Is it wrong to avoid paying tax?

This question was generated by a Radio 4 programme and it was being talked about again on Today, this morning.

A Tax Accountant was saying that the HMRC agents(?) are goaled by the number of people they get money from and this leads to them aiming for small businesses. Surely this is far too simplistic a target or did I misunderstand it?

Then they ought to be 'goaled' (since when was this a verb?) by the amount of money retrieved.

Poor old Ballsy.

As soon as he opened his mouth to say you should get a receipt for any job you pay for in cash you just knew there would be someone to pull him up by the seat of his trousers., enter stage left his window cleaner.

It was obvious if partisan politics are proffered up then you do so at the risk of being scrutinised/challenged. Labour threw the do do but came up smelling just as bad.

I think people remember only too well cash for honours, cash for questions, flipping homes, MP's expenses and tax evading stories.

I don't for one minute think there are many people who believe any one of the 3 main parties has squeaky clean hands, although obviously there are always some. More to come out I'm sure on all of them.

Switzerland doing the Tories job for them.

www.theguardian.com/news/2015/feb/18/hsbc-swiss-bank-searched-as-officials-launch-money-laundering-inquiry

Is this why HMRC are not doing their job.

"The Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise departments, formerly two bodies with distinct identities, separate from the Treasury, are now merged and housed with the Chancellor and his ministers. On HMRC’s reformed Board it would be good to see some freethinkers, like Sikka, or Richard Murphy of Tax Research UK, other members of the Green New Deal, or John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network.

Instead, we find former tax planners Ian Barlow (formerly KPMG), John Whiting (formerly PWC), and Edward Troup (formerly Simmons and Simmons). And moving lately in the opposite direction was Dave Hartnett, now working for Deloittes, and HSBC."

Too many poachers turned gamekeepers.

As the old saying goes, people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Balls really does live up to his name.

What a non-story.
Balls said you should ask for a receipt if paying cash in hand. He does not pay cash in hand, he pays by bank transfer or by cheque. Therefore he does not need a receipt written out from his window cleaner. He has confirmation of payment in his bank account.

Some people need to get their facts right before attacking, as usual.

From the Daily Mail, just to save you looking.

"A spokesman for Mr Balls last night said his practice of demanding receipts applied only to jobs where he pays in cash.

He pointed out that Mr Balls pays his window cleaner by cheque and receives handwritten invoices every few months.

The spokesman said: ‘As Ed said, he asks for receipts when paying in cash for work done so that, as Shadow Chancellor, he knows he has a written record.

‘Needless to say, a cheque obviously means both sides have a written record of the transaction.

‘Ed’s window cleaner sends a bill every few months and he pays them by cheque. He’s done this for 17 years with the same local business."

Oh dear I'm so sorry for throwing a virtual punch at your poster boy durhamjen I don't doubt he is as squeaky clean as his windows.

What is your opinion of MP's fliiping homes DJ.

Strange how people attack me for supporting the truth. He's not my poster boy but I do not like people being attacked for saying things he did not say. As I pointed out, even the DM admitted it was a non-story, and that he was not lying about his window cleaner as he did not pay cash.
I find it quite sad that when it's a very important election coming up, people have to resort to pathetic stories rather than think about the important things, like are we going to have an NHS if the Tories get back in; are we going to have anyone working for councils, collecting taxes, etc.
Much more important than trying to find out who cleans Ed Balls windows.

Oh no what are you saying POGS? Surely the Labour MP's aren't at it too?

To be fair Durham, wasn't it Ed Balls who started the hedge-cutting/ window cleaning debate?

And what a fool he was to do so - it's detracted from the really serious problem of multi-nationals and the mega-rich hiding their money offshore/hiring smart-arse accountants.

I don't think anyone is "attacking you" durhamjen quite the contrary I would say.

The thing that you don't seem to want to acknowledge is that they have almost all been caught out in one way or another, whether it be avoiding taxes, claiming non existant expenses etc.

Yes it was, Riverwalk, but like you say, people are too easily sidetracked.
The bankers and richlist boys must be laughing at the way the papers portray the tax problems and let them off the hook.
I do not see that we have to discuss the lowest common denominator, though.
I always try to remember who owns the papers.
Peter Oborne has at last found his backbone.

Gillybob, some of your posts sound very much like attacking me.
I do not think raking up the home flipping, which was dealt with by the last government, gets anybody any brownie points.
Alistair Darling? John Bercow? Michael Gove? George Osborne?
They all flipped their homes and avoided any penalties. Never even had to pay any capital gains tax. Completely wrong, but I do not see how it helps anyone in thinking about the next elections.
I am listening to News24 where they keep telling us that average earnings have gone up. Only once have they said that the numbers include bank bonuses. I wonder what one man getting a £3 million bonus does for the average man in the street.
This is the big picture, not Ed Balls window cleaner.

Just to remind you again, I haven't voted Labour since Tony Blair took over.

nhaspace.com/2015/02/15/its-time-to-end-political-corruption/

Sorry Durham, I didn't say that people are easily sidetracked.

I said, Ed Balls had detracted from the real debate about big money.

And what a fool he was to do so ....... unfortunately, he's a crap Shadow Chancellor with a poor record in office and opposition.

No, I said that people are easily sidetracked, and that he should not have mentioned window cleaners.
Can a chancellor have a poor record in opposition? He cannot actually do anything about the economy, can he, in opposition?

What do you think about Osborne's record?
He hasn't hit any of his forecasts, has he? And he is in charge of our economy.

Why can't a shadow minister have a poor record in opposition jen?
They are still speaking in Parliament, appearing on TV, writing newspaper articles and so on.

That is not a personal attack on you by the way, any more than Gillys comments were.

www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/what-was-ed-balls-thinking-was-he-thinking-at-all-10052268.html

Matthew Norman thinks that Ed Balls' Shadow Chancellorship could cost Ed Miliband the keys to No 10.

Janeainsworth

I love that article. It made me smile, very humourous, I had read it before but I don't know how to put a link up.

Just for interest it has a bash at Osborne and Balls but it is so witty.

Yes, very witty, but is 'slither' really the word he meant to use? (At least Osborne showed a slither of self-awareness...)

. Should have been 'sliver' shouldn't it?

Yes jingl I think so.
But perhaps it was accidentally-on-purpose, to convey a subliminal impression of George Osborne as a slithery, untrustworthy snake

Hmm...the thought did cross my mind, but I dismissed it. Matthew Norman wouldn't want to run the risk of pedants like me anyone thinking he'd actually made an all-too-common error.