...to think David Cameron's tax affairs are no- one else's business?

[Nessalina]

I think all of this furore over the PM's finances is a bit bizarre. If the law allows people to reduce the amount of tax they may need to pay through lawful methods, why shouldn't he be able to do the same? Yes, he's a red-faced pillock with far too much money, but he's not actually broken any laws... Prepares to be flamed

[candykane25]

Yes. There's the middle, the right and the left.
Plenty of righties about too.
I wonder why the righties feel so threatened by the lefties?

[jellyfrizz]

If the PM must release his tax returns who else?

I thought he chose to release this. Was he made to?

[TinkerbellaPan]

Well exactly. I think the problem is that DC is wealthier than most people here so they are outraged. However if you cared to look at any wealthy family then you'd see legal tax avoidance.

Passing on savings before you die to avoid inheritance tax, having just the right amount in pensions savings to reap the benefits of pension savings being tax free, managing investments so tax falls at the right times. Loads of people do this.

It is why a lot of wealthy people have accountants, to work out the optimal way of doing things like the above.

I still hate DC though

[TinkerbellaPan]

Ps the press are idiots who don't understand investments - as shown in my link above where the tax specialist shoots down all their questions.

[Andrewofgg]

He was so placed that he had no choice. Not legally obliged.

But the real wealth there is with Sam who does her own return. There will be pressure to release that too. As I say, where does it end?

[TheSultanofPingu]

It may not be illegal, but I just find it a bit sickening when we have austerity measures rammed down our throats at every turn.

It does seem as though benefit claimants are being blamed for our country's deficit, while people are actively trying to avoid paying 80 grand in tax here and there.

[OddBoots]

I am far less worried about DC's taxes (and certainly the taxes of his parents) than I am about the additional jobs MPs are allowed to do while they claim to represent their constituents. Being an MP should be a full time job with no moonlighting, they earn double that of a junior doctor and on top of that have very generous expenses yet many can still have time for another full time job at the same time - that's not right.

[oliviaclottedcream]

Exactly TheSultan. The main charges against Cameron is hypocrisy. This is a man who came into power saying he was going to clampdown on tax avoidance, saying “It was morally wrong,”. Telling us "were all in this together". He's presided over the slashing and burning of vital public services that were put there to benefit the poorest and most disadvantaged in our society. He is a hypocrite and a sneaky, over-privileged, out-of-touch, greedy bastard IMO.

[eatyouwithaspoon]

I dont like the man but believe what he has done us legal so fair play, however he has lied about it and is a hypocrite thats the bit Im interested in!

[jellyfrizz]

I think the problem is that DC is wealthier than most people here so they are outraged.

Why would people be outraged because he is wealthy? It's the double standards that people are outraged about.

[SimpleSimonThePieMan]

I agree. I don't really care. All these lefties jumping on the bandwagon to get him fired are pathetic.

Lefties are just pathetic full stop.

[jellyfrizz]

Your mum is pathetic so nnerr.

Love a bit of quality debate.

[Ememem84]

As far as I'm aware DC's dads company acted as the manager for the offshore fund. This is standard practice. A company is the manager not an individual. You have more legal protection this way. I believe Cameron's dad was probsbly a director of the company.

There's nothing illegal in investing offshore. I'd put money on it that a lot of you have done it. The majority of pension funds are held offshore - it's more beneficial- easier to set up and administer due to more favourable funds laws. I work in the industry. All funds are heavily regulated and we have to pay tax to our government for the funds existence, and to the uk if we remit money to uk accounts. Those in receipt also have to pay tax.

why should Cameron be punished for something his father did? Why should he be slated for being gifted money?

[DoctorTwo]

I don't like the moon faced chump or his Gidiotic sidekick, but I fail to see how paying £76k tax on an income of £200k is 'avoiding tax'. Especially as at least £10k of said income is expenses.

And FYI, those 'lefties' calling for his head on a plate include the Heil and the Torygraph...

[Janeymoo50]

95% of MN seem to hate him (which always puzzles me anyway) so are no doubt rubbing their hands in glee at any possible failure on his part.

I can't see what if anything he's done wrong but hey, I'm sure someone will be along shortly to put me in my place as a lifelong Tory voter (again, for some reason few and far between on this site).

