Staff on company payrolls pay up to 50 per cent of their salaries in income tax while they and their employers must also contribute to National Insurance.
By contrast, freelancers who are paid through “personal service companies” pay corporation tax at just 21 per cent, and are exempt from NI contributions.
It\’s obvious that he doesn\’t: the question is should he be able to? Should a basic understanding be a pre-requisite for writing an article on it?
He should at least be able to look up the Small Profits Corporation Tax rate, which has been 20% for the last two years.
Not understanding the tax system hasn’t stopped the Inland Revenue from speaking upon it for years.
Nor The Retired Accountant from Wandsworth.
He’s a hack. He isn’t paid to get facts right, he’s paid to attract readers.
Actually, a prerequisite for being a journalist is being too lazy to get a business degree and too stupid to get into law school.
Here in the states, most ‘journalists’ became ‘jounalists’ because they woke up one day half way through their junior year in college and finally realized that a 2.5 GPA in Political Science wasn’t going to get them into law school.