Current Affairs 2023

[Gill W]

Zahawi has been caught out.

He'd have got away with it if it wasn't for the press uncovering what had happened.

Sunak should have sacked him at least a week ago - the delay has just made him look weak

[Gill W]

How disappointing to hear the amount of police officers awaiting for court appearances in the Met. At the same time, how upsetting it must be for genuine police officers to have to spend time having to investigate their follow officers for the crimes committed instead of chasing the real criminals on the out side.

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you worded this awkwardly.

[Onelife]

Zahawi has been caught out.

He'd have got away with it if it wasn't for the press uncovering what had happened.

Sunak should have sacked him at least a week ago - the delay has just made him look weak

It begs the question as to whether his accountant should be held accountable for knowingly allowing this carelessness/deception whatever they want to call it to go through the books…surely Zahawi wouldn’t employ accountants that wouldn’t have noticed what was going on?

[Gill W]

It begs the question as to whether his accountant should be held accountable for knowingly allowing this carelessness/deception whatever they want to call it to go through the books…surely Zahawi wouldn’t employ accountants that wouldn’t have noticed what was going on?

His accountant isn't in government.

When push comes to shove Zahawi is accountable for his own finances

[oldbluefox]

It's an interesting thought OL. I presume his accountant will have signed off the accounts although being hammered for every penny by PAYE I'm not sure how that system works.
If the accountant has been over zealous surely he/she should be brought to task.

[david63]

He'd have got away with it if it wasn't for the press uncovering what had happened.

The only thing that he is guilty of is not declaring it.

With such an amount of tax needing to be paid this will have been going on for months, probably years, with HMRC.

It begs the question as to whether his accountant should be held accountable for knowingly allowing this carelessness

If an accountant knowingly makes a false declaration on behalf of a client then they will be liable but if they only declare what they are told then the onus is on the client.

which would close some of the loopholes which are clearly exploited

The problem is that when one loophole is closed another opens due to the fact that our tax system is so complex.

It is impossible to have a tax system that does not have loopholes.

[Gill W]

The only thing that he is guilty of is not declaring it.

It's not just the millions of pounds of tax, the ethics adviser found that Zahawi breached the ministerial code 7 times and repeatedly failed to be open and honest about his tax affairs.

[Mervyn and Trish]

It actually has nothing to do with the millions of pounds at all. The amount is irrelevant. Even if the dispute had been settled without him owing a penny the issue would have been the same.

The offence which has been identified and for which he has rightly been sacked is not declaring on various occasions that the tax issue was ongoing.

[anniec]

The only thing that he is guilty of is not declaring it.


[/quote]

He's also alleged to have sent letter(s) threatening libel action to the original whistleblower, a tax expert and blogger called Dan Neidle.

[Onelife]

Good call anniec...can't remember where but I remember reading this...

[barney]

While I was making breakfast this morning, I accidentally set up an offshore trust fund.
My mistake, but a very easy one to make.

[oldbluefox]

While I was making breakfast this morning, I accidentally set up an offshore trust fund.
My mistake, but a very easy one to make.

One can never have too many offshore trust funds barney.........allegedly

[Mervyn and Trish]

Have you got the details Barney? Asking for a friend.

[oldbluefox]

Ms Sturgeon getting herself into a bit of a tangle over her transgender prisoners. How can it be right to lock up men who have raped women in a women's prison?

[Mervyn and Trish]

For me, whatever political correctness says, and whatever somebody "identifies" as, when it comes to what is essentially a safety issue for women, a quick check of what they have in their pants should decide which prison they go to. Sorry if that's too simple for the Wokes.

[towny44]

If everyone paid the taxes they should the burden of taxation would be eased for all of us. It's not just the Tories. How many employ accountants to creatively reduce their tax burden, a luxury those on PAYE would not find worthwhile?
I would like to see a tightening up of tax laws which would close some of the loopholes which are clearly exploited. Zahawi has been caught out.

I think it was Ken who quoted someone as saying, "we should all aim to pay the minimum legally acceptable amount of tax".
The only problem with that is that we dont all have the same access to the best legal advice to enable us to achieve this.

[Onelife]

Ms Sturgeon getting herself into a bit of a tangle over her transgender prisoners. How can it be right to lock up men who have raped women in a women's prison?

It can’t be right Foxy but we are living in crazy times…. while I accept that some feel they are born into the wrong body I don’t accept that trans identity ideology is healthy for society as a whole…with acceptance comes the inevitable questions of what age is too young to understand the full impact of what transcending actually means to an individual. Children are impressionable at the best of times, not least when they are going through puberty, it is for this reason I feel we are losing our sence of responsibility in allowing gender identity ideology to screw up children’s minds into that of following trends rather than using independent thought to cope with the hormone changes that all teenagers go through. Most children work through this stage in their lives but for an increasing number this is becoming far more difficult what with the LGBT movement having easy access to our children’s impressionable young minds.

I don’t have any statistics to back this up but I believe I have read that gender related suicides have seen a dramatic increase of recent years?

[oldbluefox]

If everyone paid the taxes they should the burden of taxation would be eased for all of us. It's not just the Tories. How many employ accountants to creatively reduce their tax burden, a luxury those on PAYE would not find worthwhile?
I would like to see a tightening up of tax laws which would close some of the loopholes which are clearly exploited. Zahawi has been caught out.

I think it was Ken who quoted someone as saying, "we should all aim to pay the minimum legally acceptable amount of tax".
The only problem with that is that we dont all have the same access to the best legal advice to enable us to achieve this.

......or the funds to employ somebody with that advice. Let's face it there's not much manipulating you can do with PAYE.
My SIL earned more as a teacher than her husband as a self employed tradesman but after tax took home much less. It seems it's not what you earn but how much you are able to keep.

[Onelife]

Hey! Foxy…in my line of business I received many of my payments by CIH…I can’t remember not declaring them but as a matter of interest, how long after you finish work can the tax man come looking for penalty payments?... Asking for a friend.

[oldbluefox]

Just tell me where you keep it and I'll send my friend round to sort it for you

[Stephen]

Just tell me where you keep it and I'll send my friend round to sort it for you

Fo a generous fee of course………..paid direct into an offshore account

[Mervyn and Trish]

Does Maldon mud flats count as offshore? Asking for a friend.....

[david63]

as a matter of interest, how long after you finish work can the tax man come looking for penalty payments?... Asking for a friend.

Tell your "friend" that it can be anything up to 20 years - depending on the seriousness of the evasion.

[Stephen]

Does Maldon mud flats count as offshore? Asking for a friend.....

Certainly.

Send all monies to me and I'll make sure they go off shore

[Mervyn and Trish]

I see the IMF is making pessimistic noises about the UK economy. Given how offen they've been completely wrong and their own admission they've been as much as 1.5% adrift in the past I don't think I'll be losing any sleep.