Kevin Meagher wonders what will happen the next time George Osborne meets the “morally repugnant” tax dodgers James Caan, Lord Ashcroft and Sir Philip Green.
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Does George Osborne think James Caan, Lord Ashcroft and Sir Philip Green are “morally repugnant”?
In his budget speech yesterday, the chancellor was clear what he thought about rich people not paying their fair share of tax:
“I regard tax evasion and – indeed – aggressive tax avoidance – as morally repugnant.”
Yet just hours after the budget the Conservative Party press office tweeted two comments from former Dragons’ Den star James Caan in support of the budget:
“James Caan,BBC: ‘Govt’s support for exporters ‘creates jobs’ and ‘gives businesses a chance to breathe again’ #Budget2012”
“James Caan on BBC: “I think it’s a good budget, I think it’s very encouraging.” #Budget2012”
Is this the same James Caan who benefits from having non-domicile tax status – precisely the same tax avoiding arrangement the chancellor thinks is “morally repugnant?”
The same Caan who fellow Dragon Duncan Bannatyne once decried for putting home grown entrepreneurs at an “unfair advantage” by moving his money offshore?
Is this the same Caan whose London-based private equity business Hamilton Bradshaw is owned by a Cayman Islands company?
The chancellor, it seems, has a selective memory.
Has he also forgotten his party has been bankrolled by nom-dom Lord Ashcroft for the past decade and a half?
Or that the government’s own ‘efficiency adviser’ – Top Shop boss Sir Philip Green – squirrelled his vast wealth offshore in 2005 by paying a £1.2 billion dividend to his wife, who lives in Monaco, thus saving an estimated £285million in taxes?
• Osborne, Mitchell and Hammond accused of tax avoidance 18 Oct 2010
• Another week, another Tory tax exile – only this time the Daily Mail sinks him 20 Aug 2010
• More pressure on Clegg as we reveal real cost of Green’s £285m tax avoidance 19 Aug 2010
• Sign the petition to demand Cameron’s pal Aschroft pays back the £127 million he avoided 2 Mar 2010
• Questions mount for Tories over The Aschcroft Supremacy 2 Mar 2010
• Facebook group on Lord Ashcroft’s tax status piles on the pressure 16 Feb 2010
• Cameron’s MEPs vote against reforms to clamp down on tax dodgers 11 Feb 2010
The chancellor’s soaring rhetoric about tax avoidance is a worthy sentiment but as content-free as a non-dom’s tax return.
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43 Responses to “Budget 2012: Does Osborne think Caan, Ashcroft and Green are “morally repugnant”?”
Jeffman
I’d be more than happy for any of you lot who didn’t want to pay the 50% (or 45%, as it is now) to fuck off overseas and not come back. Parasitic scum like you aren’t welcome.
Anonymous
Lets see. To be a parasite you have to sponge of other people. Consume their goods.
In the case of the rich, the government and the people dependent on the government for their cash are, by your definition the parasites.
So what about Boots? They took your advice and fucked off to Switzerland, as did Google and lots of other companies. No doubt you will complain because they took your advice.
Well, if you don’t like the route the UK is going why don’t you f-off to the socialist nirvana of North Korea. I’m sure you will be welcome.
As for newsbot, if he is Mr Average, he’s on 100K according to his past posts, and he’s looking at buggering off overseas.
Meanwhile not a peep about Ken’s tax avoidance/evasion and illegal payments to his staff
Anonymous
And? You pay less tax than the middle class, as a percentage basis thanks to paying just 28% on most of your income. Your policies have caused this crisis, and are to blame for the ongoing disintegration of the economy.
And thanks for admitting tax evasion. Only the guilty harp on about other’s sins. Feel free to “leave”…as in Sweden, where there really IS a 50% tax rate. Oh wait, people don’t.
So, it’s an empty threat from an empty head.
robert morgan
RT @leftfootfwd: Budget 2012: Does Osborne think Caan, Ashcroft and Green are “morally repugnant”? http://t.co/0VEWuCGg
Anonymous
No, not going anywhere atm.
And 100K? I flipping wish! You’re making stuff up again.
Keep pretending that companies are leaving because of anything but your economic death spiral you love so much.
AND keep trying to deflect attention from your self-admitted tax evasion by bleating about others. Same Feral 1%. (What? NOT LABOUR)