Let’s talk about tax.

Or more particularly let’s talk about about a case I mentioned last week in the alignment post. It was quite controversial at the time within the tax community and did leak out a bit into the general public. As is often the ‘case’ tax is just an overlay on other interesting stuff. 

Also thought of it again wot with the junior doctors strike and how the consultants would be helping over that period. I guess coz its Health that means its not strike breaking?

Anyway back to the case. Penny and Hooper (last names) were both specialist doctors earning shed loads of cash in Christchurch fixing the bung knees of those who were in denial about the length of their running careers and had yet to find yoga.

Now these gentlemen were  unremarkable in that they weren’t big on paying tax according to the progressive tax scales that applied to little people and so adopted a structure recommended by their accountant. I mean everyone was doing it and what could possibly go wrong. In fact even John Shewan – of Shewan report fame – said it was bog standard behaviour.

The wheeze was that they put their businesses into a trust which at that time had a lower tax rate (33%) than the little people faced who earned over $60,000 ( threshold increased at some point but detail not relevant) 39%.

The Commissioner who was a he at the time – yes Virginia men can be senior public servants – was not best pleased.  He used a bunch of words like ‘tax avoidance’,’market salary’ and ‘not’and made them pay tax like the little people. Go Team Commissioner.

The tax community also used a bunch of words like ’emmently foreseeable’; ‘lack of certainty’; and ‘chilling effect on investment’. Well maybe not the last set but that is never far away when the big people are being made to pay tax.

Anyway the Commissioner won; tax accountants lost; largely graciously ate that and everyone moved on to the next tax dept v tax community stousch.

There was some commentary at the time about how this was more than a tax case – at which point I got very excited – only to find it was about trusts could be looked through and weren’t as inviolable as people thought.

But what was never discussed was how two men who were educated at the state’s expense presumably before student loans; weren’t bonded; and whose business was almost wholly paid for by the taxpayer via ACC  were earning so much money. I guess it was before the days of ‘joined up government’.

I also guess Labour’s ‘three years free’ policy will also remove what little royalty we currently get from the taxpayers’ investment in such lovely people.

All the more reason then guys to make sure misalignment works and they do actually pay the top tax rate.

Namaste