Should a UK tax avoider be UK BBC sports personality.

[nickguzzi]

When I get in to an earnings bracket that would permit me to move, the south of France (address in monaco though to avoid French tax silliness) will be high on the list.

 

There are quite a few sports folk and celebrities in our own little tax haven - the Isle of Man.  Not mention Turks and Caicos or the Caymans.

 

There of lots of people who indulge in tax avoidance.  The sort of well known faces who many think are all warm, cuddly and dutifully patriotic.  A neighbours sibling is one.  Just got hammered for a £200,000 tax bill. 

That could possibly be more than I paid in tax in my entire life.

 

Not to mention the amazons and googles of this world who cause all of us on paye to have to fork out extra shed loads.

[nickguzzi]

I guess in that case it's entirely down to what it says on his passport.

 

I presume Hamilton is a UK national? 

Where ever he lives.

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Yes, but if Vettel/Alonso/Ricciardo had the Mercedes this year, would Hamilton still have won?

Yes/would have been very tight/Yes

As for the op, I'm not sure where he lives and pays his taxes has much to do with SPOTY

[Ally_bassman]

I'd do the exact same as lewis.

 

If I was paid his wage, I would do whatever it takes to pay the least amount of tax I could.

 

Heck we all would, difference is he has the funds to be able to employ creative accontants and move/live in tax havens.

 

It's easy enough to jump up on that high horse OP, but if you were in the same position, it would be interesting to see what you did.

[Fr0d]

Someone sounds a little bitter.

0/10

[Brimma]

So golf, which requires a regular long walk, and an awful lot of skill, isn't a sport

But F1, which involves sitting on your @rse day in, day out, a bit of driving prowess, and the ability of your pit crew to remotely tailor the car's settings, is a sport

Mmmmm.........

[FUBAR]

So golf, which requires a regular long walk, and an awful lot of skill, isn't a sport

But F1, which involves sitting on your @rse day in, day out, a bit of driving prowess, and the ability of your pit crew to remotely tailor the car's settings, is a sport

Mmmmm.........

 

Guy Martin FTW! Real sport, real skills, real risks and no money in it (if he was ever to win a senior TT its £14K prise money) and still having to do a normal job around it.    There are better skilled people in his field, but for personality he is up there IMO. 

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Arguments for and against lost of sports. I can appreciate Golf while not my thing does show huge skill, same as darts, bowls etc but no skill required to drive a F1 car? Not sure I'd agree with that. There is a bit more to it than jumping it and driving about for a blat.

 

I'm gutted Ronnie didnt get a shout though. 

[Jigger72]

I can smell envy

 

I'm assuming that if someone of Hamilton's wealth lives outside the UK then they don't take advantage of our excellent health, education and other civil services. And I can't imagine he'll ever need to sign on. Therefore, why would he need to pay UK taxes as he'll never be a burden on the state?

 

I don't actually like him very much, but I do admire his driving prowess and desire to be the best in his chosen field. I'm sure Hamilton Snr paid more than enough in tax while he was working three jobs to provide a racing driver's education for his son.

 

If you want to attack tax evaders, attack the likes of every multi-national corporation that exists today and makes money from UK markets. They're all avoiding the full whack, whether through government sanctioned kick-backs or through the dirty backdoor of corporate accounting.

 

Sports Personality of the Year's a load of 5hite anyway    

[vindaloo]

Considering his size and the amount of leather his GF usually wears, that's no surprise.... (doncha wish your boyfriend was a little tall-er....)  

 

<ahem> back on topic...

 

SPOTY is about emotion and engagement and involvement and success. As they succeed, you feel good because they're representing your country or group etc.

 

(Alternatively, SPOTY is a "mason" like event, sponsored by influential pillocks bearing no resemblance to the passions of the (wo)man in the street.

 

J.

[sdenny]

It's the same with all sports, the better the equipment, the better the result, but that doesn't mean there's no skill

 

I remember when Richard Hammond drove one of the old Renaults (i think). He was told by the engineer that his reactions where far too slow as there was small gap between braking and throttle. Whether reaction time is a skill I don't know - but is an ability that some people don't have.

 

And at the end of the day, re SPOTY

1) he's british - he has a british passport and was born in britain

2) the public voted for him

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Actually, if we're going on what requires skill, wacking a ball about a field for 90 min & jumping on the floor every time another player comes near you THEN make excuses/cry the other team cheated afterwards must be fairly low down on the list? 

[mellyboy]

Nice to read that Joey Barton agrees with me on  twitter . With backing from such a deep thinker I will rest my case. 

[Sad555]

I didn't realize that F1 was about sitting in a car for a few weekends,and not needing any skills,it makes me feel very humble that all the F1 drivers that have died racing for my entertainment while is sit on my a@@ for a few weekends.

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Nice to read that Joey Barton agrees with me on  twitter . With backing from such a deep thinker I will rest my case. 

