Video: Did you see Jimmy Carr get ripped mercilessly for tax dodging on 8 Out of Ten Cats?
Having been shamed earlier this week for exploiting a legal UK tax avoidance loophole that allowed him to pay just 1 per cent tax, Jimmy Carr was fed to the wolves last night.
In scenes reminiscent of the time former Have I Got News For You host Angus Deayton was mocked mercilessly after he was found to have had sex with a prostitute, the 8 Out Of Ten Cats host found himself the butt of every joke for around half of the show’s running time last night.
Panelist Sean Locke got the ball rolling early, quipping: “We all like to put a bit of money away for a rainy day, don’t we? But I think you’re more prepared than Noah.”
The comic later asked Carr whether he had held meetings with his accountant with “a thick pane of glass between the two of them.” It only got worse from there with even Georgie Thompson piling on.
Carr was the subject of an investigation by The Times earlier this weekand was found to have been using the K2 tax avoidance scheme, a UK legal tax shelter that meant he was paying little to no tax on earnings of over £3 million each year.
“I appreciate as a comedian, people will expect me to ‘make light’ of this situation, but I’m not going to in this statement, as this is obviously a serious matter,” he tweeted on Wednesday, prior to the show’s taping.
“I met with a financial advisor and he said to me ‘Do you want to pay less tax? It’s totally legal’. I said ‘Yes’. I now realise I’ve made a terrible error of judgement.
“Although I’ve been advised the K2 Tax scheme is entirely legal, and has been fully disclosed to HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs), I’m no longer involved in it and will in future conduct my financial affairs much more responsibly. Apologies to everyone. Jimmy Carr.”
You can watch a helpless Carr squirm in the clip above. He’ll surely be hoping that the furore passes over quickly, as the aforementioned Deayton scandal ended up costing the former host his job.
