Farage tax avoidance

I wonder how many other high profile people including MPs are concerned about the digging that might follow the latest events.
Of course there’s no evidence that anyone is digging, but there won’t be until the next possibility comes to light.
Anyway ‘ers bin proper sorted out, so ain’t it time to let t’matter drop?

Casdon I’m afraid I just don’t think the main stream media (DM, Telegraph et al) will hound Farage in the way they have hounded others.

I really want to have your belief that his behaviour will be publicly scrutinised and held to the same account as others, but there’s scant evidence of that happening so far.

MaizieD

^It’s the ‘until someone proves otherwise’ that is the real issue I think David49. Journalists are definitely digging now, on him and other high profile people.^

I find that very hard to believe, Casdon. Which journalists are digging into Farage’s tax affairs?

Farage has been an absolute gift to journalists all this summer, enlivening the silly season with incitement to racist protest and demented fantasies of deportation of immigrants. I really can’t see them destroying the goose that lays them such lovely golden eggs.

Just google Farage Tax MaizieD, and there is quite a lot of information there already.

Eloethan

From a Bureau of Investigative Journalists report:

"HMRC has not charged a single company under landmark legislation passed six years ago to crack down on corporate tax evasion.

"Critics say the data, released after Freedom of Information requests by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and TaxWatch, suggests that HMRC is undermining its own deterrents against corporate tax evasion by failing to use its criminal enforcement powers.

"Margaret Hodge MP called the findings appalling and said the lack of enforcement had rendered the law “a paper tiger.”

"The Criminal Finances Act 2017 introduced new powers to charge companies and partnerships operating in the UK that failed to stop their employees or associates from facilitating tax evasion, regardless of where in the world the tax was evaded.

"One part of the new law, known as the Corporate Criminal Offences clause, drastically lowered the bar for prosecuting businesses that enabled tax evasion. It introduced “strict liability”, meaning that a company cannot plead ignorance of the wrongdoing to evade a criminal charge, and prosecutors do not have to prove intent in order to secure a conviction.

"It also threatened unlimited fines in the case of established wrongdoing. Companies can avoid punishment if they have reasonable procedures in place to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion.

"The law both made criminal prosecutions easier to pursue and strengthened the penalties. But critics say the refusal to charge a single company has cast serious doubts on the landmark legislation."

It seems the media are very selective in their reporting of these sorts of issues. I suspect not many people are aware of how little is being done to hold the super rich to account with regard to matters of taxation.

Mm … is the lack of effective company law enforcement enabling Reform UK? Interesting🤔

bylinetimes.com/2025/03/24/reform-uk-corporate-structure/

It’s the ‘until someone proves otherwise’ that is the real issue I think David49. Journalists are definitely digging now, on him and other high profile people.

I find that very hard to believe, Casdon. Which journalists are digging into Farage’s tax affairs?

Farage has been an absolute gift to journalists all this summer, enlivening the silly season with incitement to racist protest and demented fantasies of deportation of immigrants. I really can’t see them destroying the goose that lays them such lovely golden eggs.

keepingquiet

Oh I hope so!

And there’s a team of them with BIG shovels

Oh I hope so!

David49

Chocolatelovinggran

But I thought that we were discussing the tax affairs of a Member of Parliament? He is part of the group described by some as " rogues and incompetents" and would want the rest of us to pay tax, surely.
Celebrities do not, usually, vote on taxation.

Farage has his own company (s) and presents himself as a celebrity, he does it all legally - until someone proves otherwise.
He runs his own political party so can’t be held to account for bring a bad MP, he a dangerous cult personality and could easily get real power at the next election.

Unless Starmer ups his game it’s highly likely he will.

It’s the ‘until someone proves otherwise’ that is the real issue I think David49. Journalists are definitely digging now, on him and other high profile people.

Chocolatelovinggran

But I thought that we were discussing the tax affairs of a Member of Parliament? He is part of the group described by some as " rogues and incompetents" and would want the rest of us to pay tax, surely.
Celebrities do not, usually, vote on taxation.

Farage has his own company (s) and presents himself as a celebrity, he does it all legally - until someone proves otherwise.
He runs his own political party so can’t be held to account for bring a bad MP, he a dangerous cult personality and could easily get real power at the next election.

Unless Starmer ups his game it’s highly likely he will.

But I thought that we were discussing the tax affairs of a Member of Parliament? He is part of the group described by some as " rogues and incompetents" and would want the rest of us to pay tax, surely.
Celebrities do not, usually, vote on taxation.

“From a Bureau of Investigative Journalists report:

"HMRC has not charged a single company under landmark legislation passed six years ago to crack down on corporate tax evasion.

"Critics say the data, released after Freedom of Information requests by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and TaxWatch, suggests that HMRC is undermining its own deterrents against corporate tax evasion by failing to use its criminal enforcement powers.”

This is why it’s very difficult to tax the super rich, there are so many ways a company can pay less tax, in the main it’s not evasion, it’s using the allowances that companies have. That’s without considering international companies where there are even more opportunity to minimize taxation all legal.

Morality does not come into it, many of our best loved TV presenters, independant professionals and celebrities are using companies legally to reduce tax on a large scale

Oh good another way to say 'stupid people'.

