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David Cameron has to resign.

547 replies

PirateSmile · 05/04/2016 07:53

If there is any evidence he has had even one penny of benefit from his father's dodgy tax arrangement, surely Cameron has to go?
He's saying 'it's a private matter' whilst presumably working on his notes for next month's conference on cracking down on such tax scams. You really couldn't make it up. He will no doubt plead ignorance but that's no defence. He is the PM. He should know he's benefiting from is essentially large scale fraud.
Are we really going to let him get away with this?

OP posts:
RortyCrankle · 05/04/2016 13:23

OP, as desperate as you are to want DC to resign, he cannot be held responsible for the actions of his father. He will be resigning at some point before 2020 to enable a new leader to be appointed in good time for them to win the next election Smile.

Dervel · 05/04/2016 13:30

How do people conjure taxation is remotely moral in the first place?

homebythesea · 05/04/2016 13:32

As tax matters are not private I shall get the ball rolling and confess I have not declared income from boot sales, ebay and the penny falls in arcades and have facilitated others to evade tax by paying them in cash on occaision.

Anyone else?

Inkanta · 05/04/2016 13:36

Homebythesea

That's you and maybe me, but when you're the Prime Minister of Britain you have to be pretty 'whiter than white'.

Peregrina · 05/04/2016 13:40

but when you're the Prime Minister of Britain you have to be pretty 'whiter than white'.

Especially when you are a PM given to pontificating to others about all being in it together and austerity.

homebythesea · 05/04/2016 14:35

Do we know that he himself is not whiter than white in the tax department as opposed to his father?

Motheroffourdragons · 05/04/2016 14:50

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ on behalf of the poster.

wasonthelist · 05/04/2016 15:02

. If you're going to get on your soup box about Alan Carr then your own stuff is not private.

What's Alan Carr been up to?

wasonthelist · 05/04/2016 15:04

As tax matters are not private I shall get the ball rolling and confess I have not declared income from boot sales, ebay and the penny falls in arcades and have facilitated others to evade tax by paying them in cash on occaision

Oh dear, I have paid cash for quite a lot of things in cash in shops.....

Seriously, nothing you have listed needed declaring in any cass.

homebythesea · 05/04/2016 15:12

odious behaviour indeed but if we are going to judge our public figures on that criteria........Grin

And income from ebay etc - it's all income. It might tip you over into the next income tax band. When does a hobby slip into being an actual business? If we are going to be "moral" about it of course it should be declared.

sleepwhenidie · 05/04/2016 15:12

wasonthelist I think the sentence should have read 'soap box' and 'Jimmy Carr* GrinGrin

sleepwhenidie · 05/04/2016 15:15

And I think home meant paying cash to the likes of window cleaners/workmen who do jobs a little cheaper in return for cash (where both parties are aware this means the income won't be declared/VAT properly accounted for) - which is illegal but common practice.

eyebrowse · 05/04/2016 15:26

He just has to be kept propped in place until the EU referendum...

After that I think he'll be relieved to go...

homebythesea · 05/04/2016 15:33

sleep indeed I did mean exactly that

And we've all done it

Which makes us more criminal than the owners of the offshore shell companies Wink

Motheroffourdragons · 05/04/2016 15:39

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This has been withdrawn by MNHQ on behalf of the poster.

Peregrina · 05/04/2016 15:51

And we've all done it
Speak for yourself.

Motheroffourdragons explains the position well.

sleepwhenidie · 05/04/2016 16:55

mother if you are paying cash in hand then you are participating in the financial gain that results from the tradesman not declaring the income so whilst it isn't strictly you breaking the law, there's a strong moral argument against it in the same way as dubious tax avoidance schemes that aren't strictly illegal yet deliberately play the system. There may be smaller sums of money and less wealthy people involved but the principle is the same.

Doobydoo · 05/04/2016 17:04

As we know jyst because sonething is deemed legal it dosen't mean it is moral. Wonder if Dave's education was paid for through a healthy dose of tax avoidance.

Doobydoo · 05/04/2016 17:05

Typos due to cooking tea!

Motheroffourdragons · 05/04/2016 17:23

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ on behalf of the poster.

Dervel · 05/04/2016 17:32

David Cameron's family's wealth has roots in the slave trade. Yet I'm sure someone will be along to make that a resignable offence in a minute as well. Funny thing is I guess few of the people baying for his resignation over this actually voted for him in the first place.

Inkanta · 05/04/2016 17:41

'wasonthelist I think the sentence should have read 'soap box' and 'Jimmy Carr'

Oops, sorry yes! Poor Alan Blush

Was referring to this quote from Cameron on his -soup- soap box -

"Those people who work hard, who pay their taxes, and out of that post-tax income, save up to go and see Jimmy Carr – he's taking that money and stuffing it into something where he doesn’t have to pay taxes. That is not fair. That is not right. It isn't morally right."

ClashCityRocker · 05/04/2016 17:45

And therein lies the difficulties of trying to combat tax avoidance from a moral perspective.

Between the extremes of tax avoidance, there is a feck of a lot of grey area. In the case of DC's dad, and on the basis of the information known, I would suggest it is an abusive and artificial arrangement and would possibly fall under the general anti-abuse provisions so very much a darker shade of grey.

However, it was put into place long before these provisions were even thought of and in a very different climate. Tax as a moral duty is a relatively new phenomenon and getting the wider public to support this is very near political genius.

If DC is not a controlling party, there is not a great deal he can do about it - beneficiary or not so, twat though he may be, I don't think we can pin this on him.

And you don't have to go very far before the darker shades of grey of the aggressive avoidance schemes start turning into prudent financial planning...simply acting through a limited company can save £'000's in tax and national insurance. This is commonly accepted practice, and in many cases is done purely to minimise tax liabilities (although there are also often commercial reasons to do so).

That's the problem; where do you draw the line?

originalmavis · 05/04/2016 17:47

From what I've read, it was legal. Sneaky and underhand but not a criminal offence. Tax avoidance is using legal loopholes, tax evasion is illegal.

If you are rich you can afford the best of everything and that includes lawyers, financial advisers and accountants. It must be nice..