There has, of course, been lots in the media recently about David Cameron’s father’s tax affairs.
And there’s been lots of people commenting on how dodgy it is.
How unfair it is that he avoided his tax.
Despite, when you actually look at what happened, this not been the case at all.
Before anyone tries to draw me into an argument about tax in general, I’m not commenting on other cases, whether reform is necessary in some areas, etc, etc.
Just on this specific case, as reported.
Essentially David Cameron’s father chose to invest his money, which he’d already paid UK tax on, in a system based in another country.
As anyone is entitled to do.
And many of you may unknowingly do with private pensions.
He made a profit on that investment which he then paid UK tax on.
The benefit to having this system where and how it was, was the amount of profit it could make, not any affect it had on paying UK taxes.
As one expert said on the BBC, the headline should really read “Man Makes Modest Investment and Pays His Taxes”.
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It’s natural human behaviour…………..
When given new information……………
To search for context in what we already know and feel.
To scan our memory banks for similar things and apply what comes up to the information infront of us.
Sometimes this serves us well.
We can quickly identify situations of danger.
Or opportunity.
Sometimes it serves us less well.
When we apply a context that isn’t necessarily correct in this case.
People who have found other systems for getting fitter and healthier and / or losing weight to be boring / restrictive / hard work………….
May apply that context to other things in the same area.
Just because some people have done some dodgy stuff with their taxes, doesn’t mean David Cameron’s dad did in this case.
And just because some options in our industry are hard, boring and restrictive (or people feel them to be, at least), doesn’t mean we (and other options) are (myrise.co.uk/briefing-meeting if you’d like to make an informed decision).
Much love,
Jon ‘Dodgy Dave’ Hall and Matt ‘Horny Henry P – the Mince-Stuffed Budgerigar’ Nicholson
P.S. 20 points for that middle name. Without googling 😉
