You really are totally deluded about this. Society punishes people like Carr not because he is successful but because he avoids paying tax.

Society punishes people who it sees as greedy, not successful.

If Carr made three times as much as he did but didn't enter into tax avoidance schemes I think you would find no one would bat an eye.

One of the UK's most successful businessmen in recent years was the chap who founded Phones4u, John Caudwell. He began with £1350 and 26 Motorola mobile phones to sell. When sold up a few years back he was worth about a billion and a half. He stated no one ever needs more than £10m to fund an extremely comfortable lifestyle and so set about given the rest of his fortune to charity.

When he ran the company it remained private and the staff were awarded with high wages and good conditions. It made a few million a year profit which no doubt could have been much higher had he adopted the usual stock-market induced mantra of cutting staff costs and driving wages down. He chose not to do that and was content to be merely very well off rather than the next Philip Green.

Why would anyone be jealous of Caudwell? But people are furious with Philip Green because if his legal tax avoidance.

You need to understand the difference between the two types of people described here.

It appears I've been sent a very angry pm for using someones first name. To the relevant poster, I sincerely apologise, Martin.

I am certainly envious of him, I've seen him on TV and he seems like a very well rounded bloke apparently without the religious guilt that haunts a lot of people who suddenly want to give away their fortune under some belief that they can buy favours with a God - he just seems to be a caring person who knows when he is well off and then wants to help others.

Godwins law, lock the thread!

I too lived similarly, I held senior management posts in companies and then worked for myself, often earning £500 per day as a consultant. When I decided to scale back, the worst part was convincing HMC&E (as was) that I was dev-VATing because I was no longer earning above the VAT threshold and didn't need all the aggro that went with it.

I'd spent more than enough time in airports, on aeroplanes and in other countries (business and pleasure), to last anyone more than one lifetime. I was ready to kick back and do just a little more than was required to get by. When I was a guest at Emma's brother's wedding, I sat next to her uncle who heads up the CPS for West Yorkshire. He & his wife were great people and when they asked me what I did, I replied "get pi[is[/ised and go fishing". His wife then asked what I did to be able to afford it and my reply was "just enough to get pi[is[/ised and go fishing". She then turned to her husband and asked him why he couldn't get a job like mine.

It's great knowing that my choice of holiday destination (South Devon) takes me less time to get there than I would require for checking in at an airport. I eat well, I dress in designer and Savile Row bespoke clothes, all bought from charity shops and bootsales.

Would I go back to what I was doing before? Would I bollox

You know, I'm now adicted to charity shop shopping, mainly for "casual" shirts, last sunday I sat in that millionaires restaurant in a baggy cotton shift that looked just like the ones that all the millionaires around me were wearing - except that mine had cost me £3 in a British Heart Foundation shop in Otley, its my favourite shirt now.

I blame you.

Anyway, back on topic(ish)

[iFrankie Boyle ‏@frankieboyle

If you're rich, don't look at it as tax avoidance, look at it as a Childrens hospital buying you a pool table[/i

Ooh, you've got me all interested now because a former colleague of mine has two restaurants over there. It wasn't called No Patio or No Patio Vas was it? Long shot I know but as you mentioned it

Because it was the current Tory PM who was showing hypocracy on a massive scale.
It hardly surprising then for it to be other Tories in the firing line.
Surely even a Tory nut like you can see the logic there?

Or roughly translated you don't want to risk finding out that your opinion is in conflict with the facts. Typical of you.




When you want your dummy back let me know. It went whizzing past my ear but I think I saw where it landed.

I think you're probably a bit butch to pull that look off successfully, but fair play for giving it a go.

Frankly, I'm disappointed that Jimmy Carr felt the need to apologise. It's not like he's routing all his income through his tax exiled wife and then having the cheek to advise the Government on saving money.

After reading this thread I have come to the conclusion that Standee may also be using the K2 tax scheme.

He also steals chalk from primary schools to 'get his money back'.

Seriously though, we live in a welfare state where we're all expected to contribute, via our taxes, to help provide for societys most vulnerable. If a person doesn't want to comply with that concept, then the UK isn't the place for you to be trading.

As said previously, it comes down to pure greed, and it's this greed that annoys the rest of us who pay our way.

If only standee's parents never wanted kids eh? Who paid for your education

The key issue that someone alluded to above, is that bankers, comedians and even Standee can attribute a large part of any success they have to the fact that they are based in a stable political and social environment. One which needs a government to provide the flower bed from which they can grow and flourish and one that provides the manure (eg an educated workforce) to assist that growth. All those things need paying for, via taxation. This is something market fundamentalists forget or chose to ignore as they start to attribute their success to their ability alone. The question is would Fred Goodwin or AN Other Hedgie be so wealthy and egotistical if they'd been born in Angola 50 years ago? No. So, to people who want to take and never give I say you are just mind numbingly stupid scum.