Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Tax cheat Carr: Close tax cheat loopholes
COMEDIAN Jimmy Carr has called for the Government to close all tax loopholes.
The 8 Out of 10 Cats star, 45, admitted being “a recent convert to this view” after he was caught in 2012 using a legal tax avoidance scheme. Jimmy revealed he had paid back everything he should have and added: “It’s one rule for rich people and one for everyone else, it doesn’t seem fair.
“It seems to me that they should make the rule much clearer… and then it would be better for everyone.”
He continued: “The paradise papers came out recently and the perception is that everyone is doing this, even the Queen. It’s weird with David Cameron because there’s a large offshore trust in his family name which pays no tax, so there’s always going to be a level of hypocrisy.”
Jimmy tells of his change of heart on BBC1’S Room 101, which will be shown on February 2.
Asking host Frank Skinner to put tax loopholes in Room 101, he said: “I don’t know why there isn’t a law. It should be really simple. I did a bad thing but I didn’t kill anyone because there’s a clear law on that.”
Jimmy then joked: “If they had the same law on murder, I’d have killed loads of people!
“You know how much tax I saved? None, because I paid it all back. It’s more like the Government loaned me some money for a bit at a high interest rate.”