Farage is a self serving political activist and not a politician. That is why he is a MP who doesn’t do his job. Just look at the way he struts around like a peacock on parade. If he can’t manage to do a good job in Clacton then heaven help us if he has to manage the country with the likes of those who gather around him. Angela Rayner is a worker the like of which Farage couldn’t hope to emulate. Yet he jumps in and in full delight and hypocritical mode makes the most of her tax mistake. GB news is manna to the ill informed just as the Daily Mail is as they supply easy to read headlines for those who do not bother to think in a wider context which allows for real understanding and independent thinking.

Farage is sharp enough to consult the right tax lawyers and take their advice when arranging his business affairs. Something many of us would do if we could afford them. No one likes to pay taxes which are then squandered by rogues and incompetents.

From a Bureau of Investigative Journalists report:

"HMRC has not charged a single company under landmark legislation passed six years ago to crack down on corporate tax evasion.

"Critics say the data, released after Freedom of Information requests by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and TaxWatch, suggests that HMRC is undermining its own deterrents against corporate tax evasion by failing to use its criminal enforcement powers.

"Margaret Hodge MP called the findings appalling and said the lack of enforcement had rendered the law “a paper tiger.”

"The Criminal Finances Act 2017 introduced new powers to charge companies and partnerships operating in the UK that failed to stop their employees or associates from facilitating tax evasion, regardless of where in the world the tax was evaded.

"One part of the new law, known as the Corporate Criminal Offences clause, drastically lowered the bar for prosecuting businesses that enabled tax evasion. It introduced “strict liability”, meaning that a company cannot plead ignorance of the wrongdoing to evade a criminal charge, and prosecutors do not have to prove intent in order to secure a conviction.

"It also threatened unlimited fines in the case of established wrongdoing. Companies can avoid punishment if they have reasonable procedures in place to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion.

"The law both made criminal prosecutions easier to pursue and strengthened the penalties. But critics say the refusal to charge a single company has cast serious doubts on the landmark legislation."

It seems the media are very selective in their reporting of these sorts of issues. I suspect not many people are aware of how little is being done to hold the super rich to account with regard to matters of taxation.

I suppose that he can justify this by saying that he is rarely in Clacton.

GrannyGravy13

He is doing what many actors, pop stars, celebrities, News readers, authors and others not in the public eye do, including the saintly Lorraine Kelly.

It is legal, but whether or not it is moral is a different matter.

Correct GG13.

It goes on all the time. It’s why they employ tax advisers.
I don’t need one …. 😁

Ok Oreo, the support of the unions has been there for Angela. She’s very popular in my CLP and in my family/friends. I suspect she’s a bit Marmite

This is a Farage thread so won’t say more about AR.

Iam64

Oreo, you suggested Angela Raynor is only popular with the Unions. She’s hugely popular with party members of all shades.

No I don’t believe I did say that.I said she has got to where she is today with the support of the unions.
She isn’t popular with anyone I know tho, all Labour voters but maybe not members,😁

His business though is his personal performances, which is different to owning a production business.
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/farage-gb-news-earnings-private-company-b2820681.html

Lyndie

OP. We own a business. We pay corporation tax but also personal tax. I think the article is a bit misleading.

Ditto 👍

OP. We own a business. We pay corporation tax but also personal tax. I think the article is a bit misleading.

varian

Like NF, Widdecombe is another right wing attention seeker who is pandered to, not only by GB "News" but also, to their shame, by the Brexit Broadcasting Corporation who have been encouraging this nonsense for a very long time.

In the years leading up to the fraudulent referendum of 2016, Farage was invited on to Question Time no less than 29 times. Someone in the BBC had an agenda which was never exposed.

Evidence of BBC bias

“Researchers at Cardiff University have produced a detailed analysis of every episode of the BBC’s flagship Question Time programme broadcast between September 2014 and July 2023 to see if the broadcaster was balancing political viewpoints.

An analysis of 352 programmes, featuring 1734 guest slots filled by 661 different people, found that while the BBC had ‘broadly balanced’ appearances from representatives of the UK’s main political parties, when it came to members of the media, a right-wing bias became evident.

Disproportionate representation
Matt Walsh, head of the School of Journalism, Media and Culture at Cardiff University, wrote: “Removing politicians from the list of most frequent guests, shows that several high-frequency panelists are being used, most of whom come from the political right.

“The regularly featured journalists are typically opinion columnists who contribute to right-wing press outlets such as the Mail or the Telegraph, or who make appearances on right-leaning broadcasters like GB News and TalkTV.”

The five most regular non-political guests have all written for the right-wing Spectator magazine. These include Isabel Oakeshott, Julia Hartley-Brewer, Kate Andrews, Tim Stanley and Camilla Tominey, with no such similar frequency of guests from left-wing media.

Oakeshott appeared 13 times across the period studied, whilst the most frequent guest from a left-wing publication – Ash Sarkar from Novara Media – appeared just six times.

Walsh added that the BBC’s over reliance on guests from right-wing media suggests a failure to achieve balance”.

Oreo, you suggested Angela Raynor is only popular with the Unions. She’s hugely popular with party members of all shades.