Lewis.... His Family Home is just outside Stevenage in little Village called Tewin his Dad has few bob with big House and Grounds. My claim to fame is; " I came out of Junction as he turned in, stopped along side looked straight at me, smiled, took few seconds to realize it was him, then he was gone. F1 Motor racing takes him all over the World and more so now, than in his carting days. Always been fan good luck to him if he can keep his money away from the Tax man .... we're all guilty of wanting that. ! F1 Season plus Tax reasons keep him out of the Country half the year, however while at Local Event Meeting I was told by local's he does attend events from time to time and supports local Charities in the Village. Their proud of him.
He wont be keeping his money away from the taxman, he will be paying it to the Monaco taxman rather than the UK taxman.
Yet if he smashed his car up the British grand prix, he would be expecting to be taken to an NHS hospital, not flown off to Monaco.
By this logic, Felipe Massa should be dead because he doesn't pay income tax in Hungary so isn't entitled to their healthcare and should have been shipped back to Brazil after his accident in 2009.
he does however have a huge positive effect on our GDP, it can't be quantified but from a financial perspective we should be grateful to have him.
This. He's not paying 40% tax but hundreds of people at McLaren HQ in Woking certainly will have been paying 40% tax while he was at the team. F1 creates thousands of highly skilled, well paid jobs in the UK.
On top of that, you've got things like the food vendor who mugs you off for a £6 portion of chips or a £8 hot dog at Silverstone on race weekend who are printing money and also paying income tax in the UK.
It also affects other motorsports - Without Hamilton (and predecessors such as Nigel Mansell), not as many people become interested in motorsport, so other championships such as BTCC would also be less lucrative because they wouldn't have the same fanbase. Again, Hamilton is indirectly putting more tax £ into the treasury.
Yet if he smashed his car up the British grand prix, he would be expecting to be taken to an NHS hospital, not flown off to Monaco.
By this logic, Felipe Massa should be dead because he doesn't pay income tax in Hungary so isn't entitled to their healthcare and should have been shipped back to Brazil after his accident in 2009.
he does however have a huge positive effect on our GDP, it can't be quantified but from a financial perspective we should be grateful to have him.
This. He's not paying 40% tax but hundreds of people at McLaren HQ in Woking certainly will have been paying 40% tax while he was at the team. F1 creates thousands of highly skilled, well paid jobs in the UK.
On top of that, you've got things like the food vendor who mugs you off for a £6 portion of chips or a £8 hot dog at Silverstone on race weekend who are printing money and also paying income tax in the UK.
It also affects other motorsports - Without Hamilton (and predecessors such as Nigel Mansell), not as many people become interested in motorsport, so other championships such as BTCC would also be less lucrative because they wouldn't have the same fanbase. Again, Hamilton is indirectly putting more tax £ into the treasury.
I have rarely heard such a ridiculous argument. None of the things you are quoting have anything to do with Lewis Hamilton. If he left McLaren they would still employ the same people, and the same hot dogs and burgers would be sold. Nigel Mansell is another one. Whatever contribution Lewis Hamilton has made to formula 1, he still chooses to pay his tax elsewhere. That is what he thinks of the UK, despite the photos with the flag.
I have rarely heard such a ridiculous argument. None of the things you are quoting have anything to do with Lewis Hamilton. If he left McLaren they would still employ the same people, and the same hot dogs and burgers would be sold.
You really think McLaren then and Mercedes now would sell the same amount of merchandise without Hamilton? Lol never in a million years. There's dozens of people who wouldn't have a job if it weren't for Hamilton and the fans he bought to the team. Suggestions to the contrary show either a lack of understanding of the sport and the business side of it, or alternatively that you think drivers of Hamilton's quality on track with his popularity are a penny a dozen.
Yes, it does affect the money made by the circuit itself and businesses operating at the circuit on race weekend. There's a reason why Germany could afford to have a race at Nurburgring and Hockenheim every year during the Schumacher years, including significant reconfiguration to both tracks in 2002 (RIP Old Hockeheim ), yet now they can barely afford to host one race every two years between them. Also crowds for the Spanish GP have increased significantly since Fernando Alonso came into F1 and became world champion, to the point where F1 broke the dominance held by MotoGP over motorsport in Spain and they tried to capitalise by hosting a second race each year in Valencia. So yeah, great drivers do make a difference.
