In the year after losing the mayoralty, Livingstone claimed on Thursday, he earned just £21,645. In fact, the accounts of his now famous personal company, Silveta Ltd show he invoiced a total of £232,550 for his services that year. Channelling that money through Silveta – whose sole shareholders are Livingstone and his wife – allows him to take advantage of corporation tax (at 21 per cent), rather than have all his income subject to income tax (at up to 40 per cent) and National Insurance (up to 9 per cent) paid by Johnson, Paddick, Jones and most other mortals. It all sat rather badly with Livingstone’s denunciation of tax avoiders as “rich b------s” who “should not be allowed to vote”. And the continued wriggling last week suggested a candidate with secrets still to hide.
(Incidentally, Boris, it turned out, earned a total of £1,290,870 in three years and paid a perhaps even more staggering £519,276 in income tax and National Insurance – an effective rate, even with allowances and reliefs, of more than 40 per cent.) [Telegraph.]
