Uber? Blame Labour

THe Uber employment status situation can be traced back to selective employment tax (seT, a tax on companies that did not boost UK exports), which was introduced by then pM, Harold Wilson in 1966.

As a small employer at that time, seT was adding £1,000 to my wage bill a year. Due to intense competition, my only option was to dismiss a less

productive employee ( who, incidentally, never worked again).

Some large employers took a different stance entirely, and they dismissed their employees on the Friday and told them to return the following Monday as selfemployed sub-contractors.

Not only did these employers save themselves SET costs, they had now also avoided paying employers’ National Insurance contributions and their employment liabilities. It was the start of pseudo self-employment.

Regarding these exemployees, their payments appeared to be tax-free. The Inland Revenue was not capable of handling this influx of self-employed at the time.

These ‘ self- employed’ workers could also buy a limited company for just £19, which would further delay tax collection. This was a tempting situation — until they required to get sick pay or other employment benefits. Employment status is a complicated issue. We’ve had 50 years of confusion, in which time there have been various attempts to bring in laws to resolve the problems.

But the blatant tax avoidance continues — all because Wilson wanted 21 shillings per week employment tax to fill a small tax black hole.

DAVID BROWN, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs.