Interesting that Labour attack dog Michael Dugher is rowing back on Millionaire Miliband’s tax spin this afternoon. Dugher is refusing to repeat the absurd idea that Cameron has written himself a £40,000 cheque, now nuancing the argument by noting that only 8,000 millionaires will benefit. Might be something to do with Dave slaughtering Ed on tax during his speech:

“Did you hear what Ed Miliband said last week about taxes? He described a tax cut as the government writing people a cheque. Ed…Let me explain to you how it works. When people earn money, it’s their money. Not the government’s money: their money. Then, the government takes some of it away in tax. So, if we cut taxes, we’re not giving them money – we’re taking less of it away. OK?”

An important distinction…

24 hours after Danny Alexander warned tax avoiders “we are coming to get you”, LibDem President Tim Farron has unveiled the party’s new tax avoidance legacy scheme. Rich delegates were plied with red wine and chocolate gateaux in the Grand Hotel’s Empress suite as Farron and his team explained how wealthy donors could reduce their inheritance tax bills.

Following in the tax avoiding footsteps of Labour and the Tories, rich donors were told how “a gift in your will to the LibDems will be tax efficient as gifts to a recognised political party are deducted from your estate before inheritance tax is calculated“. Guido asked an uncomfortable Farron what he thought about his party encouraging members to avoid tax, but the party president attempted to shift the blame by holding his hands up and insisting “I didn’t put it together”. It was later emphasised to Guido that the scheme was “within the law”. It seems Danny Alexander’s promise does not extends to the after life…

Fresh from the humiliation of his premature gold medal boasting at the Olympics, President Hollande is facing the much predicted taxodus from Paris to London.

This morning’s City AM reported:

“London-based recruitment firm Astbury Marsden, which specialises in the banking sector, has seen a 51 per cent rise in French-language applicants in recent months, compared with the same period of 2011.“There is a definite spike in French-speaking candidates,” said managing director Jonathan Nicholson. We have not seen similar increases in candidates from other countries.”

When Hollande vowed to steal 75% of his hard-working countrymen’s income earlier this year Dave promised to roll out the red carpet. Now they’re saying au revoir to François…

Labour wonk-shop IPPR have declared war on the Sun‘s Page 3 girls as they publish a report claiming that the government’s bleeding of motorists via high fuel taxes is just a “myth“. Earlier this week the Sun girls jumped on board the Taxpayers’ Alliance campaign to freeze fuel duty by showing their support at petrol stations up and down the country. Now IPPR has hit back, laughably arguing that the Chancellor “should make every effort to avoid further delays in fuel duty increases“. Will’s argument is unconvincing and not likely to be taken up by the Labour Party. “Vote Labour for higher petrol taxes” is a CCHQ dream slogan…

Richard Murphy is a left-wing economist, accountant and blogger who has advised Brendan Barber’s TUC and Mark Serwotka’s PCS and written regularly for the Guardian. Twitter users will know that he maintains a close relationship with several tweeting Labour MPs. This morning Murphy put his foot in it by betraying the loony left’s true thoughts on the public debt:

@mocktheleft @DisgruntledRob @jreedmp There is no need to repay public debt: the demand for it has always outstripped supply—
Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) August 15, 2012

@richardnorthey @MockTheLeft Give me a good reason why we should pay off public debt? Our private pension industry would fail for a start—
Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) August 15, 2012

When will the flat-earthers learn…

The Indian government has today announced plans to launch a mission to Mars next year. The $82 million project, funded in part by the British taxpayers’ money meant for starving children, will see an unmanned spacecraft set off for the Red Planet in November 2013.

The least they could do is plant a Union Jack…

Guido would like to express solidarity with £142,000 per year union fat cat Christine Blower, who has found an innovative new way to reduce her members’ tax bills. For all her moralistic demands that people “play fair on tax“, it turns out she wasn’t talking to union members. 

Unionised teachers are being advised that they can now claim tax back on their union subscriptions. Any member of the National Union of Teachers, NASUWT or any of the other major teaching unions is eligible to a generous rebate on their yearly union fees. Guido is thinking of a forming a union of yacht owners…

Back in July Guido revealed how both the Tories and Labour were advising their donors how to avoid tax through controversial inheritance schemes. Now it appears the LibDems have followed suit. Right at the beginning of this year’s conference guide yellow benefactors are encouraged to sign up for their new “legacy fund campaign“, where donors “leave a sum of money or a share of your estate to the Liberal Democrats“. Generous participants even get the chance to meet Tim Farron…

The LibDems have been slightly more subtle than their Coalition counterparts – remember “Click here to see how a gift to the Conservative Party can reduce your inheritance tax bill” – but it would appear that the boundary reform busters are up to the same trick. They note that “legacy income provides an important part of the funding for most major charities, and so it should for us too“, hinting that they will take advantage of inheritance tax loopholes to help their donors avoid tax. What was that about morally repugnant…

The Inspector Clouseau hacks over at The Bureau of Investigative Journalism have prided themselves in exposing tax avoidance over the last few months. In March they worked with Private Eye to reveal Vodafone had used Swiss bank accounts to exploit a loophole in tax laws, while they have even gone after the Guardian for saving millions in the Cayman Islands. To say they have had a holier-than-thou stance would be an understatement.

Funny then that TBIJ‘s founder and chief benefactor, Labour Party donor David Potter, is a tax avoiding non-dom. Potter has given some £2 million to TBIJ since 2010 despite the fact that he has allegedly used his non-dom status to avoid paying income tax. It seems TBIJ are against tax dodging unless it’s done by the man who bankrolls them… 

Guido had to check he hadn’t woken up in some Stalinist dystopia when he read that HMRC have been telling school children to tell their teacher if they suspect that their neighbours have been dodging tax. Lesson plans suggested by the government include asking teenagers to name any examples of tax evasion they can think of from their local area:

Anyone seen Mr. Gauke recently?