Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Millionaire Tory Philip Hammond's £200 a month 'tax dodge' - See video as our man confronts him
Mar 11, 2014 22:00

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond is worth around £8m but avoids tax after transferring property as a "gift" to his wife

He is already one of the wealthiest members of the Cabinet with an estimated £8million fortune on top of the £134,565 a year salary he gets as a minister and MP.

But the Mirror can reveal that Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has also managed to save himself a few bob – by making an expensive “gift” to his wife Susan.

He has avoided thousand of pounds in tax after transferring his share of a £600,000 buy-to-let property to Mrs Hammond almost two years ago.

But when the Mirror questioned him about the large detached cottage in leafy Surrey the top Tory snapped: “What has it got to do with you?”

Asked if he signed it over to his wife to avoid paying tax, he replied, “Of course not”, before being whisked off in his ministerial limousine.

Switching ownership of the cottage is not illegal. But it may raise eyebrows at a time when tens of thousands of servicemen and women are losing their jobs due to Government cuts.

Mr Hammond’s spokesman later confirmed that Mrs Hammond was now responsible for paying all tax on the rent from the property.

But he refused to confirm how much she earned last year or how much the arrangement had saved the couple in tax, saying she was a “private individual”. Unless Mrs Hammond is a higher rate taxpayer, the move could save the couple £200 a month in tax.

Later yesterday Mr Hammond issued a statement denying that he gave the property to his wife to stay out of the top tax rate, which hits anyone earning more than £150,000 a year.

He said: “The distribution of property assets within a marriage is a private matter. However, the suggestion that the gift of my share in this property to my wife was designed to avoid the 50% tax rate on rental income is incorrect.”

Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB union said last night: “This is an underhand trick. He should do the decent thing and put the property back into his own name and pay his taxes.”

MP John Mann stormed: “It’s plain hypocrisy. Ministers are expecting other people to pay to full taxes.

“People will be horrified. They do not play these kind of tricks and they do not expect to see Government ministers doing it.”

Legal tax avoidance and illegal tax evasion is costing the Treasury around £35billiion a year.

Expert Paul Brammall of Gabelle Tax said: “If a husband gives his half of a buy-to-let property to his wife then the wife becomes responsible for all the tax on the rent. But it has to be a gift of the entire beneficial ownership and the husband has to give up all future rights over the property otherwise HM Revenue and Customs could challenge the arrangement.”

Mr Hammond, 58, tipped as a possible successor to David Cameron as PM , has built up the most valuable property portfolio in the Cabinet. The buy-to-let cottage, next door to his main constituency home, was bought mortgage-free in 2005 for £315,000 and registered with the Land Registry four years later.

According to property valuation website Mouseprice, it is now worth £584,500 and similar houses in the area cost up to £2,000 a month to rent. At first the property was owned jointly between Mr Hammond and his wife and the MP’s latest register of interests states that the pair still co-own it.

But Land registry records reveal that Susan took over sole ownership in April 2012. This could save the couple £2,400 a year in tax, unless Mrs Hammond’s other earnings push her into the higher 40% tax rate.

The transfer took place seven months after the taxpayer stopped picking up the tab for mortgage costs at the couple’s £3.3m London townhouse.

Mr Hammond had been claiming up to £24,000 a year in expenses from the taxpayer to cover the mortgage interest payments on the London property.

He continued to claim until September 2011 before new rules banned MPs from claiming mortgage costs in the wake of the expenses scandal.

Last week, the Mirror revealed that Mr Hammond is one of several ministers who have made more money since the election from watching their properties rise in value than they have from their generous ministerial salaries.



http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/millionaire-tory-philip-hammonds-200-3231876#ixzz2vi0hIrQy
Follow us: @DailyMirror on Twitter | DailyMirror on Facebook

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/millionaire-tory-philip-hammonds-200-3231876

Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB union said last night: “This is an underhand trick. He should do the decent thing and put the property back into his own name and pay his taxes.”

MP John Mann stormed: “It’s plain hypocrisy. Ministers are expecting other people to pay to full taxes.

“People will be horrified. They do not play these kind of tricks and they do not expect to see Government ministers doing it.”

UK - YouGov/Sun poll:

CON 34%
LAB 38%
LDEM 10%
UKIP 12%

sticky writes yesterday, "He as much right as anyone else."

well so does this chap, and even the mirror admits there was nothing illegal in the manoeuvre
however, in this instance, i certainly concur with the mirror that as a tax wheeze in the public eye, it was pretty indefensible ..... but legally, it is no different at all from Bob Crow and his council house

so to repeat, "He as much right as anyone else."

===============

and while fossy and sticky splutter their hearts out, i'll depart and enjoy the sunshine

Rubbish, you would have complained if Bob Crow lived in Kensington or chelski in a penthouse.

