"Row over Express chief's tax avoidance" 
   
   "New Express owner Richard Desmond's huge publishing
   and TV sex empire has paid just £200,000 in
   corporation tax since it was established eight years
   ago, The Observer can reveal."

   "Since the firms were set up in 1992 they have 
   notched up a combined turnover of £301m, gross 
   profits of £91m and pre-tax profits of £5.6m. Yet, 
   Companies House records show that their total tax 
   bill to the end of 1999 was just £200,000 - an 
   effective tax rate of 3.6 per cent, barely a tenth of
   the 30 per cent most UK firms pay.

   'There are all too many British "patriots" who feel 
   they serve their country best by avoiding paying tax 
   and putting their money offshore,' said Brian 
   Sedgemore, one of 10 Labour MPs to sign a 
   parliamentary motion attacking the Express sale.

   There is no suggestion Desmond has done anything 
   illegal: tax avoidance, to minimise bills, is not 
   against the law.

   Paul Farrelly, city editor
   Sunday December 24, 2000

   Extract from The Observer (English Sunday broadsheet)

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   "Perceptions" note:

   That last sentence is true - but only for the rich.
   The middle-incomed and the poor have NO legal ways
   to avoid crippling tax costs, which average more than
   60% - 70% for the majority of British working people
   (much more for the very poor).

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   part of http://www.perceptions.couk.com/tax.html
   and http://www.perceptions.couk.com/taxone.html

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              FURTHER REFERENCES

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file-ID www.perceptions.couk.com/taxlies.txt