Actress Emma Thompson and her husband refuse to pay 'a penny more' in taxes until HSB

[DodgyAgent]

I had a friend of mine who retired as a tax inspector at 55. I told him that I dedicated myself to paying a little tax as possible (I will add without going to the lengths of some of these dodgy offshoring/film partnership) schemes. He argued that the money was needed for schools and hospitals. To which I replied. No it goes to paying public servants pensions that enable them to retire at 55 without having to take any real responsibility in their jobs. It further goes to public servants to squander on producing s**t education for far too many kids.

I said it was far better for me to spend my money on fast cars, loose women and expensive holidays as this creates demand for engineering skills, mining workers, hotel staff, lap dancers etc etc.

[tomtomagain]

I'm not sure why you exclude those in Show business it seems to be a true meritocracy if the viewers don't like you then you don't make much money. Its not normally just who you are related to.

Show Business a meritocracy? You are joking aren't?

[NickyBoy]

Show Business a meritocracy? You are joking aren't?

The important thing you need to remember about meritocracies (and the reason they are not an acceptable replacement for democracies), is that you might not always agree with what counts as merit.

[SueEllen]

It should not be about morality. The left lost the moral argument over taxation years ago by squandering it and failing to deliver on public services. Furthermore the purveyors of the system (Labour MPS and councillors, heads of public services) have been proved to be equally self interest driven - I would argue more so, as any Tory. They are left with climate change and demonising the rich as a means to justifying the raising of taxes.

One of the things you are doing is confusing Blair's & Brown's leadership with Milliband's.

Nu Labour didn't have a problem with the rich. In fact those like Mandelson have openly come out and indicated they are against what Ed Milliband is saying. They know if a party isn't in the centre it doesn't get in government. However for some reason Ed's advisors think moving to the left and coming out with tulip like this will work.

Lots of younger voters have worked out rightly that they are all the same and no party can claim the high moral ground so won't vote.

[vetran]

The important thing you need to remember about meritocracies (and the reason they are not an acceptable replacement for democracies), is that you might not always agree with what counts as merit.

indeed well said.

[DodgyAgent]

One assumes that the Luvvies in the thread title have figured out some method of avoiding VAT, council tax, fuel duty, and all the rest.

[minestrone]

Emma Thompson and her husband Greg Wise have withdrawn their 15-year-old daughter from school and begun educating her at home.


Mr Wise, who starred in Sense and Sensibility, said their daughter Gaia had decided shortly before her GCSEs that school “wasn’t for her”.


He said: “She loves learning and she’s terribly focused and hardworking, but she didn’t like the sausage factory of formal education. I’ve no argument with that.”


Mr Wise and Ms Thompson have built a school room at the end of their garden in West Hampstead, north London, where tutors will teach Gaia.


He said: “Although I won’t be teaching her. We’ve got tutors and I’ve built her a school room in the garden.”

Clearly she speaks for the hard working parents in the UK. She has a finger on the pulse to what it is like to get up on a Monday morning to do some tulip job to make tulip money so the kids get food and clothes to go to their sausage factory schools.

I say we throw her in a pond and if she floats burn her.

[darmstadt]

I said it was far better for me to spend my money on fast cars, loose women and expensive holidays as this creates demand for engineering skills, mining workers, hotel staff, lap dancers etc etc.

So not really helping the UK economy then as your fast car is liable to be foreign, probably Italian, your loose women will be East European and part of the black economy and unless you're holidaying in Grimsby then that's liable to be in a foreign country as well....

[minestrone]

The fiat punto will have a point of sale in the UK, VAT plus corporation tax payable from the dealership. The dealer will make a taxable salary from the sale. He will have to pay for petrol at a taxable amount.

I doubt his Slovakian women pay tax though.

[minestrone]

Anyways, if she is so fecked off about companies not paying tax to the treasury tell her to get her films off Amazon Prime and ask them to pay UK tax on DVD sales she is credited in.

HSBC paid 245 million in corp tax in 2013, Amazon paid 3.2 million.