David Cameron’s new Whitehall cost-cutter Sir Philip Green sounded irritated when asked whether the UK would benefit from business owners paying their taxes in the country, as well as being grilled about his tax status, on BBC radio on Friday.
A fistful of dollars
The Topshop boss, who suggested he might be able to save the government money by centralising procurement, told the BBC that he was a UK taxpayer, working in the country every week. Asked about his wife, Sir Philip said she was not a tax exile. “My family do not live in the United Kingdom, it’s somewhat different.” He added: “We do pay all our tax in Britain. I think we have paid over the past five years some £300m-£400m in taxes on profits that have been made on our company.”
In June 2006, Nick Cohen wrote in the Observer about the knighthood given to Philip Green. He noted that: “In the spring, the BBC’s Money Programme calculated that Green and his family had ’saved themselves’ £300m from their £1.2bn salary by living for a part of the year in Monaco, whose residents don’t pay income tax. Standing up for such paupers used to be the point of a Labour government. Even if it could not force the likes of Green to pay their fair share, it retained the power to shun them and make it clear that those who don’t contribute towards their country can’t expect their country to be grateful.
In June 2006, Nick Cohen wrote in the Observer about the knighthood given to Philip Green. He noted that: “In the spring, the BBC’s Money Programme calculated that Green and his family had ’saved themselves’ £300m from their £1.2bn salary by living for a part of the year in Monaco, whose residents don’t pay income tax. Standing up for such paupers used to be the point of a Labour government. Even if it could not force the likes of Green to pay their fair share, it retained the power to shun them and make it clear that those who don’t contribute towards their country can’t expect their country to be grateful.
Even that modest defiance of the plutocrats is beyond Labour now. Yesterday, the Queen announced her birthday honours and high on her list was Green, who received a knighthood for ’services to the retail industry’. If I were in the Inland Revenue, I would fret about the moment when the little people who stupidly still pay taxes realise that the state is treating them like fools. It insists that they must hand over their earnings on pain of punishment by the courts, while inviting Philip Green to Buckingham Palace to be honoured by the Queen.”
