Jimmy Carr - Tax Evader!

[Si Hunt]

COMEDIAN Jimmy Carr is one of thousands of wealthy Brits using off-shore tax avoidance schemes, it was reported today.

The 8 Out of 10 Cats star — who performed at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert — is understood to shelter £3.3million from the taxman.

Carr, 39, is one of 1,100 people who use the controversial K2 scheme in Jersey.

Although legal, the K2 method keeps £168million a year away from the Treasury.

The Government wants an urgent crackdown on tax avoidance, with George Osborne describing those responsible as "morally repugnant".

Individual tax avoidance costs the economy £4.5billion a year, with some paying as little as ONE PER CENT income tax — and the Chancellor is desperate to reign it in.

But Roy Lyness, of Peak Performance Accountants, who run the K2 scheme, told customers "most of the tax-saving opportunities survived unscathed".

Then, moral crusader David Cameron weighs in to condemn him:

DAVID Cameron last night blasted comedian Jimmy Carr — describing his tax dodging as “morally wrong”.

The PM said Carr, exposed for squirrelling £3.3million away from Revenue and Customs, was undertaking “straightforward tax avoidance”.

And he said it was unfair Carr did not pay his taxes in the same way as fans who watch his shows.

Mr Cameron waded into the row after Carr broke his silence over the controversy, insisting: “I pay what I have to and not a penny more.”

Carr, 39, is thought to be one of several stars to sign up to the K2 “tax avoidance” plan.

The funnyman funnelled cash through a firm in Jersey before he was later loaned back the money. As loans are not taxed, the Inland Revenue could not take its cut. The scheme enabled Carr to pay as little as one per cent in income tax.

In an interview with ITV News during his trip to Mexico for the G20 summit, the PM said: “I think some of these schemes — and I think particularly of the Jimmy Carr scheme — is completely wrong.

“People work hard, pay their taxes, save up to go to one of his shows. He is taking the money from those tickets and he, as far as I can see, is putting all of that into some very dodgy tax avoiding schemes.

“Some of these schemes are, quite frankly, morally wrong.

Note, "the Jimmy Carr scheme". It's now officially named after him. Carr's publicist has apologised, though:

COMEDIAN Jimmy Carr has admitted he made a "terrible error of judgement" over his tax dodging scheme.

Today he revealed that he had pulled out of the controversial K2 off-shore arrangement which allowed him to shelter £3.3million from Revenue and Customs.

The 8 Out of 10 Cats star, 39, was even called "morally wrong" by Prime Minister David Cameron for not paying full income tax.

But this morning he announced that he has withdrawn from the controversial scheme.

Carr told his 2.3million followers on Twitter: "I now realise I’ve made a terrible error of judgement."

The stand-up said: "I appreciate, as a comedian, people will expect me to ‘make light’ of this situation, but I’m not going to in this statement as this is obviously a serious matter.

Prime Minister David Cameron said tax avoidance was 'morally wrong'
Pressure ... Carr, left, and PM who said tax avoidance is 'morally wrong'

"I met with a financial advisor and he said to me 'Do you want to pay less tax? It’s totally legal'. I said 'Yes'.

"I now realise I’ve made a terrible error of judgement.

"Although I’ve been advised the K2 Tax scheme is entirely legal, and has been fully disclosed to HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs), I’m no longer involved in it and will in future conduct my financial affairs much more responsibly. Apologies to everyone. Jimmy Carr."

[Rob McCow]

Isn't it about time we went to war with Jersey? Their tax-loophole madness has gone on long enough! Forget the Falklands, it's Jersey that's messing us up.

I find Jimmy Carr alternately likeable and repugnant. He's clearly very clever and he comes across very well on QI. His stand-up shows, however, seem rather nasty.

[Si Hunt]

I don't like Jimmy Carr. But something bothers me about all this. And that's that, well, I have paid tax myself. For ten years I owned a property and each year I had to pay tax on the earnings. And my uncle advised me of various ways I could limit the tax I paid - for example, by claiming a legal 10% deduction for wear and tear etc. Now, of course, I jumped at the chance of paying less tax. It seemed to me that I was earning money in exchange for providing a service, a very difficult one at times, and to pay the mortgage. I didn't mind, but I was scarcely going to think "Hmmm, no really, I should pay that extra 10% tax so I think I will anyway". What I mean is, is there a single one of us here who, if told "Actually, the law says you can pay less tax here" we wouldn't say "Oh, good". That's just what's happened here on a grand scale. So is it one rule of working class people and another for the rich? If Carr is paying not enough tax legally, then surely the government should MAKE it illegal? We're bemoaning someone for doing something legally. Which makes it all the more laughable that big Dave has been the one to come out and slam him. Maybe his time would be better spent advising George Osbourne to close the tax loophole?