  I was creasing up at some of the replies to that on FB, Barton slating Hamilton for being a bad role model 

[Brimma]

I can't help feeling that some people are seriously confused, or alternatively operate on double standards

 

I know this sort of thing has gone on for some time, but the country has been going down the pan for some time too

 

Many bemoan the financial mire that we are in, and we all have to pay the respective tax which legislation dictates we have to pay

 

A person who rakes in I don't know how much money per year effectively still calls himself British, then chooses to opt out, thereby reducing due taxation

 

The argument "I doubt blame him, the government would just squander it" doesn't hold water - Joe Public who pays his dues properly has no option to opt out, or only pay on condition that he has a say in how it is spent

 

Yes he's done well, yes he puts his life on the line each time he places himself in a racing car, but no-one has made him do it, it is something he gets a buzz out of, and something he chooses to do. High risks, hence the high level of remuneration

 

Let's not hear those who put him on such a high pedestal moan and grumble about the financial state of the country, when they condone the actions of those who contribute to putting us there

 

 

[mellyboy]

I can't help feeling that some people are seriously confused, or alternatively operate on double standards

 

I know this sort of thing has gone on for some time, but the country has been going down the pan for some time too

 

Many bemoan the financial mire that we are in, and we all have to pay the respective tax which legislation dictates we have to pay

 

A person who rakes in I don't know how much money per year effectively still calls himself British, then chooses to opt out, thereby reducing due taxation

 

The argument "I doubt blame him, the government would just squander it" doesn't hold water - Joe Public who pays his dues properly has no option to opt out, or only pay on condition that he has a say in how it is spent

 

Yes he's done well, yes he puts his life on the line each time he places himself in a racing car, but no-one has made him do it, it is something he gets a buzz out of, and something he chooses to do. High risks, hence the high level of remuneration

 

Let's not hear those who put him on such a high pedestal moan and grumble about the financial state of the country, when they condone the actions of those who contribute to putting us there

 

 

Well said, thanks for   explaining the Hamilton position  far more  eloquently than my   OP 

[CarlizzleFoSho]

Would've loved to have seen Jo Pavey pick up the award, she was most deserving in my eyes & I'm an F1 fan.

 

I respect Hamilton's skill, but his transformation into a spoilt brat that speaks with a false American twang, thanks Jebus every 5 seconds, tries to be 'gangster', & is always quick to blame his team...Well there's not much to like!

 

Also, anyone that puts a diamond chain round their dogs neck needs a slap.

[Coffin Dodger]

Nice to read that Joey Barton agrees with me on  twitter . With backing from such a deep thinker I will rest my case. 

 

Barton, Hmm... a deep, high quality intellectual. Sarcasm, a wonderful subject.        

[Coffin Dodger]

I can't help feeling that some people are seriously confused, or alternatively operate on double standards

 

I know this sort of thing has gone on for some time, but the country has been going down the pan for some time too

 

Many bemoan the financial mire that we are in, and we all have to pay the respective tax which legislation dictates we have to pay

 

A person who rakes in I don't know how much money per year effectively still calls himself British, then chooses to opt out, thereby reducing due taxation

 

The argument "I doubt blame him, the government would just squander it" doesn't hold water - Joe Public who pays his dues properly has no option to opt out, or only pay on condition that he has a say in how it is spent

 

Yes he's done well, yes he puts his life on the line each time he places himself in a racing car, but no-one has made him do it, it is something he gets a buzz out of, and something he chooses to do. High risks, hence the high level of remuneration

 

Let's not hear those who put him on such a high pedestal moan and grumble about the financial state of the country, when they condone the actions of those who contribute to putting us there

 

 

I don't generally moan about the financial state of the country, but I vote, so, I can moan about the arseholes that have run the country into the ground, we send Billions abroad and have food banks in our own country, shameful!!!

If everyone was taxed properly and the money spent on OUR country I really wouldn't mind what I am forced to pay through taxation. What bugs me the most is all these ****s living on expenses (MP's MSP's and the Lords) when they haven't got a bloody clue what it takes to feed a family for a week, and then have the gall to claim for every little thing they buy regardless of whether it is for work or their homes. Somebody get me a feckin' machine gun!!!!!!!

 

Sorry to go off topic rant over!!!

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

He's not tax avoiding though is he? He is 'living' (using term loosely as he's traveling most of the time) in Monaco. That's it, no dodgy loopholes or **** like these big arse companies are pulling. He doesn't become Monaconian and no longer British because he moved.

The whole political side of it is a much larger issue than Lewis Hamilton moving out the UK, you can't pile the deficit on him.

[bealine]

Let's face it, if the government was serious about tax avoidance, it would be easy to introduce legislation that forces a British citizen to either pay his taxes, regardless of where he resides, or to have his British citizenship permanently revoked.  

The focus on "celebs" and certain businesses avoiding tax is "government disinformation" on a par with Communist Russia to take our minds away from the real issues that are crippling Britain - Immigration, the NHS, crippling taxation, soaring house prices, greedy banks, suffocating mortgage funds, low wages, zer-hours contracts etc etc etc.

Wake up and smell the Espresso!   If you're an average Joe Blow, work out how much tax and duty you actually pay as a private citizen in a normal job (income tax, duty on fuel, alcohol, tobacco, VAT, Council Tax, Congestion Charges, Bridge Tolls, Road Fund Licence etc) and you will arrive at a figure not far off 90p in the pound.   That's the real issue, Joe Blow cannot be squeezed much further so you have to focus on the sick, the frail and the unemployed who can't really fight back.   Then, you spread a bit of discord by focussing on those who avoid paying their "fair share" of taxes, leading you to believe that if they weren't shirking their responsibilities, we would pay less tax.   Don't you believe it!

I'm not saying it's right to avoid tax, I just believe it's not as big an issue as the political scumbags from Tory, Labour and Liberal camps make it out to be.   If it was, they would be clamouring to put VAT and Duty on diesel fuel for the private yachts belonging to the wealthy - they still get away with running on "red" diesel, while trucks carrying essential food to the shops have to pay VAT, fuel duty and enormous road fund licences to the treasury!