Is it OK to break the law if you are a Tory?

I ignored those ones as well. I am a labour party member. I think it's an interesting subject. I would be surprised if criminality was based on political party. Well on mainstream ones anyway.

Yes, if records are available they should be neutrally expressed. I may or may not want to vote for someone who had been jailed for protesting, or for fraud, but I think we should know before deciding. Similarly, and perhaps predictably, I would want to know if someone making decisions about the NHS used private medicine (not that he is registered with an NHS GP, as we all are), and similarly if someone who might become an education minister sent their children to private school. I might decide that there were good reasons for doing so, but IMO the choice should be mine.

The lists for convictions for fraud are quite old (8 years old) it looks reasonably equally spread from a quick glance although I think I saw UKIP a few times.

It seems to me that the Tory party in particular attracts members that see it as a way to gain power, siphon off public funds and deny those in society who really need it support. Denouncing the working class/poor as scroungers while stuffing their own off-shore accounts with our taxes.

All of the above while trying to wipe out our NHS.

How anyone feels able to vote for them I don't know.

The Financial Times has a front page news article on how almost 2300 HM Revenue & Customs Compliance staff have been transferred to work on Brexit and Covid 19 schemes which means billions in tax are not being collected. One way to avoid paying taxes.

It intrigues how posters read the posts - the need to point out that Labour could be as 'bad' fascinates me! What seems to have been ignored is not only did this MP suddenly and rapidly repay the tax when he came into profile in the summer, he also got his solicitors to threaten the person (Dan Neidle) who exposed him! That legal firm is being investigated by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority for this behaviour.

CvD66 but you do realise that some of the tweets by other solicitors are finding some interest and amusement in Dan Neidle’s role here. It’s just not at all straightforward….

Probably Nadhim Zahari’s biggest error was not to have employed Dan Neidle as his personal tax lawyer.

Dan has made so much money that he has taken early retirement…..

If Zahari had been paying all his taxes, how come he paid £3 million when this story came to light? If what he had been doing was perfectly legal, I can't understand why he would voluntarily pay that kind of money.

PS. I couldn't care less about the background of the lawyer who uncovered it all. The facts would still be the same.

ronib

CvD66 but you do realise that some of the tweets by other solicitors are finding some interest and amusement in Dan Neidle’s role here. It’s just not at all straightforward….

I haven't seen them. What is 'not at all straightforward' about the case?

Nahawi not only tried to wriggle out of paying tax, but he lied about it.

Am trying to sort out a tax query, shall try to find some quotes but in the meantime Dan Neidle is in the top 5 of legal influencers in Uk. Perhaps you could have a little explore?

ronib

Am trying to sort out a tax query, shall try to find some quotes but in the meantime Dan Neidle is in the top 5 of legal influencers in Uk. Perhaps you could have a little explore?

Sorry, I thought you might be able to remember a bit off the top of your head.

Annoyingly I was trying to find the original trail and maybe I shall try later.

ronib

Am trying to sort out a tax query, shall try to find some quotes but in the meantime Dan Neidle is in the top 5 of legal influencers in Uk. Perhaps you could have a little explore?

Done. So what? It doesn't change anything about Zahawi's case.

Growstuff for a sometimes working retired person tax codes are wrongly given and it’s frustrating to have to deal with the mistakes that Inland Revenue makes. This is by no means an excuse for wilful tax evasion by any one person. Again when reforming the nhs and education departments, some thought needs to be given to closing all tax loopholes not just IR35. Some law firms make mega bucks working for clients in this area.

I know that some law firms make mega bucks advising on tax. It's irrelevant to this case.

It doesn't change the facts surrounding the Zahawi case.

Do you honestly think he would have agreed to pay £3 million if he could have found a legal loophole? He lied and tried to shut down his critics - and only paid up because there was no alternative. He was found out.

Okay I take your point and am left wondering who is more corrupt, the enabling law companies or the end clients?

both!

ronib

Okay I take your point and am left wondering who is more corrupt, the enabling law companies or the end clients?

Tax avoidance is legal, successive governments of Conservative, Conservative/Lib Dem and Labour have done little to close any of the so called loopholes

Tax evasion is illegal and anyone found guilty of it should be prosecuted according to the laws of the U.K.

An enabling law company might very well be morally questionable, but no respectable company would knowingly break the law. It's up to governments to change the law. In Zahawi's case, it appears he actually broke the law, which is why he paid £3 million when found out. I have no idea who his tax lawyers were. Maybe he should think about suing them for giving him bad advice.

There are some shady tax advisers - not people I would want to be professionally (or otherwise) associated with. Any who knowingly assist tax evasion should be prosecuted.

GrannyGravy13: Tax avoidance is legal, successive governments of Conservative, Conservative/Lib Dem and Labour have done little to close any of the so called loopholes

Tax evasion is illegal and anyone found guilty of it should be prosecuted according to the laws of the U.K.

Crux to the matter.

The fact that the tax has been now paid to HMRC (with penalties do we know?) suggests attempted tax evasion to me.

Those who wish to set up a scheme to avoid tax have to put this scheme into investigation for HMRC’s approval, BEFORE operating the scheme, - tax unpaid tax would have therefore accumulated.

This is almost tax evasion.

This is almost certainly tax evasion.

Oh dear I’m trying to do two things at once here😡the last bit should read

unpaid tax therefore would NOT have accumulated