Tory avoids huge tax bill but we have to pay

[mrshess]

This story makes me sick.
People are losing homes and going without food and this tory gets away with this!!!
Really Cameron are we in this together????

I think not

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11415870

If I ever win the lottery I'd like a referral to that man's tax team... they're clearly doing a cracking job saving him £3.4m by doing the (perfectly legal) transfer April 5th rather than April 6th. If I was Osborne they're precisely the people I'd recruit to advise on where tax loopholes can be closed.

Ashcroft has form on not keeping promises, has served his purpose by coughing up for the election expenses and, I'm sure, will retire from politics & back to his luxury lifestyle none the worse for his experience.

Well done Lord Ashcroft.

I strongly encourage everyone to minimise their own personal tax liability in every possible legal way.

I wouldn't go as far as to say it is a moral duty to avoid tax as part of the social contract between the government and the individual - but it is not far off! It is definitely common sense.

Why give your money to the government unnecessarily, when you are much better at deciding what to spend it on yourself?

Longfingernails he doesnt need that much money he has enough to pay his tax and still be rich for life.
Why is it the rich are greedy and hang on to every last penny when they can afford to pay tax????

It's his money, not the government's. He can decide what to do with it.

What difference does it make how rich he is?

If Labour were so worried about tax avoidance then they could have closed the loopholes and simplified the tax system.

They chose not to - indeed, they doubled the length of the tax code, making it vastly more complicated - and so people, perfectly understandably, and perfectly legally, take advantage.

My preference for a tax system is low taxes, few taxes, and very few exceptions - making avoidance hard. Instead Labour went for high taxes, many taxes, and gazillions of exemptions and special cases - making avoidance easier.

Agree with you longfingernails.

I think it is humans nature to be 'greedy', doesn't make a difference if you are rich or poor.

"Lord Ashcroft's tax status has long been controversial.
He was only allowed to take up his seat in the House of Lords in 2000 after agreeing to take up permanent residence in the UK and pay tax on his worldwide income.
At the time, the then opposition leader William Hague said Lord Ashcroft's decision would benefit the treasury tens of millions of pounds a year.
But 10 years later, Lord Ashcroft admitted that he had never become a permanent resident after all."

Regardless of the legality of what he's done, the man is a lying conniving toerag - if he had no intention of taking up permanent residency he should not have taken his seat in the Lords. It's fraud, effectively - when "little people" pull stunts like this they go to jail.

He probably isn't the nicest person in the world, but he has done great things for this country.

He set up Crimestoppers - how many tens of thousands of criminals are behind bars thanks to that?

For Labour to carp on and on and on about Lord Ashcroft when Lord Paul and others were also non-doms was really quite stupid.

The rule should be simple: you can't sit in the HoL if you don't pay full UK tax.

That is now the case, and whilst I don't like Lord Ashcroft's constant criticism from the sidelines of David Cameron, nor his addiction to opinion polls, overall he is a worthy member of the House of Lords.

He's not fraudulent so much as a liar. He makes promises and doesn't keep them. If those dishing out peerages are so gullible that they still think a gentleman's word is his bond, then more fool them for not getting his promises legitimised in writing. Lying is not at present a criminal offence, thank goodness.

"Why is it the rich are greedy and hang on to every last penny"

Whereas the poor are expansively generous and are only poor because they give all their money away?

I should make clear that I wouldn't vote for Lord Ashcroft, and having met him, don't like him.

He was a massive distraction during the election and the building. He and William Hague were both very irresponsible - he should have left his non-dom status long ago, and William Hague should have insisted on it.

However he did nothing illegal, and as for this latest tax avoidance, I applaud him for it.

I see tax as a necessary evil - certainly not something to be proud of. I will always try to arrange my affairs, as far as the law allows, to pay as little tax as possible.

No-one is stopping Ed Miliband or Polly Toynbee volunteering their entire salaries and savings to the Exchequer, if they wish to.

i head on the radio about this and from what i gather what he did was legal. and well, thats how the rich get richer.

he's done nothing wrong.

Chil1234 i always find its less well off people who are most generous and would be more willing to share what little they had than someone who has millions

I cant believe some people are applauding him, would you applaud people who find a loophole in the benefit system as well?

It's not a loophole - it's just a deadline that he sensibly met.

ISAs give tax free income, should I choose not to save in them because I can afford not to?

Tax avoidance is not a crime - it's what Martin Lewis's website wholeheartedly recommends for everyone.

I don't particularly like the man, but he's done nothing wrong here.
Good for him for building up a business which was worth so much....

Mrshess - I don't necessarily agree with less well off people being most generous and know quite a few 'rich' people who are very generous indeed and make large contributions to different charities.

"would you applaud people who find a loophole in the benefit system as well?"

If someone works out how to make any system legally work to their advantage then fair play to them. Anyone of us can get a tax advantage from similar good timing with things like cash ISAs and CGT. Fraudulent activity I've no truck with, either when it comes to tax or benefits.

Longfingernails

If taxes accross the board were low how would you fund the public services such as education or NHS?

If living apart means you meet the criteria for claiming something as a single person then that would seem to be playing within the rules. If the rules are too lax... we change the rules. If you're sharing a home and lying about living apart, that's fraud.

Another depressing thread. I think that tory values are back across the nation with a vengeance. It scares me TBH.

I think saying "everyone should avoid tax as much as poss, anyone can do this" is missing a rather large point

That

a. bog standard people cannot afford top tax advisors
b. people on PAYE have no means of minimising anything

These loopholes are exploited by big business and rich individuals.

yes the loopholes should be closed. however I can't see the current govt doing anything TBH. the libs have said they want to.... But let's wait and see eh..

FWIW I pay my taxes happily, and am honest on my tax return. So I suppose i struggle with different viewpoints.

What is essentially 'tory' (or scary or depressing) about arranging your finances to be tax-efficient? Do labour supporters never take out ISA's? Never reorganise assets to take advantage of their CGT allowance? Never contribute to a private pension so that they get the tax contribution from the government?

Ashcroft's finances happen to run into millions & he happens to be a bit of a devious old snake, but no-one, regardless of their political colour, likes to pay more tax than they have to.

There is a difference between handing over extra money that you don't owe and actively seeking ways to avoid it.

I think the idea that multimillionairres hiding squilions in offshore accounts and whatever else they get up to is the same as ISAs is ludicrous TBH.

As to why the tories scare the shit out of me - well if you are ont you're never going to understand as your ideology is in tune with them and so you're never going to get it. Suffice to say "every man for himself" is not my preferred approach in, well, anything.