Tax? How very undiplomatic!

Coffee break 1

QUESTION Is it true that IMF chief Christine Lagarde is exempt from paying income tax? If so, why? Are other IMF employees exempt?

MOST United Nations employees, including those at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, are exempt from paying income tax under Article 34 of the Vienna Convention On Diplomatic Relations (1961).

It reads: ‘A diplomatic agent shall be exempt from all dues and taxes, personal or real, national, regional or municipal.’

The exemption dates back to the foundation of the UN after World War II. The idea was to ensure equality between UN staff from different nations.

The reason it is so contentious is that Lagarde criticised the Greeks in 2012 for not paying their taxes: ‘As far as Athens is concerned, I also think about all those people who are trying to escape tax all the time.’

She was then being paid a salary of $467,940 (around £330,000), plus a $ 83,760 allowance ( around £ 60,000) and expenses for entertainment. She may have had a point, but it was lost amid the cries of hypocrisy.

Kathy Webb, Oxford.

QUESTION The Swan Inn in Dawlish, which dates back to 1642, has a chart of the names of landlords and landladies who have run it from the 17th century until the present day. Can any other pub beat this record of continuous use for nearly four centuries?

FURTheR to the earlier answer, on the list of past landlords at the Three Daws in Gravesend, Kent, the earliest was Ralph Wellett in 1582, which beats the Swan.

It is said to have tunnels, now lost, used by drinkers to flee press gangs. I always hoped they weren’t lost at all, and are still used after closing time!

Victor Launert, Matlock Bath, Derbyshire.