Also tax dodge schemes are fine if it's cheeky chappy boybands, says this jocularly written piece from The Sun:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...Directors.html

POP heart-throbs One Direction are set to save a fortune — by becoming DIRECTORS

The boyband will avoid whopping tax bills by making themselves bosses of their own companies.

As the cash rolls in they will plough earnings through 1D Media and PPM Music, instead of being paid directly.

And that could save a staggering 22 per cent on future income for the five lads who found fame on the X Factor — Louis Tomlinson, 20, Harry Styles, 18, Zayn Malik, 19, Niall Horan, 18, and Liam Payne, 18.

In another shrewd move, the group have changed their registered addresses to an Irish accountancy firm which helps clients to be more tax efficient.

[SiHart]

This is what the rich have always done. Always found any loophole to stop them paying what they should. I'm sure George Osborne has found ways to not pay all the taxes he should on his millions.

[SiHart]

Oh hang on... the Prime Minister's family fortune was founded on the same principle he was only criticizing yesterday... http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2...ily-tax-havens

That's got to be morally wrong too then, hasn't it? Hasn't it?

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Oh hang on... the Prime Minister's family fortune was founded on the same principle he was only criticizing yesterday... http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2...ily-tax-havens

That's got to be morally wrong too then, hasn't it? Hasn't it?

Shhhh - you're not supposed to notice that!

[SiHart]

Oh yes, sorry you're right Mike.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Oh yes, sorry you're right Mike.

It does get me just how full of hypocracy a lot of English politics can seem at times.

I've been here in NZ for 3 years now, and we don't seem to get anything that winds me up quite as much as UK Politics. Still at least this makes a change of tact for a Tory government from blaming all the people on the dole for not trying hard enough for getting a job ...

[Rob McCow]

Of course, it's Jimmy Carr's accountant who is actually responsible for this. They said they'd save him money and they did!

[Si Hunt]

Maybe his accountant should have chatted to his publicist... no, that's unfair. I bet hundreds of stars use this, no idea why he's being singled out.

But our dear, fat, unelected Sun editor buddy PM should keep his Eton buttocks right out of this. He's got some front hasn't he? Not only is he, I'm SURE, making the most out of his tax breaks, but it's government that let the loop exist in the first place! I'm fed up of "Big Dave" and his smarmy fat-cat moralising!

Si.

[SiHart]

Yes, it's lovely that he finds time to comment on individual cases like this. Obviously there's nothing big for him to worry about at the moment.

[Lissa]

We'er going to see Jimmy Carr tomorrow night. Could be interesting.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

This really seems like a non-story considering how many people are known to have benefited from this tax loop-hole.

That said, Lissa please do report back if Carr has anything interesting to say on the subject tomorrow.

[Rob McCow]

You should try heckling him, Lissa. He'll crumple like a wet paper bag and burst into tears at the merest mention of the word 'Tax'.

[Jon Masters]

Cameron is such a t#@t - notice he hasn't had a go a Gary Barlow, who apparently has a similar thing going on.

The same Gary Barlow that an old HIGNFY on Dave last night reminded us was such a staunch and well publicised supporter of Cameron and the Tories before the election.

Hypocracy is too small a word for this posh w@n#er

[Andrew Curnow]

I'm with Si, if the PM thinks it's immoral then put a stop to it - you are PM after all, isn't that part of the remit? Don't just moan about it like it's an act of God!!

It seems bizarre to me, though, that Jimmy Carr has had to issue a public apology for doing something perfectly legal, and which we'd probably all be happy to do if we could.

[Anthony Williams]

This is all a bit silly. I don't see what the problem here is.

If you were in the top tax bracket, you would pay 50% income tax (the decrease hasn't come into force yet), PLUS National Insurance, PLUS VAT on a lot of what you buy, PLUS excess tax on booze, ciggies and petrol, PLUS a few other taxes.

I honestly believe that that really is an outrageous amount of your income that you're giving up there. And I'd be willing to bet that if you're paying tax at that top rate, you're not taking advantage of much that the state is offering. Maybe the NHS. Maybe state schooling, if you live in an area with a good state school.

But if those perfectly legal loopholes are there, people are going to use them, rather than give up an excessive percentage of their income to the taxman. I know I would. Frankly, even though we're nowhere near the top tax bracket, I'm glad I live in a country where the top federal tax rate is 35%.

[Stuart Wallis]

Whatever anyone else says, nobody's plugging Ebenezer Wallis' loophole!

