The Grauniad seeking to blur the lines between tax evasion and tax avoidance.
Up to 13,000 landlords in just one London borough have been identified as failing to declare their rental income, prompting estimates that unpaid tax in the capital is costing the public purse nearly £200m.
This is not tax avoidance. It it tax evasion, which is illegal and therefore will, presumably, result in prosecution. Tax avoidance is perfectly legal and is no more than managing one’s financial affairs efficiently to minimise exposure to HMRC’s grasping, avaricious grip. It is a sacred duty. It is not immoral, it is not illegal and it is not unfair.
Failing to declare one’s income is evasion not avoidance. Got it?
“Newham has the youngest overall population and one of the lowest White British populations in the country according to the 2011 Census. The borough has the second highest percentage of Muslims in Britain, after the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, at 32%.”
Far be it for me to suggest that the very high rate of tax evasion is linked in any way to the preceding demographics.
Just sayin’…
One of the comments below the piece suggested just that. Well, there’s a surprise, eh?
Is it still there, or did the mods move in like piranhas?
It’s gone. It said much as Ted did and left the conclusion hanging…
It’s gone.
Quelle surprise.
Quite right. Glad to see somebody grasps the difference…
I’m not sure that the Graun are trying to muddy the waters with regard to the difference between evasion and avoidance. I have the feeling that their hacks actually don’t know which is which.
Don’t they have editors?
Yes, but they don’t know, either . . . .
And they wonder why the MSM is dying on its feet and we treat them with contempt.
I suspect they areboth stupid & ignorant.
[ HINT: They can’t tell the difference between Atheism & racism … ]
Oh dear.
Just for once in 100% (at least) agreement
Just me being a pedant obviously but it’s worth pointing out that as far as HMRC are concerned there is no legal definition of Tax Avoidance. There is only Tax Evasion (illegal) or Tax Compliance.
Tax Avoidance is a term invented by the left to conflate legal activity with law-breaking.
Typical leftist scum.
Nah, tax avoidance has been around for a long time. It’s merely a term used to describe the perfectly legal management of one’s financial affairs in order to minimise exposure to tax. I’ve been doing it for over twenty years. It’s only recently that the left has hijacked the term to mean evasion.
I learn something new every day. Thank you.
Still bugs me that it gets lumped in with evasion though.
Me too. Hence this post.
Not by this particular lefty. I consider it a sworn duty to withhold as much money as possible from governments that wish to spend it on bullshit wars and ego stroking single issue bollocks and of course…themselves…