Cameron said that Carr, who is part of a tax scheme on Jersey, is taking part in “straightforward tax avoidance”.
However he failed to criticise Gary Barlow, whose tax affairs as also managed by the same firm as Carr’s.
Cameron said: “I think some of these schemes – and I think particularly of the Jimmy Carr scheme – I have had time to read about and I just think this is completely wrong.
“People work hard, they pay their taxes, they save up to go to one of his shows. They buy the tickets. He is taking the money from those tickets and he, as far as I can see, is putting all of that into some very dodgy tax avoiding schemes.
“That is wrong. There is nothing wrong with people planning their tax affairs to invest in their pension and plan for their retirement – that sort of tax management is fine. But some of these schemes we have seen are quite frankly morally wrong.
“The government is acting by looking at a general anti-avoidance law but we do need to make progress on this. It is not fair on hardworking people who do the right thing and pay their taxes to see these sorts of scams taking place.”
Carr is part of a tax scheme where which allows people ostensibly to become employees of K2 a Jersey-based firm, to whom they pass their earnings to have it loaned back to them, allowing them to effectively pay as little as one per cent tax.
Defending his tax affairs, Carr said: “I pay what I have to and not a penny more.”
When pushed on whether or not he was disappointed with Barlow’s tax affairs Cameron said: “I just go back to the general point about tax, that everybody should pay the right level of tax.
“Separately, the jubilee celebrations were a great success and Gary Barlow played a big part in that.”
Twitter users were quick to point out that the people in society who avoid tax are more likely to be Conservative voters.
Many tory donors will be looking at their tax affairs after Cameron slams Jimmy Carr’s arrangements.Open season ?
— Patrick Wintour (@patrickwintour) June 20, 2012
Some users also suggested that Cameron was trying to ‘shush up’ Carr, who had appeared on the left-wing satire progamme 10 o’clock Live.
Image via Getty
