Thursday, September 11, 2008

NHS support for tax reform campaigner

Richard Murphy shared a lovely story just before giving the AIA Founder's lecture last night:

Apparently Richard was challeneged by a senior official at HMRC who was curious as to how Richard could afford to spend so much time on his tax campaigning, research and writing. Richard explained that he was supported by the NHS.

The official nearly exploded with indignation. "Why on earth is the NHS supporting tax research?" he demanded to know.

Richard then explained that it was only doing so only indirectly. It seems his wife is a high earning GP!

During his lecture Richard later referred to the European Savings Tax Directive and stressed that his wife got very concerned the first time she heard him refer to it by its initials 'STD'. She wanted to know how and why and.....

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Childhood ambitions that point to accountancy

While my friends played tag, I played "compliance audit" and issued playground-wide risk reports. Other kids drew castles. I drew ...