Hammond is just a crook backed by a crooked government and crooked law.

What do his actions say to the middle classes who have had to live through austerity. Not much and the complaints on twitter are growing by the second.

Its situations like this that are handing the next election to labour on a plate.

I'm sure good ol Tony Bliar would have the perfect solution to Hammonds tax wobbles.

Perhaps they should consult?

Were talking about the future Max ....not the past.

It is not tax avoidance. It is tax planning and very sensible. There is nothing even slightly wrong with transferring property between married partners. The tax laws have been changed several times. We have had joint assessments, separate assessments, transferable tax allowances and various schemes overseas the years. It is right and proper that people can adjust their tax affairs according to the law.

Blair should have been wrung out and hung up, but he was for many a tory mole.


Isn't that a similar rodent to a rat.

Cameron and the future torrid party leader looking into their own abyss!

Suppose it could have been the Hazy one and Manuel.

GF - "Were talking about the future Max ....not the past"

Exactly ....You really want to be careful what you wish for! Red flag flyers will never learn. Sadly never will the so called electorate. Bob Crowe, you really believe he gave a shit?

Will take more than cynic to save this thread, doomed since you became Fred The Reds bitch. If Hays and cynic ever decide not to answer your incessant left wing shite, you and Fred will be doing exactly as the title states talking to yourselves and boy do you deserve each other :O)

Hays says its not tax avoidance ohhhh my gosh LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOLL LOL LO LOL

your getting to be a figure of ridicule Hays.

Chris who gives a F what you think now FO you washed up has been. We know your Robbie Burns bitch. Cant think for yourself.

Bet you darent go on cockney rebels thread on advfn and repeat what youve just said here about Bob Crow his brother. The thread not cockney would lynch you.

Miliband has changed his no referendum stance to a definite possibly maybe if there is a lunar eclipse and Z in the month.

He has had a road to Damascus revelation that the issue is an important one for the public. He has come up with one of his usual half-policies to demonstrate his lack of leadership.

Whos the tory FRAUD BOY today then Hays????????????????????????????????

Ohhhhhhh well weve had hammond, no doubt before market closes we'l have another candidate.

Dont worry Hays when weve won the electon we wont forget you .........Rachel Reeves was telling me last saturday all Council tax bands A and B will be raised by at least 25%.

Youl look forward to that Old bean.

The lesser spotted Millibandus chucks the next election out the window....




No EU referendum under Labour:

Ed Miliband to reveal that vote on membership is ‘unlikely’ in next Parliament if party wins power



In a landmark speech, Mr Miliband will declare that a Labour government’s top priorities would include the cost-of-living crisis and the NHS



Andrew Grice Author Biography

Wednesday 12 March 2014


Labour has decided not to match David Cameron’s pledge to hold a referendum on Europe in the next Parliament, Ed Miliband will announce.

The Labour leader, who has rejected pressure from his own party to promise the public a vote on Britain’s EU membership, will say that a referendum is “unlikely” to be needed in the 2015-20 administration.

In a landmark speech in London, he will declare that a Labour government’s top priorities would include the cost-of-living crisis and the NHS. He will draw a contrast with a Conservative government that, he will claim, would be distracted by a renegotiation of the UK’s EU membership terms that could take several years. However, Mr Miliband will strengthen Labour’s commitment to an eventual referendum by promising a straight in/out vote if there were a “significant transfer of powers” from the UK to the EU.


more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/no-referendum-on-the-eu-under-labour-ed-miliband-to-reveal-that-vote-on-membership-is-unlikely-in-next-parliament-if-party-wins-power-9185146.html

Talking about sleaze

Nick Sinclaire, the independent MEP who left UKIP after falling out with the party, has just asked in the European Parliament:

“With unemployment still a problem across Europe and and indeed across the UK, does Mr Farage thinks it is a fair use of taxpayers’ money, namely his secretarial allowance, not only to employ his wife Kirsten but his former mistress Annabelle Fuller?”

“I don’t want to answer that at all,” he replies…

Terribly sorry old beans(posh accent) to interrupt the political debate going on here...but as this is a finance website(almost forgot reading this jargon here) I thought I might attract your undivided attention to little Faroe Petroleum (FPM)....could be a winner....alright you can carry on now....don't say I didn't tell you....

I'm wondering if this Malaysian aircraft was not not hit by a satellite debris or a meteorite of some kind.....or if it was a bombing : a swallowed bomb or bombs by passengers perhaps...crazy..but perhaps....positioning themselves next to the exit doors...losing compression at high altitude...and resulting in a terrible dive in one piece hitting the ocean at an acute angle sinking immediately...

Thanks for the tip rf.


But politics affects the quid in your bin far more than any investment.

The bastards are not using their money, they're using yours!


And getting paid for it (plus expenses) (lots)