Mike Lewis

Tax, illicit finance, weapons and armed conflict. Ex-@conflictarm, ex-@amnesty, ex-@UN, ex-some other stuff.

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

Pleased to have contributed to this @DeSmog investigation tracking 🇬🇧supermarket sea bass: the food and climate insanity of selling 🇹🇷farmed fish, fed on...fresh West African fish, despite supermarkets' denials. Our suppers fuelling 🇸🇳🇲🇷🇬🇲 food insecurity @hazel_healy

[DeSmog @DeSmog]

🔴 NEW 🔴

UK Supermarket Seabass Linked to Devastating Overfishing in Senegal

✍️ @hazel_healy and Brigitte Wear

https://t.co/Y8SwmyL3EU

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

@DanNeidle Could it have been EMI? It was small enough when some options were granted in the early 2010s?

Also, then, the question of CGT treatment when employees sell.

And (devil's advocate) all of this rests heavily on the tax residence/status of the employees, presumably?

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

@DanNeidle Not sure one can be definitive about the IT treatment of the SBC, because we don't know whether/how much they're using tax-advantaged schemes? (Policy, not avoidance). But in any case most of the SBC tax asset is de-recognised, since the UK subsid hasn't been that profitable.

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

@DanNeidle I think the major questions (on which we commented) aren't really mentioned in the article, unfortunately: the pricing of the services fees from the US to the UK, and the Pillar 2 treatment of the Qatar subsid.

[TaxWatch @taxwatch]

The tax gap is getting worse, and by more than HMRC previously thought.

For a government that has promised to raise nearly £10bn more tax revenues annually by the end of this parliament by *shrinking* the tax gap, today's figures are a serious problem.

More analysis shortly.

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

I can't think of a clearer demonstration of monopoly. If you are the only one making sandwiches, then you can start randomly putting turds in some sandwiches, and people will still buy your sandwiches.

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

@UKCraigP @DanNeidle @DavidHollidge Not before an avalanche of grifter overtime tax schemes are sold via umbrella companies in the Isle of Man and Malta, and the tax tribunal gets clogged up for years...

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

Excellent report but this part (highlighted) doesn't seem correct? Regulations under Canada's United Nations Act have prohibited "Canadians outside Canada" from facilitating arms supplies to Sudan since 2004? @CBCNews @justshayxo @Ivan_Angelovski https://t.co/x6zvZ4oJL2

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

Um...

[The Labour Party @UKLabour]

We will always stand up for Britain's interests - at home and abroad.

Whatever the pressure, whoever it's coming from.

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

So Matt Brittin, former @Google EMEA president, was today confirmed as the new chair of the BBC.

Here he is back in 2016, being questioned by the @CommonsPAC about Google's tax affairs, and failing to remember how much he was paid.

Safe pair of hands...

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

Re-upping 🧵in light of an imminent Gulf test of this legal question. It might surprise you that 🇬🇧&🇺🇸 laws of war manuals list energy infrastructure as legitimate military objects of attack (though the ICC and these countries' politicians seem to disagree, at least when it's 🇷🇺)

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

These statements -- at least the EU and UK ones -- come close to arguing that power infrastructure supplying civilians cannot be a legitimate object of attack, particularly in winter conditions. Most people would be surprised, I think, that this was at all controversial.

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

Also appreciate all the tax profession experts, always quick to critique technical errors, who are today calling out the @thetimes' schoolboy conflation of corporation tax and income tax when calculating the tax bills of the super-rich...

Oh wait. 🦗🦗🦗

[TaxWatch @taxwatch]

https://t.co/LpIhhsA6GI?

Today @thetimes publishes their annual Tax List: a list of the 'unsung heroes' who are the UK's 100 biggest taxpayers. Or are they? @taxwatch's response 🧵

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

#PSA: Christmas is a tricky time. A quick seasonal reminder that:

Most people in mental distress don��t want or benefit from advice or ‘solutions’. Even yours.

Please acknowledge their problems, and ask them what they need.

That is all. Ho ho ho 🎄🎄🎄

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

This footage is from Bolivia.

Somewhat worrying lack of fact-checking from the senior Africa adviser to the Republican chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

[JT @tomozeus]

Another coup attempt is reportedly ongoing on the continent, this time in Chad. It's more like regular order these days.

How many more attempts in Africa before we close out 2025?

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

@MeKassab Do you have a link to the original video, Mohamed? This could be quite significant.

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

“Il essaie de labourer mon terrain mais c’est moi qui sème et c’est moi qui récolterai. Les gens préfèreront toujours l’original à la copie. Plus il en fait dans ce domaine-là, mieux je me porte” - Jean-Marie le Pen

[Shabana Mahmood MP @ShabanaMahmood]

Over my dead body.

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

Unworkable policies No 5642: what exactly will be on the Home Office cheat-sheet for border officials to determine which items of someone’s jewellery does or doesn’t “have sentimental value” @alexjjnorris ? Both grim and absurd.

https://t.co/dOSwksUqW0

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

Hard agree. I have literally never seen a meerkat buying car insurance either. Woke insanity.

[spiked @spikedonline]

Sarah Pochin has a point about ‘diversity’ in advertising. When around half of TV adverts feature black actors, and just 4% of the UK population is black, then clearly something odd is going on. It should not be taboo to notice, says Patrick West
https://t.co/DlhGHuC1ps

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

@Barry_Goss @DanNeidle Yes absolutely. Carers of all kinds, who are mostly women. Extraordinary how rarely care costs our society doesn’t want to socialise are framed as a productivity/labour market problem, but they are.

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

Yes it’s a crazy tax schedule that should be reformed. But the wall-to-wall X outrage omits that 100k pre-tax is 96th percentile+ income in 🇬🇧. Even 60k is 89th percentile. I just find it hard to get that worked up about tax anomalies of a small number of pretty well-off people…

[Dan Neidle @DanNeidle]

Here's a chart of the marginal tax rate for someone with two kids. They pay 53% tax on every £ they earn between £60k and ��80k. 62% on every £ they earn between £100k and £125k.

9% more if they've a student loan

(See all the detail in our calculator, pinned to my profile)

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

Or new fathers, obviously. But we know in practice this falls very largely on women because, you know…patriarchy etc

[Mike Lewis @Bakhunin]

Great that people are realising the growth/productivity impact of 000’s of people withdrawing labour due to high marginal costs.

Looking forward to everyone making this argument now supporting free/subsidised childcare for the millions of new mothers who can’t afford to work.

[Stuart @StuartMaggs]

Putting things provocatively, imagine someone earning £100k who is considering whether to work overtime to buy something worth £100.

To do that they need to earn £315.80. HMRC takes:
- £189.48 in income tax
- £6.32 in NIC
- £20.00 in VAT

They have to earn £315.80 to buy £100 of stuff. Is that fair?