amount lost from benefit fraud is around £15.6m - not £50m. source

Sorry if that doesn't fit with your worldview.

Well clearly Ladybiscuit, you dont have a 'much better understanding' or you'd not be so sloppy in your argument.

I'd say polar opposites too. Theres nothing wrong with that, and nothing wrong with you wanting to see taxes RISE rather than address benefit fraud. But say it as it is, no need for all this dishonest 'rich dodging their tax' spin.

Try here. DWP actual figures for fraud 2009.

I don't want to see taxes rise - I don't know where you got that from. I would like companies that are based here to pay the tax they are supposed to be paying, rather than putting shell holdcos in place to avoid corporation tax. It stifles smaller businesses too.

How weird that those two sets are numbers are entirely different when they're both produced by the government. And amusing to see that error accounts for more losses than fraud.

It's a fundamental difference in our POVs, not a sloppy argument. I think if the HMRC actually stopped so many blue chip companies exploiting legal loopholes we would be better of as an economy and that companies should be fined if they are found to have bent the rules so much that the HMRC rule what they have done is illegal. At the moment, they just have to repay the tax that they should have paid.

Many companies could base their headquarters and pay tax overseas if tax rates became uncompetitive compared with other countries. There is a balance between taking tax revenue and driving business and jobs overseas. I would rather cut the bluechips a bit of slack if it means keeping jobs and investment in the UK.

What a difficult situation to be in! You did the right thing and were pretty gutsy. To keep your integrity now, I think you have to distance yourself from her and let it go.

YANBU

Theiving twats.

We have a really low corporation tax rate compared to a lot of countries boiledegg - it's under 30% here and nearly 50% in the US.

Why are people trying to blur the lines between tax evasion, and tax avoidance to justify criminal activity.

It's really simple, no matter what your opinion, or if you think they are sailing close to the wind........

Tax avoidance, and it's not just the rich, it's self employed, standard, low, middle incomes that do this to get on by =legal.

Tax evasion and benefit fraud is a crime = illegal.

It's really an easy concept to grasp tbh.

emmyloulou - some of us don't automatically assume that because something's legal, that makes it okay. It's called thinking for yourself.

No I am aware of that, but you can't escape fact.

Tax avoidance = legal

Benefit fraud = illegal.

Easy concept. I find it bizarre people are picky as to which crimes they would report or not, like they have there own sliding scale of crime, each to their own though, even if it is odd.

I know that - you said that in your last post.

But there's a huge difference between disapproval and reporting someone. I wouldn't do that unless I really, really hated someone. And someone who doesn't have a lot of cash and is working the system doesn't really qualify - they're hardly making millions. It's all a bit 'it's not faaaaaaaaaiirr' which is like whingeing toddlers. Dull.

Biscuit You obviously have no objection to paying tax for people who may be illegally earning more than - you plus their partner and their maurading kids. That is your perogative. Most taxpayers object strongly!

See ladybiscuit, I see that akin to saying, you'd equally be happy if they mugged you on the street, that is what they are doing.

"Some of us don't automatically assume that because something's legal, that makes it okay" - quite the opposite ladybiscuit, a lot of people here seem to think that just because something is illegal doesn't mean it is not okay

Sorry Mingg - you lost me there with those double negatives :o

I don't think something being legal or otherwise means something is okay or not - I'd prefer to make up my own mind. I don't agree with a lot of laws.

Does that mean that, in your opinion, if you do not agree with a specific law it is ok for you and for everyone else to break it?

Don't know about ladybiscuit Mingg but in my view it can be morally ok to break a law you don't agree with - as long as you are prepared to take the consequences.

Yes it does Mingg. I'm not talking about shooting people but being able to protest outside the HoP, lobbying to get Section 28 overturned (which prevented schools teaching about homosexuality in a positive way), the right to roam, drugs legislation, lobbying to prevent restaurants from discriminating against breast-feeding women. That sort of thing.

So yes I am prepared to break the law for something I believe in (less so now I have children).