Did Ken Livingstone break tax rules over Labour donation?
The Evening Standard has reported:
Ken Livingstone was under fresh pressure over his alleged tax avoidance after he was forced to admit using his private company to make a sizable political donation.
Mr Livingstone had previously claimed to have personally made a donation to the Labour Party of £19,202 in December for “staff costs” during his election campaign.
But he has now confirmed to the electoral commission that the donation came from his private company Silveta Ltd, through which he allegedly avoided at least £50,000 in tax by benefiting from corporation tax at 20 or 21 per cent rather than paying income tax at up to 50 per cent on all of his earnings.
It was today claimed the Labour candidate broke HM Revenue and Customs rules by offsetting the £19,202 donation made through Silveta against tax.
Why did Livingstone originally claim his donation was for staff costs? Trying to hypothecate a donation to a specific purpose does not somehow stop it being a donation, or cancel the fact that it really came through your company. The Labour Party is just as likely as HMRC to be unable or unwilling to hypothecate its revenues. And if the company donation was illegal as stated, it was evasion, not avoidance. I know, the two words really mean the same, but we have to play the game. Is there a third candidate? If not, the choice for Londoners is dire.
There's Brian Paddick for Mayor of London of course 🙂