Naming names...

barjon said:
When people say the rich should pay more, it begs the question posed by pawras “who are the rich”. In my experience the answer generally is “people who have more than I do”.

I think it’s easy to fall back on “it’s legal” when some clever accountant has exploited some loophole in the law that enables people to avoid the tax that the legislation intended they should pay. It might be legal, but it ain’t right.

And on the legal side, I am constantly bombarded by tradesmen who want “cash in hand” and turn tail if I ask for an invoice and payment by card or bank transfer. Even the barber in our village has a “cash only” sign in the window. Tell me that the self-employed pay as fair (as the legislation intended) a whack as the wage slaves and I’ll book you a slot in the Comedy Warehouse.
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I agree with your point re "people who have more than I do". A pal I've known since I was 18 has much the same view even though he earns way above average.

I think you could argue all day what is 'legal intent' vs 'legal fact', as the former is completely open to your own interpretation based on your own views etc etc.

By employing an accountant, you are employing someone who has availed themselves of all the rules rather than spending weeks doing so yourself when your time is better utilized elsewhere. One man's loophole is another man's perfectly legal rule to be used to reduce one's tax bill.
 
Desert Orchid said:
That's probably because of the steep bank charges for card payments. The shop we take our ironing to (it's a long story why but there is a reason) asks for cash payment for ironing-only because of the bank charges. He explained it to me some time back. For, say, a tenner's worth of ironing the bank charge for a card payment works out in excess of 10% and he doesn't want to pass that on to the customer. I'd imagine a small business like a barber's would be something similar. (My OAP haircut in my local place is £8, recently raised from £7.)

In Spain I noticed even small businesses are happy to take card payment so I presume the charges over there aren't as excessive.
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What you say regarding cards used to be the case but now banks charge companies for paying in cash a percentage that is higher than the card charge which has never been anywhere near 10 per cent
 
I don’t think it’s a personal interpretation, pawras. When the Parliamentary Draftsman frames the legislation it is to embody the intentions of Parliament. Loose drafting often means there are loopholes that allow people to take advantages that were never intended. Often those loopholes are closed (and many is the tax avoidance scheme that has bitten the dust), but often doing that means that those who were intended to benefit are denied, so they remain despite the benefit to people that was never intended.

An example of that is a woodland near me that changes hands every few years as different people buy it for the tax break they get. The woodland is left totally unmanaged so the intention that the owners should benefit who manage and preserve it for future generations is thwarted.
 
I worked for HMRC for over 40 years (stands back to avoid the abuse;)). For some of that time I was employed on investigation work, mainly on small businesses and the self-employed. In this period, and I understand it`s still the case ,HMRC only devoted sufficient resources to investigate 2 or 3 per cent of all such enterprises. In my experience lt was very, very rare to come across a case in which profits had not been under declared. I can hardly recall any of these cases were prosecution followed. Compare and contrast with benefit fraud. Incidentally, I have a great deal of time for people with the gumption to take the self employed route in life. But should they not pay the correct amount of tax demanded by law?
 
SuperBee said:
What you say regarding cards used to be the case but now banks charge companies for paying in cash a percentage that is higher than the card charge which has never been anywhere near 10 per cent
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Probably badly worded on my part.

Let's say my ironing comes to £10 (occasionally does, more usually around twice that). It would probably take half a hour to do. If they're paying the worker £10/h, that's £5 and £5 to the shop which has to go towards the rates, rent/mortgage and owner's share, so 50p per card transaction (which is what the guy showed me) is a very significant bite.

A few shops in the village green have now put up signs saying 'Cash Is King' and asking locals to help them avoid [what they are calling] excessive bank charges for card transactions in order to support their businesses.

I don't believe they are all chancers.
 
Desert Orchid said:
Probably badly worded on my part.

Let's say my ironing comes to £10 (occasionally does, more usually around twice that). It would probably take half a hour to do. If they're paying the worker £10/h, that's £5 and £5 to the shop which has to go towards the rates, rent/mortgage and owner's share, so 50p per card transaction (which is what the guy showed me) is a very significant bite.

A few shops in the village green have now put up signs saying 'Cash Is King' and asking locals to help them avoid [what they are calling] excessive bank charges for card transactions in order to support their businesses.

I don't believe they are all chancers.
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They want cash because their tradesmen ie suppliers , window cleaner , plumber etc want to be paid in cash so whilst they are all chancers they are , probably unwittingly, facilitating people are swerving tax.
 
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