Gary Barlow it’s not your OBE we want it’s your tax, pay up!

Allot of comment this morning on Take that star Gary Barlow on his tax arrangements and his tax evasion. Allot is being made of him needing to give up his OBE but this misses the point. For sure David Cameron is right that Gary has done a lot of good charity work but would this even have been needed if Gary had simply paid his tax to the tax man in first place? “Gary, his Take that bandmates Mark Owen and Howard Donald, and their manager are facing huge bills after it was revealed by the Times that they reportedly paid into the £66 million Icebreaker Management partnership, which was billed as a music-industry investment scheme. The Take That singers now face tax bills of around £20 million. The Times reports that Judge Colin Bishop told the court that “Icebreaker is, and was known and understood by all concerned to be, a tax avoidance scheme.” Now Labour’s Margaret Hodge, chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said Barlow “might want to show a bit of contrition by giving back his OBE”. She was backed by Tory Charlie Elphicke who told The Sun: “People who have seriously abused the tax system should be stripped of honours.” I do think this misses the point his OBE is not in question even if I don’t agree he should have got one its by the by its his tax we are after. 20 Million to a successful pop singer who has also appeared on the x factor in the UK and been a keen supporter of the conservative party we should not be overly surprised by this recent news on the man but Cameron could find the longer he backs Gary Barlow over tax evasion his claim to clamp down on tax evaders will look increasingly hollow or more so than it already does. David Cameron has said he does not think the singer should be forced to give back his OBE, despite publicly attacking the comedian Jimmy Carr last year for his involvement with a tax avoidance scheme. The Prime Minister, who appeared with the Tory-supporting Take That star during the 2010 General Election campaign, said: "Gary Barlow has done a huge amount for charity, raising a huge amount for Children in Need." Mr. Cameron went on to tell Sky News that the singer was appointed is OBE for his charity work and the tax avoidance issue shouldn't affect that. Gary has yet to comment on the reports that he and his bandmates will have to repay millions but at the time of investing, lawyers for Gary, Howard and Mark confirmed they were involved in the partnerships but insisted the trio believed they were “legitimate enterprises”.” Come on now Gary you may well be a lovely bloke into charity and all that but this does not mean you are above the law and should get away with not paying your taxes in this country. With extracts and quotes from http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/05/12/gary-barlow-obe-take-that-tax-avoidance-scheme_n_5307667.html?utm_hp_ref=uk&utm_hp_ref=uk