When high earning footie and TV stars try to hang on to more of their earnings and then get hammered for tax, not many will be hiring out church basements and forming support groups for them. The more serious principle, and reason we should spare the poor chaps a thought, is that they were told (by the then Labour government) that if they took a punt on a few films, they could save some tax. Now that they have actually saved tax (in some cases 17 years ago, the goalposts have been moved. It’s that goalpost-moving which could be extended exponentially if the government gets still-more desperate to increase the tax-take. And I doubt that Messrs Beckham and Lineker will get much sympathy from the current Labour leadership.
