To ask if you could stay friends with people committing benefit fraud/tax evasion?

[WanderingWildflower]

Out of curiosity. This situation really annoys me but equally they are nice people and it's none of my business.

So these friends of mine are a couple. She owns a house outright that was purchased using inheritance. They both live in it and have done for over a year. He has a mortgage on his own house, bought before they met, and rents it out to a mate.

She doesnt work (small kids) but claims UC, not declaring that her partner actually lives with her. Meanwhile his friend pays him his rent in cash.

So essentially they have fraudulently claimed UC, a full time wage plus untaxed rental income coming in and no housing costs.

I suppose with the cost of living crisis it gets to me a little that we are having to tighten out belts a lot while they live the high life tax free/fraudulently.

I'm not the sort to cut people out but I'm so ethically opposed to people who do this that it sort of makes me question our friendship.

Could you stay friends in this situation?

Slagging your friends off behind their back instead of having an adult conversation to their face is not my idea of a high standard of ethics.

Get some ethics, show her this thread and cut her loose.

If your friendship is so close she shares this level of detail then it's close enough for you to challenge her on her ethics. It's possible she will reveal something or put forward an arguement that changes how you think but fundamentally if you struggle with her morality then the friendship is doomed. Doesn't matter what anyone else thinks to be honest.

My views on the morality of what she or they are doing is neither here nor there. I kinda understand that in a society where rich people with knowhow exploit loopholes people on less income will try it too.

Oops sorry forgot to come back to this thread.

I know because she told me about the UC and he's told my DH in an offhand 'down the pub' kind of way about how his friend pays him rent cash in hand. It's not hard to work out the figured. They are VERY open with regard to talking about money though and showing us their new purchases, we dont steer the conversations that way because we havent got any to talk about.

I'm not going to report them, obviously, but frankly I find it fucking hard to listen to at the moment as our money situation is getting more dire by the week and we arent any where near the worst affected by the current economic situation. Just hate it when people duck out of paying their way tbh, it goes against everything I believe in.

No, I wouldn't be friends with a politician.

Apparently the annual amount of tax fraud exceeds the what is spent on education in this country.

What would the amount lost in benefit fraud pay for?

The amount lost to benefit fraud is less than the amount in unclaimed benefit.

What ethic does OP have? Do you honestly expect to challenge your friends? Because if you play that game you would get it right BACK... and it would be the end of our "friendship"

I pay my taxes & I therefore sleep well at night

However, I do know a few people who have cash in hand jobs

Know someone who left their job " to go on benefits"
We are wondering what the DWP will ask when they put in their claim for benefits
Should not be a lifestyle choice

There has always been a small minority

We spend 96 billion pounds on education in the UK

The net amount of money lost in 2019/20 (we corrected for money recovered, and errors in under and overpayment) was less than 1 billion.

So in terms of what it would pay for vs education costs not a fat lot.

It also highlights the stupidity of targeting benefits claimants when we should be going after tax fraud, as its such a higher amount.

I would keep my nose out of their business