Ken Livingstone - not just a "f***ing liar" and a defender of a vile Islamist preacher, he's also got no idea of scale

In yesterday's Evening Standard London Mayor debate, Ken Livingstone made the claim that:

"I immediately discovered I've been paying 35 per cent tax, so much bloody tax the Government should have been able to get another one of these aircraft carriers without planes,"

One of those aircraft carriers costs around £2.5bn, at a 35% tax rate that means Ken has paying tax on earnings of over £7bn. Not even Tony Blair earns that much! More realistically Ken Livingstone is just deluded.

Returning to the matter of tax-avoidance...

The Standard reports that:

'Documents seen by the Standard reveal that he received a £71,746 resettlement grant from the Greater London Authority in the 2008/09 financial year after being defeated by Mr Johnson.
But in the accounts Mr Livingstone released last week he claimed that he only earned £21,645 then. Tory MP Priti Patel said: "This is further dodgy dealings from Ken. He owes it to London's electorate to publish his earnings."'

Meanwhile City AM has discovered that Ken Livingstone 'saved over £75,000 in tax by channelling some of his earnings through a company'. Yes it was legal, but this is the same Ken Livingstone who said:

"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."

What Ken Livingstone did was legal and no different from what many contractors in various industries do and what most accountants would recommend. However Ken Livingstone had previously taken a pretty extreme stand against tax avoidance so he has to be judged by higher standards.