trousers

^ That's the most startling observation in all this IMO. Also, in her original reply to the poster who rasied it with her last week, she mentioned something about "employees making up salaries" (or words to that effect?). I keep meaning to go back over that one as I wasn't sure what she meant when I first read it and it seems like a strange thing to come up with on reflection.

To be fair, Corp Ho does make a valid point about us being too focused on PFC's tax swerves. There are indeed many other examples of companies avoiding tax that we should also be focuising on. Here's one random example that I found on the interweb: http://host.madison.com/business/biz_beat/biz-beat-i-pay-more-federal-income-tax-than-mattel/article_82eae55e-0fca-11e1-8af8-001cc4c002e0.html In this excellent new study, the non-partisan Citizens for Tax Justice found that many of the largest corporations paid no federal income tax from 2008 to 2010. It's not just the well-publicized case of GE Dozens of leading companies have managed to avoid paying income taxes despite booking hefty profits. The list includes two state-based electric utilities -- Wisconsin Electric of Milwaukee and Integrys Energy, formerly Wisconsin Public Service, of Green Bay. It also includes Mattel, parent company of Middleton-based American Girl, which counted over $1 billion in profits from 2008-2010 and still somehow managed to grab a $9 million refund from the IRS.

And I wonder what made the club so attractive to the subsequent dodgy owners in the first place. Nothing to do with how the club had been run beforehand of course....

Yes. Next question

I sincerely hope not. We need this charade to keep going for a few more years yet, purely for the entertainment value.

Point of clarification m'lud... Does this mean we can now take all research that comes out of American universities as gospel? Or just the ones that fit a given argument? Just askin' innit like yeah.

...

This chap never interviewed John Prescott I take it? No further questions your honour.

The Big Country

Googling "thumbs up" just brought me here. Most disappointing.

Fair play to Cameron for replying so quickly though

Just posted that HMRC Pompey kit on my Facebook wall....first response from a female friend: "HMRC sponsor a football team???" Not sure whether to reply yes or no!

@pn_neil_allen: Pearce delight at #Pompey stay. http://t.co/hcitqMYj

Ha! Nice one. That needs to go up on Facebook Walls across the land :-)

Indeed. Miss Money Penny, and others like her, are conveniently airbrushing over the recent past. "£20m tax evasion two years ago? What was that you say? Sorry, I'm dealing with the here and now not what happened in the past. La la la la la la"

Thought: isn't aiding and abetting tax evasion a criminal offence?

We made the mistake of not getting in debt to a government run organisation. If we were as shrewd as Pompey we'd have had the same type of publicity and public sympathy because no-one likes the taxman...

That should be cut and pasted into a letter to the board of HMRC with an introductory "I understand Portsmouth Football club have set a precedent in UK tax law....etc" or words to that effect...

Maybe Ed Milliband should intervene on behalf of the oppressed taxpayer? Semi serious thought...

Ssshhhhh.... I won't tell him if you don't... It's when this gets referred to the European Court of Human Rights that you'll have to really start worrying though....Nigel Farage could be our saviour!! ;-)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-16833798

The Taxpayers' Alliance https://twitter.com/#!/the_tpa Britain's independent grassroots campaign for better government and lower taxes. TPA staff: @matthew_elliott @mjhsinclair @emmaboon @isaby @jjpoconnell @roxley http://www.taxpayersalliance.com