Ken Livingstone of the One Percent
Ken Livingstone has been a little excoriating about bankers and other rich people avoiding what he thinks should be their taxes:
THESE rich bastards just don’t get it…No one should be allowed to vote in a British election, let alone sit in our Parliament, unless they are paying their full share of tax.
But the Telegraph has been digging into the accounts of Ken Livingstone’s and his wife, Emma Beal’s, personal company, and it turns out that in 2009 the Company Silveta Ltd earned £232,000
Very interesting, Professor Moriaty.
In the UK the top 1% by income starts at about £149,000 per annum as of year 2007-2008, according to HMRC figures, which places Ken Livingstone firmly in that group – even allowing for a lot of expenses.
There’s even a quote from Sir Richard of Murphalot on possible tax avoidance:
Richard Murphy, an accountant and expert in tax avoidance, said: “Mr Livingstone chose not to pay out this profit to himself and his partner and, as such, the profits would only have been subject to corporation tax at 21 or 20 per cent in the company. Higher taxes would very likely have been paid on this income if it had been paid to the shareholders in 2009.”
At the Raccoon Arms, we don’t have a view on this sort of tax avoidance – personally I think it is quite reasonable. But we very much enjoy hypocrites getting their comeuppance.
ken Livingstone, Plutocrat
Delicious.
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1
February 26, 2012 at 17:43 -
Keep digging,I hate this man. How can anyone vote for him?
People have such short memories.He was inviting the IRA over for tea when they were bombing London in the 80′s and he will do the same again with other terrorists if elected. -
2
February 26, 2012 at 19:45 -
He is an unfortunately, unpleasant man.
It seems that his whole life has been spent as a ‘politician’, with all the trappings of ‘power’ but little commercial knowledge of the wheels of business, although, he used to suck up to anyone with money, especially property, where he would excel at contacting the main developers in London.
He told one firm trying to build a big office in London, ‘Can’t you make it any bigger…’?
I’d trust him as far as nowhere.
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3
February 26, 2012 at 21:37 -
Richard Murphy, an accountant and expert in tax avoidance
And, of course, Ritchie would know how useful this legal tax avoidance measure is as he himself used it for a number of years until his conversion to the ‘spirit’ rather then the ‘letter’ of the law.
As for Ken, I can’t fault him for sensibly arranging his affairs to avoid tax. That doesn’t though stop him being a Grade A hypocrite.
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4
February 26, 2012 at 21:45 -
Despite not having much (any) respect for the newt-fancier-in-chief, he is only doing what most people would do given the opportunity of non-PAYE revenue.
The real fault lies in our monstrously byzantine tax-system, growing like Topsy over the years, creating enough flexibility and loopholes to keep all the accountants and lawyers in their Porsches for ever.
But will any government ever have the cojones to sort it out ? Somehow I doubt it, so ‘avoiders’ like Ken on the Left and his parallels on the Right will continue to do what is legally allowed, just like the rest of us do.
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5
February 26, 2012 at 23:02 -
‘Red’ Ken has always managed to convince me that he is a fool who does not necessarily believe that the laws that apply to us also apply to him, or that he should always resolutely follow the advice or opinion that he is, apparently, very keen to dispense to us lesser mortals… If quizzed on this apparent contradiction, Ken would, no doubt, be pleased to offer some utterly absurd explanation for why he has apparently been caught in a trap of his own making.
His tenure as Mayor of London was mired in difficulty. Remember the GLC period? If he becomes Mayor again, it will be a disaster.
I felt his public hobnobbing with the IRA in the 80′swas stomach churning and should, by rights, have sounded the death knell of any aspirations that he might have had.
I have always thought that he must have the ‘black’ (i.e. written/photographic material, in case I am accused of something else) on senior members of the Labour party, because no other reason could quite explain why he is still a public figure, vying for high office.
It pleases me to think that this may well put a major spoke in his campaign for Mayor. Fingers crossed…
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6
February 27, 2012 at 05:23 -
According to the DT David Miliband and Gordon Brown are doing the same thing………..not mention Blair and Mandelson.
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7
February 27, 2012 at 08:59 -
Ahhh… bless. If Dr Livingstone didn’t exist, it would be necessary to invent him. Keep up the good work, Kenny Boy. We need someone to laugh at these days..
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8
March 3, 2012 at 13:44 -
“in 2009 the Company Silveta Ltd earned £232,000.
In the UK the top 1% by income starts at about £149,000 per annum as of year 2007-2008″
Well, Racoon is very dumb if it believes personal income is the same as company income, especially when that company has multiple employees, not to mention deductibles such as overheads.
Stick to being a dumb animal, if I were you.
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9
March 3, 2012 at 15:18
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