Boris & His Government

[mickd1961]

I know DM is registered in the Caribbean or maybe Bermuda. I think even The Guardian is registered in the Cayman Islands. They are all registered overseas, most probably to avoid paying tax.

A couple of other things I think we should do,

1. Use another independent body to review our tax system, so that everyone is paying what they should do, morally. I don't necessarily agree with wealth taxes, because we want our entrepreneurs to aspire to be successful and wealthy. They shouldn't be punished for it. We also don't want businesses to be hindered from expanding by tax restrictions. On the other hand, very wealthy individuals and businesses should be paying their fair share into the pot. Its a hard balancing act to find the line, and we should allow tax and economic professionals to make the call, certainly not people like some of our current MPs.

2. Talking of our current MPs, I would increase their salaries substantially. You read that correctly, increase their pay. £80k per year for an MP, and £150k per year for being PM is too low. We need talented people in Parliament, and right now we have complete imbeciles. Real talent in the country can earn much more than that in the city. I know some seriously smart people, who earn far more than MPs. And wouldn't dream of giving up their career for £80k per year. I think something has to change, because people like Ben Bradley, Zarah Sultanah, Daniel Kawyczynski, Richard Burgon and Priti Patel (those just off the top of my head) I wouldn't even employ if they came for a job interview at my company. These people actually have a say in running the country. Their level is probably mid-junior office level, they are far in over their head. To be truthful, the same goes for the PM.

One of my biggest beefs is with the way Amazon and the like get away with paying pathetically low amounts of tax.


I've just paid out £123k in VAT, and £93k in Corporation Tax as well as my personal tax bill at the end of June.......all of which is fine and was due albeit it's always painful, it's by no means the most I've ever paid out, my best/worst year was a total tax bill of around £183k for business and personal taxation.

I pay what I'm due to pay, I don't go to a flash accountancy firm and look for loopholes, I deal with an old fashioned Black Country accountant who sticks rigidly to the rules.

Amazon are the masters at shuffling money around to avoid paying their dues but even when the government catches up with them in some shape or form they don't suffer, they just pass on that expense to sellers on their platform.

I do a lot on Amazon so when they stealthily added 0.4% to their sellers fees it makes a huge difference on the few million £'s I generate on there.

I object to this, the government needs to start legislating more against companies such as this and make it illegal to charge more than a certain fee and then make THEM pay any form of extra taxation.

The business generated by Amazon should be putting billions into our HMRC each year but it isn't.

If you want a true scandal look no further than Jeff Bezos and the like.

[baggieal]

One of my biggest beefs is with the way Amazon and the like get away with paying pathetically low amounts of tax.


I've just paid out £123k in VAT, and £93k in Corporation Tax as well as my personal tax bill at the end of June.......all of which is fine and was due albeit it's always painful, it's by no means the most I've ever paid out, my best/worst year was a total tax bill of around £183k for business and personal taxation.

I pay what I'm due to pay, I don't go to a flash accountancy firm and look for loopholes, I deal with an old fashioned Black Country accountant who sticks rigidly to the rules.

Amazon are the masters at shuffling money around to avoid paying their dues but even when the government catches up with them in some shape or form they don't suffer, they just pass on that expense to sellers on their platform.

I do a lot on Amazon so when they stealthily added 0.4% to their sellers fees it makes a huge difference on the few million £'s I generate on there.

I object to this, the government needs to start legislating more against companies such as this and make it illegal to charge more than a certain fee and then make THEM pay any form of extra taxation.

The business generated by Amazon should be putting billions into our HMRC each year but it isn't.

If you want a true scandal look no further than Jeff Bezos and the like.

You are of course right Mick but can you blame them! Any decent Accountant without being fraudulent will look for loopholes and why shouldn’t they saving any company thousands if not millions! There’s a huge company I know who are legitimate and operate by loopholes in the tax system and get companies to sign up to research and development saving absolutely thousands. It’s all above board! My late father always said there are honest fools and those that are honest but operate finding legal loopholes and they are smart!

If somebody said to me we could save X by doing Y through a loophole but it was above board - I would go for it including operating in Ireland, Channel Islands etc

If a child had an expensive Apple Lap Top for Xmas for example then the dad who lets say is a business owner would be slow not to put it through the company accounts to reclaim the VAT which could save hundreds. Whose to say it would not be used for company use even once! That’s the difference between being smart and being an honest fool.

I dislike Amazon but it’s up to the Government to close down every loophole possible and the way a company operates and does their financial reporting. Until this happens most will pay Accountants to legally find every trick in the book! Research and Development - smart companies look at this - ha!

Amazon are too smart which is why they operate the way they do!

[WBA123]

You are of course right Mick but can you blame them! Any decent Accountant without being fraudulent will look for loopholes and why shouldn’t they saving any company thousands if not millions! There’s a huge company I know who are legitimate and operate by loopholes in the tax system and get companies to sign up to research and development saving absolutely thousands. It’s all above board! My late father always said there are honest fools and those that are honest but operate finding legal loopholes and they are smart!

If somebody said to me we could save X by doing Y through a loophole but it was above board - I would go for it including operating in Ireland, Channel Islands etc

If a child had an expensive Apple Lap Top for Xmas for example then the dad who lets say is a business owner would be slow not to put it through the company accounts to reclaim the VAT which could save hundreds. Whose to say it would not be used for company use even once! That’s the difference between being smart and being an honest fool.

I dislike Amazon but it’s up to the Government to close down every loophole possible and the way a company operates and does their financial reporting. Until this happens most will pay Accountants to legally find every trick in the book! Research and Development - smart companies look at this - ha!

Amazon are too smart which is why they operate the way they do!

This is true, if you earn £1m per year and your accountant says you can pay £500k in tax or exploit a legal loophole and pay £50k, which one are you going to do. Its pretty obvious.

This is why, I would get a consortium of tax & economic professionals together, tell them to leave party politics at the door and devise a clear plan of what is fair taxation for every circumstance.

What I think is most unfair is that NHS workers who had a 1% pay increase now have this 1.25% NI raise. They are effectively funding their own pay rise.

But this is the case with Tory governments, they will take public sector workers for granted. Given their history, nothing has really changed in that respect.

[baggieal]

This is true, if you earn £1m per year and your accountant says you can pay £500k in tax or exploit a legal loophole and pay £50k, which one are you going to do. Its pretty obvious.

This is why, I would get a consortium of tax & economic professionals together, tell them to leave party politics at the door and devise a clear plan of what is fair taxation for every circumstance.

What I think is most unfair is that NHS workers who had a 1% pay increase now have this 1.25% NI raise. They are effectively funding their own pay rise.

But this is the case with Tory governments, they will take public sector workers for granted. Given their history, nothing has really changed in that respect.

Totally agree! Those NHS workers with the NI rise and other rises ( Council Tax etc ) and cost of living are more worse off than prior to getting their pathetic 1% pay rise.

Do agree with you about pay too for MP'S - are the bright of the brightest going to work for 80K a year when a Store Manager for Tesco's would be on that!!