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Tuesday 12 April 2016

Corbyn Tax Smear Farce

As party leaders rushed to make their tax returns public yesterday, and its was revealed that Jeremy Corbyn had actually filled his in by hand - as opposed to Young Dave, his next door neighbour Gideon George Oliver Osborne, heir to the seventeenth Baronet, and London’s increasingly occasional Mayor Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, all of whom have a chap to do that sort of thing for them - the Tory apologists went into action.
Team Stupid presents united front

The inmates of the Baby Shard bunker knew exactly how to spin the story: they had to find a way to smear Corbyn in order to distract from the unfeasibly large sums of money that the likes of Bozza had been trousering over recent years. So the Sun’s non-bullying political editor Tom Newton Dunn, along with the paper’s alleged “Westminster Correspondent”, the odious flannelled fool Harry Cole, cobbled up a smear story.

Question mark over Jeremy Corbyn's tax affairs after he failed to declare lecture earnings to taxman … Labour leader will be in serious trouble if he has evaded tax” is the headline, followed by the claimJEREMY Corbyn did not disclose £450 of income to the taxman that he earned on top of his MPs’ salary last year, The Sun can reveal”. Do go on.
Yes Tom, it's L-A-M-E, as in crap

It revealed a total of £1,350 in additional cash for nine lectures he gave about the Foreign Office to Capita … But his entry in Parliament’s Register of Members Interests reveals a total of £1,800 earned from lectures in the same period … The Opposition Leader’s office said it was unable to explain why Mr Corbyn did not declare the additional £450 to the HMRC in his tax return”. Is that it? Then it’s not much, is it?

The three payments of £150 came towards the end of the tax year. It’s entirely possible he wasn’t paid until later. But the Sun has to execute its crude smear. At least there is a semblance of credibility about Cole and Newton Dunn’s hokum, unlike that from the former’s previous berth, the Guido Fawkes blog, where the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble have made themselves look even more stupid than usual.
Declaring “Corbyn’s Thousands In Offshore Income”, the Fawkes folks tell “What isn’t disclosed is that in previous years Jezza made a significant amount of income from offshore sources. In the last few years he declared £5,000 in payments from Press TV, the Iranian state television channel, and another £5,000 from Al-Jazeera, the Doha-based Qatar-backed channel”. IT’S NOT OFFSHORE INCOME IF YOU GET PAID IN THE UK, STUPID. THE CURRENCY SYMBOL SHOULD BE A CLUE.

But they just go right ahead and dig themselves in deeper: “Not to mention junkets to the Middle East, South America and elsewhere worth tens of thousands paid for by foreign governments”. THAT’S NOT INCOME, WHEREVER IT GETS PAID. How about an even more stupid observation? “The corporate tax rate in Qatar is just 10%”. IT’S PERSONAL INCOME AND HE WAS PAID IN STERLING. IN THE UK.

Staines really does have some meatheads on the payroll right now. Another fine mess.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just love it when they get desperate.

It makes them look even more stupid.

If that's possible.

Now about Dodgy Dave, Jittery George, Bullshit Boris, "aspirant" tory spivs and offshore spivvery......

Anonymous said...

Still not great that he took money from Press TV. Not that I expect politicians to be clean, of course... but taking cash from the propaganda arm of a despotic, murderous regime such as the Islamic Republic of Iran is pretty shitty, even if it was "only" £5G. Bad show, Jerry.

(...I'm still voting Labour, though)

Arnold said...

His accounting year for self employment probably doesn't match up with the tax year. Entirely legal and very common. All that has to be declared on the tax return is the earnings in the 12 month period than ends between 6 April 2014 and 5 April 2015.
And even if his Qatari earnings had been taxed at 10% there, it would still have been taxed at the appropriate UK rate and credit given for the tax deducted abroad.

Steve Peers said...

Al Jazzera TV studio is in the Shard, on top of London Bridge station! 'offshore' indeed!!

Tim Fenton said...

@4

Indeed, I've been there!

Anonymous said...

The Fawkes lot look like a shit version of the sopranos!

More Blue Nun than Chablis!

.

J said...

Well it looks like he may have actually paid to much tax as some of the declaration was put into an earlier period, although in theory that would then mean a reduction in entry in the current year due to being registered early.

https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/labour-party/news/73724/jeremy-corbyn-overstated-income-his-tax-return

Funny how the S*n didn't bother to check the facts. Wait what am I saying, facts don't matter - only smears.

Gonzoland said...

"... a shit version of the Sopranos"
Staines of the Stronzos

anubeon said...

"Staines really does have some meatheads on the payroll right now. Another fine mess."

Jesus! That lot are PAID to mash the keyboard and scream into the void? They're probably the only employees genuinely worth less than Gidion's bargain National 'Living' Wage of £7.20 an hour.

Unknown said...

" IT’S PERSONAL INCOME AND HE WAS PAID IN STERLING. IN THE UK"

So.. Like Cameron?

What on earth is everyone going on about all this for?

People in power make money. These people pay tax on their UK income.

Christ.. There's so much going on in the world. Why on earth is everyone focuses on this.

Focus on huge corporations avoiding tax.

Individuals paying tax isn't news.

Alex said...

Is this the same Paul Staines whose blog operates out of a tax haven in the Caribbean?

Graham Day said...

There's another cracking piece of idiocy from Staines et al here, in which they demonstrate that there can be a huge gap between being able to read something and understanding what it says:

http://order-order.com/2016/04/11/bbcs-84-million-in-bermuda/

Anonymous said...

The real Panama!

Not the canal. He'd drink that dry!

Paul Robson said...

As usual with cretinous lefties, you haven't realised that you are doing exactly what you are criticising Guido et al for here.

It is the usual pathetic "well, my excuses are valid, and yours are not".

Your politicians think you are really really stupid. And they are right.

Paul Robson said...

"And even if his Qatari earnings had been taxed at 10% there, it would still have been taxed at the appropriate UK rate and credit given for the tax deducted abroad."

Purely out of interest, this is different to Cameron how exactly ?