FAO Gary Lineker & The Millionaires

[nanopotato]

You can actually make voluntary contributions to the Government here:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/voluntary-payments-donations-to-government

🤗

Yes I did wonder why he hadn’t already done that.

Surely he’s not just after the publicity, heaven forbid.

Probably because they are interested in the difference it makes to the country if everyone who would be eligible for it pays and not just the ones that are currently saying it would be a good idea.

Yes we need a voluntary tax society, anyone who posts or signs letters such as this one can just go ahead and transfer.

I see he’s fighting HMRC in the courts rn against paying more tax, so not that keen in reality.

Surely his point is that he doesn't believe it should be left as 'voluntary'?

How do you know they don’t already make some voluntary payments?
And the whole point of tax is that we all pay it and that it’s done fairly. If we want to pay into things voluntarily, we call that charity and that’s a different thing.

But obviously by using that mechanism you would be contributing out of already taxed income? He wants to be taxed at source, progressively.

Because if it’s made mandatory it would be considerably more beneficial? Is the air so thin up on that high horse that you’ve lost the ability to think something through?

That's true. But then if you're that loaded, would it matter too much if you were contributing out of already taxed income? Especially if you really wanted to contribute more.

Was that really necessary?

I didn't say don't make it mandatory. I'm pointing out that anyone who wants to contribute more right now can do, why would you have a problem with that?

Some people might not be aware. They can't make it mandatory overnight can they.

Because people like Gary Linker aren’t the problem, he does give money to charities, and may well be volunteering to pay more tax. The problem is those who don’t, those who could afford to pay more without missing it yet use all the political pressure they’ve got to make sure the tax burden falls on those less able to afford it.

If poor people say “the rich should pay more tax.” The message is shouted down as the politics of envy, you get the smug reply of “oh it’s so easy to spend other people’s money.” If the poor suggest the rich are taking too much out of the system and holding too much in savings/assets to be passed on, it’s just wanting something for nothing.

Yet when the rich also say “I should be taxed more and so such everyone else who earns as much as me.” Apparently that’s to be dismissed as well.

Yes why wait? Sign the letter if they want but transfer extra tax too. No need to wait for policy.

I just think it would be good for the Govt to publicise this in the meantime, while they sort out the best way to implement any super-rich tax. It'll take them ages to get something in place.

Well yes they pretty much can. I guess they would have to put a bill through parliament to do it but that can be done in short order if required.

It's more working out the nuances of the policy that is harder, as obviously the super rich will employ swarms of accountants to try to find a way of avoiding it.

I'm sure most of them read Mumsnet and will see your post.

Yep, but obviously Gary doesn’t know about this. But I bet he can give his fellow millionaires tips on how to open offshore accounts to avoid paying tax

The super rich pay 48% on tax. Gary is nothing more than a virtue signaller. If he was so worried about paying the right amount of tax he wouldn’t be using loopholes to avoid paying it

I presume that none of us on here know how much money these rich celebrities give to charities and good causes, whether directly or indirectly via 'voluntary tax'. It may be that they do all CHOOSE to give away a lot of their wealth on a regular basis, and they are angry that other similarly-wealthy people don't do the same, so that the burden on poorer people could be reduced across the board. Rich people usually don't care about the 'little people'; but they may just lend half an ear to what their wealthy peers say.

Would it be better if, instead of these people coming together to say "We are wealthy - we, and everybody else who is wealthy, should be compelled to pay more tax as standard" they just shut up about it and enjoyed their privilege without caring about less well-off and poor people?

How can they win? It seems to be coming from a good place, but they're having it thrown back in their faces.

Not to derail, but I remember the case a few years back where an elderly lady who died (I don't think she had any children) was horrified to hear that the country had a 'national debt'. She was of a generation who hated the idea of debt, and she possibly wasn't completely au fait with how national economies tend to function.

She left her money - around a million iirc - "to the government". Not only would it have been a fraction of a drop in the ocean of the total national debt, the Tories and LibDems, who were in coalition then, argued that she had meant to leave it to them (their parties) and not to the country in general. It was a tawdry state of affairs.

Yes he's challenging HMRC in court about the way he set up his tax affairs whist working as a "freelancer" for the BBC. To my mind regular work like that, where they set the hours etc makes you an employee, but even if it doesn't he could have been employed and paid tax as an employee, but chose not to in a clear "tax management" scheme.

I've never liked his good guy act because I know it not to be true in other areas, but that seems spectacularly and obviously two faced.

They don't. I posted yesterday on the other thread, that most of their money isn't derived from income, it's from investments, dividends etc, and they pay an average of 21% on all their wealth. So actually there's a moral case for evening up the % that they pay with those that higher rate (or even lower rate) tax payers pay.

I think a lot of the back lash is because it’s Gary Linekar.

OP has claimed they just think, ‘it would be a good idea for the government to publicise’.

Not really the tone the title and opening post suggests was the intention of the thread.

All I’ve seen this morning is ‘virtue signalling’ claims.

This!
The utter hypocrisy of Lineker regarding tax is simply staggering!

It was done in the past and was totally ineffective . The super rich will simply leave the country and then will pay 0 tax in the UK

Gary Lineker has previously avoided tax. We know that for a fact.

Evan Davis has just interviewed Brian Eno (PM Radio 4)
Very measured answers and reasoning