NORTON BLASTS TAX AVOIDING CELEBRITIES
GRAHAM Norton says celebrities who avoid tax should be made social outcasts like drink-drivers.
In a US radio interview, the chat host hit out at multi-millionaires accused of not coughing up.
When asked about comedian Jimmy Carr, Norton said: “There was a time when drunk-driving was sort of socially acceptable.
“People left dinner parties drunk [and would say] ‘Oh, I’m driving, I’ll be fine’.
“Now if somebody did that, I think people would be like, ‘Please don’t… that is a bad idea, you might kill someone’. Hopefully we will get to a stage where tax avoidance is the same as that.” In 2012, Carr said he had made “a terrible error of judgement” by using a tax avoidance scheme called K2. It was legal and fully disclosed to HMRC.
But the comic’s use of the scheme sparked a backlash – with the then Prime Minister David Cameron calling it “morally wrong”.
In his radio chat, Norton said that if we all contributed what we were meant to, it would be a “nicer world”.
He added: “If everyone pays their tax, there are nice roads, neighbourhoods are safer, children are well educated.”
Norton also said that hosting his BBC chat show during lockdown was a challenge – mainly because of Zoom web calls. “When we started in
March, it was terrible,” he admitted. “But we have gotten more used to it.”
Norton made his Virgin Radio debut yesterday after a high-profile switch from the Beeb. He left Radio 2 in December.