Re: Dry your eyes
Your colleagues must have been earning squillions. In London contractors earn a decent living but so probably less than many similarly skilled professionals in the finance sector sector for example I personally don't know anyone driving expensive cars or owning a town house in Chelsea.
We are all earning enough to live in the capital and provide for families while taking care of our own pension arrangements, insurances, unpaid holidays and so forth.
The labour government could have closed down EBT schemes when they came to power but didn't. I don't see why taking advantage of overly complex, poorly drafted, ambiguous finance law is i
immoral or wrong.
Offshore / loans and other memes are just mechanisms for tax mitigation. Until the government in power close town tax loopholes and legislate appropriately they will be exploited. I don't this kind of exploitation as any different from implementing a clever engineering solution.