The Guardian generally has a good record on reporting tax.
Occasionally it shoots itself in the foot. Signing a tax haven deal with EMAP to avoid stamp duty was one such occasion. This mornings G2 feature on Ten Things you Need to Know About Tax is another.
The journalist responsible phoned me a coupole of weeks ago. I refused to take part in the article as all he wanted was tax avoidance ideas. And that's what the article delivers. There's comment from a tax avoider and Judith Freedman from the Oxford Centre for Business Taxation - and that's it. It's banal, wrong, rude even (to Judith) and shoddy journalism that undermines the Guardian's position by providing hopeless misinformed commentary.
The only thing the journalist took from me - the cover title 'The Joy of Tax'. That's the book I'm working on now. Somehow I expected better, but it wasn't delivered on this occasion.
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I have read the article – it’s informative as well as funny. Try to follow you for serious tax information but sorry you feel the need to take an unnecessary swipe at this journalist.
What is this “it undermines the Guardian’s position” ? If you look at the wide variety of ideas/views published the one thing that is clear is that there is not one position.
Well, let’s look at the tax haven bit – which is wrong
Or the apparent support for flat taxes – which fails to note the harm they would cause to society
This is uninformed diatribe from the right
I am just an averagely educated reader – could you point me in the right direction for the correct view.
Sorry know that will seem cheeky, thought I’d give it a try – but thanks anyway.
Sorry – your request is too cryptic for me to work out
Correct view on what?
Richard
Harm that flat taxes cause to society and (in the article) ‘what was wrong’.
Cryptic’s not my forte.
See this http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/upload/pdf/AACA_flat_tax_report_-_JUN_2006.pdf
Did find an excellent post below the original article that I think is an answer to the what’s wrong with flat taxes –
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/may/08/ten-things-know-about-tax?commentpage=1#comment-16039441
This is my take on flat tax http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/upload/pdf/AACA_flat_tax_report_-_JUN_2006.pdf
Your memory is bad rm re emap and guardian, schemes of arrangement do not require tax havens.
Suggest you and your readers watch panorama on 14th may – you might learn something
You might learn something too
I’m in that programme