Thoughts on the Olympics

Its has been great watching team GB win a few medals, and people are now getting excited about the track and field events coming up, we are in for a good week of sport.

When the Olympics is over, its legacy will be examined, and you would expect that the costs and benefits of the Olympics will be one of the hot topics debated keenly in the pubs and clubs of the land.

Tax avoidance and tax evasion has become another high profile topic in the pubs and clubs of the land over the last couple of months, with lots of moral posturing and finger pointing by the politicians and the tabloid papers.

There is a huge link between tax avoidance and the Olympics which seems to have slipped under the radar, by default the UK Government created a tax haven in ‘London’ from the 8th March 2012 until the 8th November 2012, with the Olympics being in town.

The UK agreed to tax breaks in negotiations with the International Olympic Committee, with Athletes having special dispensations on sponsorships and earnings and corporate sponsors having exemptions on Olympic based sales.

Whilst you can see the arguement for the Government agreeing to this. Isn’t it just high profile sportspeople avoiding tax?

Make you think doesn’t it, maybe this will be thrown into the debate in the pubs and clubs?