Lord Fink says we're all tax avoiders: are you?

What an embarrassing palaver the HSBC tax avoidance has turned into, especially for the politicians who are trying to balance demonising tax avoiders on one hand, while taking their charitable donations with the other.

It's hard to ignore this story at the moment, and why would you want to, it's full of offshore villains hiding their money away in the lovely snowy tax haven of Switzerland and one brave soul sick of the aggressive tax avoidance being pushed by HSBC, one of Britain's big four banks.

As the story unravelled over the week, more players emerged and none other than our own prime minister reportedly became a major player, albeit a 'dodgy' one, according to Labour leader Ed Miliband.

You see, the Conservatives raised nearly £5 million from seven donors who had HSBC bank accounts held offshore.

While there's nothing illegal about sheltering your money from tax, there are arguments about whether it is morally acceptable for wealthy people to do so instead of just paying what they owe to the UK taxman.

Cameron has been evasive about whether he knew about HSBC's tax avoidance schemes and whether he quizzed former HSBC chairman and chief executive Stephen Green about it when he appointed him as trade minister.

Miliband has been pointing the finger here there and everywhere, he also got in trouble with Tory donor Lord Fink who has a nice chunk of money stashed offshore. Fink threatened to sue Miliband for implying he was a 'dodgy donor', although the pair seem to have kissed and made up somewhat.

All tax avoiders?

And it is with Lord Fink that we should focus now thanks to his comments to the Evening Standard. He told the paper that the definition of tax avoidance is so broad that 'everyone does it'.

But I've got news for Fink: most people don't.

Most people pay their taxes that the government takes from their wages automatically, they pay the tax on their savings accounts that the bank takes automatically, they pay stamp duty when they buy a home and they pay VAT on every item they buy.

Normal people don't avoid tax because they can't afford to avoid it. The bitter irony is that the wealthy are the only ones who have the means to pay less, but that does not give them a good reason to do so.

Read more:
HSBC helped clients evade tax

Starbucks boss unrepentant about tax avoidance

Celebrities named in new tax avoidance scandal