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Mr Brown and *Everybody Hurts*

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MrDaff

MrDaff Report 2 Apr 2010 16:38

Thank you Sue.... yes, just seen and replied to!!

I have just been to have a look at the Guardian site.... feel very slightly appeased, but am now wondering, if the media is so often lying or manipulating the truth.... which report is nearer the truth?


Government denies VAT will be reclaimed from Haiti donations

Independent claims Department for International Development will have budget slashed to recover lost tax


* Megan French
* guardian.co.uk, Friday 2 April 2010 12.42 BST
* Article history

Haiti earthquake

The Independent claimed Gordon Brown misled the public over the Haiti music single

Downing Street today denied the government would be reclaiming thousands of pounds of waived VAT, which Gordon Brown pledged to help the survivors of the Haiti earthquake.

The treasury responded to newspaper claims that the Department for International Development will have its budget slashed to recover the lost tax.

A Downing Street statement said: "The story is wrong. No money raised for Haiti will be deducted from other development projects or the DfID budget.

"There will therefore be no impact at all on other areas of DfID's work or budget."

The DfID will initially cover the cost of the tax but will be reimbursed at the end of the financial year.

The Independent said Brown had misled the public over the Haiti music single, which sold 600,000 copies.

But a spokesperson for the DfID insisted that tax was a matter for the Treasury alone. Downing St said it expected the paper to apologise for the story tomorrow.

Simon Cowell organised an all-star cast to cover the REM song Everybody Hurts to raise money for the victims of the Haiti earthquake, in which an estimated 320,000 people died.

At the time, Gordon Brown announced the single would be exempt from the 17.5% VAT . It went straight to number one, selling more than 450,000 copies in the first week, and the money raised was split between the DfID and the Sun's Helping Haiti campaign.

Cheryl Cole, Robbie Williams, Leona Lewis and Kylie Minogue were among the singers on the track, some of whom flew to Haiti.

Edward Davey, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, told the Independent: "This sleight of hand is a step too far. People who bought this CD in good faith will be disgusted to find out what the prime minister presented as an act of generosity was little more than the daylight robbery of funds intended to help some of the poorest people in the world.

"Gordon Brown must come clean on what aid programmes have suffered in order to fund this hollow gesture."

Max Lawson, Oxfam head of development finance, said: "It will be extremely disappointing if Malawi or Mozambique end up paying for the public's generosity by picking up Haiti's VAT bill."

This week, governments and international organisations pledged more than £6.5bn to rebuild Haiti, after millions are still homeless after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake.

The bit I find interesting, and which I think the Independent picked up on.... is that the DflD WILL be picking up the tab.... but the Government claims they will have it back at the end of the year?

****The DfID will initially cover the cost of the tax but will be reimbursed at the end of the financial year.*****

And they had received a split of the proceeds themselves, as well......

I don't claim to understand.... but it still stinks to me....

Love

Daff xxx

supercrutch

supercrutch Report 2 Apr 2010 16:17

I replied to you on chat Daff.

Sue xx

MrDaff

MrDaff Report 2 Apr 2010 16:09

Well, Joan, I am sure we shall soon find out.......

And I am prepared to believe anything of that man.... he sent my husband, and thousands of others just like him, out to a war, ill equipped... and is still trying to cover it up, prevaricating and twisting the truth..... and I don't need any newspaper to tell me that, as I was directly involved, and could have easily been widowed as a result.... as it was, I purchased what I could myself and sent it over...... and as far as things like flak jackets and soft topped vehicles are concerned.... well, I know the papers are certainly not lying about that.

So I will take the media with my usual pinch of salt..... and believe where I feel sure they are telling the truth.

Daff

MrDaff

MrDaff Report 2 Apr 2010 15:42

This man's actions stinks to high heaven.... he promised to waive tax on the Haiti fund single *Everybody hurts* Which he did.

But the b******d has only clawed it back from the Government Department responsible for allocating and providing aid for other causes…….

This report from The Independant


London. The Treasury is to claw back hundreds of thousands of pounds from overseas aid money despite Gordon Brown's promise to waive tax on a charity record for Haiti's earthquake victims, The Independent reported. After the quake on the Caribbean nation three months ago, which killed an estimated 230,000 people, the pop mogul Simon Cowell and 21 celebrities produced a version of REM's song "Everybody Hurts" to raise disaster relief funds.
The Prime Minister announced that he had decided VAT would be waived on the single.
But to the fury of aid officials at the Department for International Development, the Treasury has warned them that they will effectively be sent a bill for the Exchequer's lost revenue, The Independent has learnt – the equivalent of the "lost" VAT will be deducted from its budget.


Read the article here

http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n215168



I don't think this person can sink much lower, to be honest.

Love

Daff xxx