[WhiteCrowNZ]

I honestly believe that that really is an outrageous amount of your income that you're giving up there. And I'd be willing to bet that if you're paying tax at that top rate, you're not taking advantage of much that the state is offering. Maybe the NHS. Maybe state schooling, if you live in an area with a good state school.

So - what you're saying is, if you're rich enough - you can afford private healthcare, you can afford to send your kids to a private school. You should be allowed to "opt out" of society?

One thing that bothers me, there seems to be a lot of focus in the world about giving better breaks to the richest people - but this is a demographic very good at taking care of itself, negotiating good pay deals, finding loopholes for taxation etc.

[Alex]

This is all a bit silly. I don't see what the problem here is.

If you were in the top tax bracket, you would pay 50% income tax (the decrease hasn't come into force yet), PLUS National Insurance, PLUS VAT on a lot of what you buy, PLUS excess tax on booze, ciggies and petrol, PLUS a few other taxes.

I honestly believe that that really is an outrageous amount of your income that you're giving up there. And I'd be willing to bet that if you're paying tax at that top rate, you're not taking advantage of much that the state is offering. Maybe the NHS. Maybe state schooling, if you live in an area with a good state school.

But if those perfectly legal loopholes are there, people are going to use them, rather than give up an excessive percentage of their income to the taxman. I know I would. Frankly, even though we're nowhere near the top tax bracket, I'm glad I live in a country where the top federal tax rate is 35%.

There's a big difference between paying 50%, 35% and 1% though. I've mixed feelings towards Carr, he was definitely in the wrong and shouldn't have done it, but I certainly don't feel he should be singled out like this when it's known that many other people have used the same system. I suppose the difference is that he's supposed to be a likeable tv personality / comedian, whereas heads of corporations you expect to be complete shits, and ultimately they don't care unless it severely damages their reputation / profit.

I saw this week's 8 Out of 10 Cats and they spent twenty minutes taking the piss out of him. Most of it was fairly toothless, almost friendly jibes, though I hear from one audience member's reportage that certain harsher bits didn't make the edit. Either way, he apologised throughout, didn't try and weasel out of it, and took complete responsibility. Which is fair enough really, I don't know what more can be asked from him.

[Si Hunt]

Why do people seem to hate "the rich"? Why hate someone you don't know just because they are lucky enough to be well off?

I know the answer, I just think that's the question people should ask themselves.

Si.

[Paul Clement]

Instead of complaining about people using the tax avoidance schemes, and trying to stir up public emnity against them, the government needs to work on getting the loopholes removed. The fact they happily ignore the same practices from Tory supporters shows a level of conceit that beggars belief.

[Alex]

Why do people seem to hate "the rich"? Why hate someone you don't know just because they are lucky enough to be well off?

I know the answer, I just think that's the question people should ask themselves.

Si.

I don't hate the rich at all - at least not as a whole. There are some people (footballers, mainly, but some evil corporate types) who I don't think deserve to be paid the amount they get, compared to teachers and nurses (as the old argument goes) but a genuine entrepreneur or inventor who has found a gap in the market, or just worked bloody hard to get where they are, deserve the money imho.

Comedians should be paid even more than they are too. And I have no ulterior motive for suggesting such a thing.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

I think the problem is that the people who have the money and the power, can use the power to make more money.

We had a CEO on a previous company who came in and put an immediate stop to company cars for instance, cancelled annual bonuses and pay rises, plundered our pension scheme.

Oh? For himself? Well he insisted on being brought into work by a helicopter (paid by the company), and had the company fund a private jet (even first class means travelling with riff-raff). And yes, his salary increases and bonuses continued unchecked because "you need to pay me this, I have an expensive wife".

As many favourite Facebook comments have said, the recent bank problems were caused by greed - and the banking system which caused it is pretty much back to the same practices. Meanwhile it's a more vulnerable layer of society which is being told "pay freezes, tighten your belts". It seems like there is a layer of society which "gets all the benefit" and another much lower down which "pays for the risks taken".

[Stuart Wallis]

As many favourite Facebook comments have said, the recent bank problems were caused by greed - and the banking system which caused it is pretty much back to the same practices. Meanwhile it's a more vulnerable layer of society which is being told "pay freezes, tighten your belts". It seems like there is a layer of society which "gets all the benefit" and another much lower down which "pays for the risks taken".

Which is why Marxism was invented. Not that Marxism seems to recognise the difference between, say Robert Maxwell and the inventor of the clockwork radio, who was ripped off himself before he became famous. It's human nature really, to think "You got, me want" when we see matey sitting in the back of his Roller; the trouble comes when matey wants more, and will resort to dubious means in order to get it. Paul McCartney isn't hurting anyone when he puts out another CD - but I'm not going to say "Murdoch"...