[candykane25]

This is how it seems today, regardless of legality.
Inheritance tax threshold is £325,000
DC officially inherits £300,000
DC 12 months later, in a new tax year, received £100, 000 and £100, 000 as gigs from ha mother.
So he inherited £500,000 but avoided paying inheritance tax.

Regardless of legality it seems dishonest and dodgy.
Regardless that others do the same, two wrongs don't make a right.
He is the the Prime Minister not the man next door.

I know all the but he's done nothing wrong stuff will be trotted out ad infit but he is damaged goods.

[OddBoots]

Michael Rosen has pointed out that a lot of the fuss about this is coming from the right wing media so it looks like we might all be being stirred into a frenzy in order to position Boris into the PM slot after the mayor elections. Scary.

[candykane25]

BoJo will probably be the next leader unless he cocks up.
His buffoonery is very effective.

[tangerino]

I couldn't give a monkeys.

Tax avoidance encompasses a lot, from using ISAs and other investment vehicles designed to reduce tax (and which HMRC is well aware of) at one end of the scale to exploiting unintended loopholes at the other. What he's done seems to fall in the first category- neither illegal or immoral.

I do think he looks a bit of a tit given that he used to bang on about all being in it together, but that slogan was always going to bite him on the arse. Of course we're not all in it together.

[candykane25]

ISA are tax incentives to save a finite amount, not tax avoidance.

[Dumbledoresgirl]

I don't entirely understand the ins and outs of his involvement in his father's off shore investments, but the latest headline about his mother gifting him £200,000 which he will only pay tax on if she dies within 7 years of the gift is an entirely normal and widespread practice. You may not like the idea, but loads of people benefit from their parents' wealth in this way and it is entirely legal and therefore is not anyone else's business but DC's, his mother, and the inland revenue should she die within 7 years.

[doroph0ne]

Don't really see why it's such a big deal for the Prime Minister to publish details of his Income Tax - politicians and Heads of State in other parts of the world are routinely expected to do so, in the cause of transparency/anti-corruption. Not always done with much enthusiasm or good grace and sometimes with plenty of delaying tactics.

Cameron has been promising to publish details of his tax affairs since a piece of investigative journalism by The Independent in 2012 - a follow up piece by the same journalist a few days ago was asking why the 4 year delay?

The issue of Cameron's IHT avoidance at minimum has been known for sometime and kept under the radar for as long as possible - the recent hacking of the Panamanian law firm, Panama Papers and his fathers off shore business are a co-incidental, separate but obviously related matter.

So, who is 'smearing' Cameron, exposing his private financial affairs? Not 'whingeing' , 'envious' ' lefties' or the inadequate Opposition Party.

Look at the front pages of today's Sunday papers It's the largely right-wing MSM dominated by the most fiercely anti-EU proprietors Murdoch, Dacre, Redmond et al - they are the people who most want Cameron's reputation damaged in the cause of 'Brexit'

I'd like to see more openness and transparency about politicians tax matters - didn't Boris Johnson publish his Income Tax returns during the last London Mayoral elections

There is some quite extra-ordinary stuff about Nigel Farages 'finances' online which is being quietly sidelined ATM

[tangerino]

They're both an incentive to save and a form of tax avoidance ( in that you avoid tax by using them).

[TinkerbellaPan]

Sorry jellyfrizz that was poor wording on my part, I think I got distracted halfway through my sentence! I was trying to say (I think) that what is probably the norm to him, so say inheriting £500k, is so far removed from most of our lives that it's difficult to comprehend being able to do so. Which does automatically get people's backs up even before any tax discussions. Or something like that!

But yes, I totally agree that it's the double standards that are the issue. Although maybe we knew that all along at a party level... Why, after the budgets, do they always make it such that poorer people end up even worse off and the rich end up richer? Surely it's unsurprising that the man at the top of all of that has turned out to be exactly how this has revealed him to be.

[IPityThePontipines]

Look at the front pages of today's Sunday papers It's the largely right-wing MSM dominated by the most fiercely anti-EU proprietors Murdoch, Dacre, Redmond et al - they are the people who most want Cameron's reputation damaged in the cause of 'Brexit'

Yes, it's not lefties behind all this. As predicted the Conservatives are tearing themselves apart over Europe, again. I'm surprised the true blue Tories on here can't see that.

I just wish the Labour party was in a better position to take advantage of it.

I'd also agree that you can't champion Snooper's Charters and then complain that financial affairs should be super private. If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear, haven't you?