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Tuesday 5 April 2016

Toby Young’s Panama Piffle

As the scale of global tax avoidance revealed by the Panama Papers is gradually revealed, a number of leading politicians are being dragged, not always willingly, into the spotlight and revealed as beneficiaries of the practice. Iceland’s Prime Minister is on the brink after protests demanding his resignation. The Russian and Chinese leaderships appear to be involved. And then there is Young Dave.
More grown-up debate from Tobes. Or maybe not

Cameron is not named as benefiting from tax avoidance, but his late father is. And, by refusing to discuss the matter - it is not known whether the benefits of Cameron père’s arrangements were passed on, and if so, to whom - he merely stokes speculation that something is being hushed up. If a PM telling us that We Are All In This Together turned out to be a tax avoider, he would not remain PM for long.
So Dave needed defending, and making the appropriately pointless gesture has been the loathsome Toby Young, employing a mixture of false equivalences and good old-fashioned “look over there” ploys, starting with the predictably lame “Can someone explain why it’s supposedly morally unacceptable to use Miliband’s dad to attack him, but fine to use Cameron’s to attack him?” Yep, that equivalence is as false as ever.
Let’s take this nice and slowly, so Tobes might understand. Cameron is being asked a question. Mil The Younger was subjected to a mean-spirited, deliberate and dishonest campaign by the legendarily foul mouthed editor of the Daily Mail, which someone by the name of Toby Young later waved away, blaming Miliband for wanting the right of reply.
Still, details, eh? Then comes “he did it too”, with “For those with short memories, the Miliband family also engaged in tax avoidance”. So Dave engaged in tax avoidance, did he, Tobes? Oh what a giveaway! Try again. “Tax avoidance is not a ‘crime against humanity’ and nor is it theft”. If Dave’s Dad, or anyone else, does not pony up his taxes, it means the little people have to pay that much more - or the country becomes that much more indebted. And we all pay VAT and other duties, Tobes.
Still, he can always blame Pa Broon: “George Osborne has done more to close tax loopholes in his six years as Chancellor than Gordon Brown did in his 10”. Very good, Tobes. Did you manage to miss the attempt to take £30 a week off the disabled - you know, those least able to fight back - to give the better off a handout? But then, they’re just more of those little people who you upstanding Tories don’t give a crap about.
Would Sir like one last try to dig a little deeper? “No one has accused Ian Cameron of having done anything illegal”. No thanks, I still don’t want to look over there. This is a lame and pointless attempt to defend behaviour which hurts us all - at least, those of us who do not have access to the kinds of creative accounting used by Dave’s Dad.

If only Toby Young ever ran to the defence of someone accused of gaining a pecuniary advantage who wasn’t a Tory. No, I can’t remember that, either. No surprise there, then.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

It'd be "interesting" to see dopey Toby Jug venture to the workers of the steel industry to lecture them that tax havens are "doing nothing illegal."

He won't of course, because he'd have his disgusting lying arse kicked from breakfast to midnight. If anybody bothered to turn up to listen to his foam flecked rabid nonsense, that is.

As for the Bullingdon pig's head boy, somebody who's never done a day's work in his life, and who stands to inherit daddy's hoard in a tax haven, does anybody with a brain believe for a single second he didn't know the details of his inherited hoard?

If Toby Jug carries on like this he's going to disappear up his own anal canal trying to "bend" the truth. What a conscience-free moron.

Anonymous said...

I can't stand this argument "well he hasn't done anything illegal". It's a bit like marrying your cousin and saying it's alright!

J said...

I have found that when ever a comment on an article is a "look over there" or "what about what X did" that just typing "oh look, Squirrels" in reply really winds them up.

When they continue, as they invariably do, (some times in response to others trying to counter the rote learned S*n rhetoric) I reduce it to just "Squirrels".

After a time they either become incandescent with rage, which is hilarious, or stop posting such inane whataboutary.

I know its childish, but its as funny as f*ck.

rob said...

Whether it's illegal or not abuse of the tax system, which is required the finances of governing the country, which is what it is, is totally immoral.

Slave trading in the nineteeenth century wasn't illegal but the only justification for it was to make some traders money from cheap labour (those that survived the journey).

And if they haven't done anything wrong why go offshore and even more why keep it secret? Possibly the answer to those questions may be guaged by the answer to another question - has the HMRC been informed?

It's also a bit rich Tobias, using non sequiturs, blaming those attacking Cameron, whether right or wrong, when he defended the Mail who attacked Ed M. unjustifiably. Especially as the schools he apparently runs has been helping itself to millions of hard earned taxpayers money.

bernardcrofton said...

Young's comment about Ralph Milliband ignores the fact that the article was based on a lie about his patriotism. Ralph volunteered to serve in the navy as soon as he was of age ( unlike the fathers of Toby Young or David Cameron). Repeating it is repeating the libel.
The best Young can say about Ian Cameron is that no illegal activity has been detected.
Not being caught in any illegality is not the same as " Not doing anything wrong" - a distinction lost on Me Young as on the owners of the company facilitating money laundering and tax evasion.
It would appear that the prime function of the secrecy and double dealing is precisely to impede the detection of crime.
I am clear that Ian Cameron acted in an imoral way to avoid tax. I am also clear that whatever the inheritance arrangements, the low tax bill will have helped towards the fees at Eton. But Young has very odd views about taxpayer funded private education.

Anonymous said...

Where does Tobes think the money has come from to pay the overinflated costs of his free school empire? The magic money tree he says doesn't exist whenever he needs to justify austerity?

He really is thick as.

A Kelly said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

There were many criminals on all sides during World War 2. Some of them were even awarded medals.

So what?

Unknown said...

Seeing as Ian Cameron was TWELVE in 1944 I think that's highly unlikely

A Kelly said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
http://www.thesocialshuttle.com/ said...

This old mantra... "it's legal" is trotted out even by my pals. But as others said..is it moral and more importantly, is it fair?
Can the waged taxpayer or small business base itself in Bermuda or the Caymans for tax purposes? . No, so one small but significant sector of the community has advantages the vast majority don't. And even Tories must understand that just won't cut it and no amount of Toby Youngs with their diversionary tactics will nullify the anger of the vast majority of Brits who are paying higher & higher taxes via a variety of methods, VAT, petrol excises and so on to cover the shortfall of the scroungers of the tax avoidance system.
To even defend this shows just how out of touch many politicians or journalists are but they should worry. The The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has worked on this in secret for 3 years for good reason. Expect even more damning evidence in the future.