Skip to main content

Star Comment: Never Forget (to pay your tax)

OUR Tory Prime Minister David Cameron doesn’t believe that Tory pop star Gary Barlow should hand back his OBE for his involvement in a tax-avoidance scheme.

Well, there’s a turn-up for the book and no mistake, people are saying up and down the land.

Who would have expected that a prime minister so devoid of celebrity endorsement would have clung like grim death to a man prepared to hit the campaign trail with him?

Even after the revelation that Barlow and his mates have avoided tens of millions of pounds in taxation as a result of investing £26 million in a partnership run by prolific scheme designer Icebreaker Management, Cameron stands by his man.

“Gary Barlow has done a huge amount for the country, he has raised money for charity, he has done very well for Children in Need,” the Prime Minister spluttered.

Perhaps there wouldn’t be such demand for the efforts of charities if rich artists such as Barlow actually paid the taxes they should.

Any idea that standing up at a charity gig, urging spectators to contribute their hard-earned funds, makes singers, comedians or other performers worthy of decoration should be dropped.

Associating with right-on causes that raise awareness of famine, poverty, Aids or injustice has proven a godsend for some careers in need of a boost.

Collecting for charitable causes is something that countless people at local level do constantly to tackle failures by the state to meet vital needs.

Most people involved give of their time and cash freely, never expecting more in return than the satisfaction of knowing that the local hospital has gained a new scanner or that the local school can make sports or music lessons available.

Yet it has become fashionable for celebrities to identify with high-profile charities for televised major events, some actually taking substantial fees, and preening themselves in the warm glow of publicity.

Many come to expect the gongs that they receive as their due, as though wealth and fame are not enough.

TV personality and soft-shoe shuffler Bruce Forsyth even questioned why he had to wait so long for a knighthood after getting a CBE in 2006, saying: “I asked myself whether I had done something wrong. I wondered what the reason might be.”

This culture of expectation and entitlement confirms the devaluation of awards supposed to mark outstanding contributions to society.

So Margaret Hodge’s suggestion that warbler Barlow should lose his OBE is misplaced. Let him keep it if it makes him happy.

A more weighty consideration is that the tiny proportion of society that is, like him, excessively rewarded should be paying its fair share of taxation.

Yet governments, advised by the same small group of financial services companies that devise schemes to minimise the tax burden on rich clients, both personal and corporate, connive to authorise a panoply of tax-avoidance devices for the seriously wealthy.

The vast majority of people, meeting their income tax responsibilities through PAYE via their employment, pay up without ceremony, because they have no alternative.

In contrast, reducing their tax liability is for the wealthiest minority a major industry, assisted by Treasury ministers, tax professionals and financial advisers.

If half the energy devoted to rooting out so-called “benefit cheats” was switched to tackling tax-dodging companies and rich individuals, the public purse would be fatter and society could be more just.

OWNED BY OUR READERS

We're a reader-owned co-operative, which means you can become part of the paper too by buying shares in the People’s Press Printing Society.

 

 

Become a supporter

Fighting fund

You've Raised:£ 13,288
We need:£ 4,712
3 Days remaining
Donate today