Hamilton and Button tax avoidance

[Lotus E300S]

Had a discussion with a few friends last night (none F1 fans) who were so anti Hamilton/Button because of the tax status they hold, argument was they have had the benefit of British schools/nhs etc while growing up but as soon as they had become successful and rich they turn their backs on the UK choosing to live in tax exiles overseas

I suppose my friends have a point?

[Lotus E300S]

MacW said:

Do these people ever bring back duty free booze or tobacco when they come back from holiday?

Don't know to be honest but they are successful Tory voters who pay the top rate of UK tax, I was very surprised by their views.

[Lotus E300S]

DIW35 said:

Can I presume that your friends never drink coffee at Starbucks or order goods from Amazon for similar reasons then?

Never, always costa and never buy from amazon.

To give them their dues they practice what they preach.

[Lotus E300S]

Jasandjules said:

Lotus E300S said:

Had a discussion with a few friends last night (none F1 fans) who were so anti Hamilton/Button because of the tax status they hold, argument was they have had the benefit of British schools/nhs etc while growing up but as soon as they had become successful and rich they turn their backs on the UK choosing to live in tax exiles overseas

I suppose my friends have a point?

So, to be clear, let us say that your friends earnt 10m a year, they would be happy to pay 4,000,000 in tax? Rather than keep as much of that money as possible, they would generously donate it to the Govt so they can pay for MPs' moats to be cleaned, duck houses finished, homes their parents live in paid for, fine wines they drink at discount in the commons bar etc.. All these things they would gladly give 4m of their money to pay for rather than keep it for their own houses, duck ponds, wine collections etc

They both pay 45% uk tax on earnings, and they don't mind especially if tax is going towards nhs/schools so yes they would stay in this country and pay uk tax.

[Lotus E300S]

rubystone said:

Glad it's not only me.

Now on this tax thing. I bet your mates have some Zep or Floyd or Genesis in their collections? If so then all these and most of their contemporaries chose to avoid UK tax by living abroad.

I am not a tax expert, but I don't think there's a concept of being taxed in each jurisdiction in which you work. If there was, I'd have been paying tax in every European country every year...I'm pretty sure you are taxed under the jurisdiction in which you live. So that's Monaco for most F1 drivers....

Back then tax was around 95% so you can't blame anybody for going overseas, but with the highest rate of tax now 45% the argument was that it is just greed and immoral,

Immoral I thought was a bit harsh?

[Lotus E300S]

Jasandjules said:

So they would be happy to pay 4 Million in tax? I bet they wouldn't be.

If it meant they could keep 6 million they would be more than happy I would think, they would probably give most of that to charity as well knowing them.

[Lotus E300S]

Jasandjules said:

Sorry, but I think that is bull***t.

It is easy enough to say when you are "only" on 100k that you would pay full tax if you were on 10m BUT if you were actually facing a 4 MILLION pound tax bill, you would look to reduce it.

Not at all, they are both higher tax rate payers with very good jobs, they could easily afford fancy cars etc but live very modestly and are very happy, some people aren't money mad and live very happy lives.

Edited by Lotus E300S on Wednesday 15th April 17:49

[Lotus E300S]

CrgT16 said:

they are nice people by the sound of it but self righteous too...

Agreed.