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Saturday 17 March 2012

Will Ken Livingstone stick to his word or avoid the consequences of his actions?

Ken Livingstone's words:
"These rich bastards just don't get it … no one should be allowed to vote in a British election, let alone sit in parliament, unless they pay their full share of tax.
"Cameron's problem is too many of his team have become super rich by exploiting every tax fiddle … [We should] sweep away tax scams and everybody should pay tax at the same rate on earnings and other income."
Ken Livingstone's actions:
Over the past three years Ken Livingstone earned a rather impressive £755,778 but could be liable for a measly 20 per cent Corporation Tax on it rather than 59 per cent of Income Tax and National Insurance that he would have paid had he declared it as personal, rather than corporate, income.

Excuse made for Ken's actions by the Labour leader:
“Ken Livingstone has paid every pound of tax he is required to by law,” - Ed Miliband

The reality:
Either the Labour party believes in the rich paying their share, or it doesn’t. Ken Livingstone is rich. Ken Livingstone tried to avoid paying the full amount of tax that he could have paid on his earnings. There is nothing illegal about his actions but Ken Livingstone is the one who said:
"no one should be allowed to vote in a British election, let alone sit in parliament, unless they pay their full share of tax...  everybody should pay tax at the same rate on earnings and other income."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Over the past three years Ken Livingstone earned a rather impressive £755,778 but could be liable for a measly 20 per cent Corporation Tax on it rather than 59 per cent of Income Tax and National Insurance that he would have paid had he declared it as personal, rather than corporate, income."

Whilst looking good on paper, that's not strictly true (I'm no fan of Ken Livingstone either).

The company's profit is taxed at 22%. Anything that Ken draws as a salary is taxed at the going rate for that salary plus NIC. His company is also liable for Employer's NIC.

Not a sheep said...

You are not correct; 'the company' and Ken Livingstone, taken together will pay much less tax than if Ken Livingstone was paid as self-employed, let alone an employee.