BFC_BFC_BFC
Well-known member
All I would say is the reality is very different to the perception in my experience.Biffo - I'm no expert in tax planning. Mainly because i don't have the means to be. I also know I pay a lot of tax on my earnings. I don't have an issue with that as I feel that it's my duty as a citizen to allow public services to be funded.
I don't think all tax planning is morally questionable. I don't think it's wrong for an individual to utilize well thought out options that are provided by HMRC and the govt. I would certainly want to avoid paying more than I'm legally obliged to. I understand that businesses (large or small/individual) contribute and also need help to guard against the risks of trying to create jobs.
I've also heard enough first hand comments from self-employed individuals to know that their tax payments relative to their earnings are minimal through some very simple options. Just googling 'ways to cut tax' provides some easy starters that would help, that could easily fall into the grey area of business relevance/operations vs personal, non-business spend (travel costs, household bills, clothing etc.) Appreciate these may not be huge for each individual, but I'm sure there's other solutions that richer people can employ others to provide. I'll throw out a certain family we all know well as a possible example...
And I'll be upfront here too. Part of my position on this is set by being pissed off at having no options but to pay high rates via PAYE. I'm not going to have the brass neck to pretend it's all through my love of the welfare state (although I do support that and would never begrudge paying tax to fund high quality public services.)
You probably have a myriad of answers to debunk my thoughts; presumably through first hand experience. Fair enough if so. But I'm not changing the way I feel about it.