Why shouldn't Usain Bolt pay his way?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.standard.c...-britain-8046121.html

Well it appears if his British/Jamaican fans wish to see the mighty Usain Bolt run in Britain again we have got to change our tax laws.

[i]He said: “As soon as the law changes I'll be here all the time. I love being here, I have so many Jamaican fans here and it's wonderful[i]

One can only wish for the tax laws to stay as they are.

[Mick-Talbot]

You are very slow on this ... he talked about immediately after his race.

[jake-the-peg]

Well I have a certain sympathy here - this was explained in a lot better detail on Radio 4's today program.

When top sports stars perform here they have to pay tax on their winnings and they generally don't have a problem with that.

This issue arises because the government also demands a cut of their sponsorship and endorsement money

This is (I would say) effectively income and as not British citizen's they're being taxed ontheir income!

In Usain Bolt's case there was one deal where he was going to be paid £100,000 to run here but by the time he'd paid tax on his sponsorship and endorsement's he'd have been paying the UK government to come here and run!

Now I'm not a tax lawyer - but surely that can't be right!

[Mick-Talbot]

Wait a minute .......... you never watched him race did you ?

[mightyWBA]

From what I understand it would cost Mr Bolt and other international sportspeople/entertainers more money to perform here than what they'd make while they were here,due to our tax laws.
They would in effect be taxed on income they didn't even earn in this country.

I think he's right.

[craft1948]

I think he's right too.................

[emmie]

can't say i blame him really, have you not noticed how many are trying to not pay so much tax. even some Abers have said they would get away with it if they could.

[Hopkirk]

All that money for a ten second race?

Marathon runners are better value.

[emmie]

Hopkirk, thing is they keep on running, could cost us a mint...

[Bazile]

AOG - Any particular reason for citing Usain Bolt ; when other top sporting stars take the same stance ?

[Hopkirk]

Apparently the long distance runners think the sprinters are lazy.

[dave50]

I don't blame him, I wouldn't come here either.

[Old_Geezer]

So it wouldn't be a problem if it were amateurs who ran in the Olympics ?

Surely all income that can not be shown to be legitimate business expenses are subject to taxation. Expenses being treated separately.

[jake-the-peg]

Well not if you're not a Britsh citizen OG!

How would you feel if you went to Jamaica for 2 weeks and they wanted 4% of your income tax?

[anotheoldgit]

Bazile

/// AOG - Any particular reason for citing Usain Bolt ; when other top sporting stars take the same stance ? ///

Because Bolt has recently made a comment on it, see The Evening Standards report, which I added.

[sp1814]

Maybe he should have a word with Jimmy Carr...

And Take That (apart from Jason Orange).

And Sir Philip Green.

[jon1968]

This has been ongoing for ages? Agassi took HMRC to court didn’t he?

It’s how income is calculated.

Bolt runs 10 times a year & earns £20m a year+.

Spends 3 days in UK to run a race therefore common sense should dictate he pays top end tax on 3 days earnings.

HMRC say that 1 race here constitutes 10% of his earnings so he should pay top end tax on 10% of his total annual earnings!!?

That’s why nobody decent comes here for any sport. Federer has stated it’s why he doesn’t play at Queens prior to Wimbledon, and no top names come to the UK for anything other than the Open in golf.

[jomifl]

I'm sure that bankers don't suffer multiple taxation so why should sportsmens who aren't all millionaires and usually have a short earning career.

[ludwig]

// he was going to be paid £100,000 to run here //

That's not a bad rate for 10 seconds work ;-)

[emmie]

but a lifetime of training.. ^^