No, teams wouldn't hire the same staff without the best drivers - Not every player that signed for Manchester United from the early 90s onwards would have done so if they didn't have Alex Ferguson in charge. Likewise, teams won't be able to hire and retain the same staff if they don't have a driver and/or car that is capable of competing for championships.
Lewis Hamilton is a superb driver-the speed of Mansell coupled with the tactical ability/common sense of Button. Probably the best ever driver born in the UK.
I have no objection to him choosing to live abroad. I just can't abide people who say how much they love our country while choosing to pay their taxes elsewhere. It varies according to where you read, but he earns roughly £50 million a year. That's about £20 million a year that he chooses not to pay to the country he professes to love. Us taxpayers pay that instead. Always love subsidising the super-rich.
No representation without taxation.
PS-weird fact: when Alonso was at his peak, he lived/paid taxes in the UK
Lewis Hamilton is a superb driver-the speed of Mansell coupled with the tactical ability/common sense of Button. Probably the best ever driver born in the UK.
I have no objection to him choosing to live abroad. I just can't abide people who say how much they love our country while choosing to pay their taxes elsewhere. It varies according to where you read, but he earns roughly £50 million a year. That's about £20 million a year that he chooses not to pay to the country he professes to love. Us taxpayers pay that instead. Always love subsidising the super-rich.
No representation without taxation.
PS-weird fact: when Alonso was at his peak, he lived/paid taxes in the UK
Good point, well made, but what about the hot dogs?
I have rarely heard such a ridiculous argument. None of the things you are quoting have anything to do with Lewis Hamilton. If he left McLaren they would still employ the same people, and the same hot dogs and burgers would be sold.
You really think McLaren then and Mercedes now would sell the same amount of merchandise without Hamilton? Lol never in a million years. There's dozens of people who wouldn't have a job if it weren't for Hamilton and the fans he bought to the team. Suggestions to the contrary show either a lack of understanding of the sport and the business side of it, or alternatively that you think drivers of Hamilton's quality on track with his popularity are a penny a dozen.
Yes, it does affect the money made by the circuit itself and businesses operating at the circuit on race weekend. There's a reason why Germany could afford to have a race at Nurburgring and Hockenheim every year during the Schumacher years, including significant reconfiguration to both tracks in 2002 (RIP Old Hockeheim ), yet now they can barely afford to host one race every two years between them. Also crowds for the Spanish GP have increased significantly since Fernando Alonso came into F1 and became world champion, to the point where F1 broke the dominance held by MotoGP over motorsport in Spain and they tried to capitalise by hosting a second race each year in Valencia. So yeah, great drivers do make a difference.
No, teams wouldn't hire the same staff without the best drivers - Not every player that signed for Manchester United from the early 90s onwards would have done so if they didn't have Alex Ferguson in charge. Likewise, teams won't be able to hire and retain the same staff if they don't have a driver and/or car that is capable of competing for championships.
Are you suggesting that McLaren would fold if they didn't have Lewis Hamilton? I don't think so. They would recruit another good driver and sell similar amounts of merchandise. The teams with the best cars have always found it easy to recruit the best drivers for obvious reasons. Using your football analogy, if Ronaldo moved to Barcelona, then his fans throughout the world would buy his Barcelona shirt, in a shop in the country where they lived. The shop would then presumably pay some tax on their profit in that country. Merchandise is sold throughout the world. Lewis Hamilton will be paying the tax on his cut of the merchandise to Monaco, and not to the UK. As far as Lewis Hamilton creating jobs in the McLaren team is concerned, my guess is that this is not the case. The lesser teams for instance don't just have one person to change the tires because they don't have Lewis Hamilton. I can only assume that you purposely omitted to mention the doubts about the future of British Grand Prix, despite Lewis Hamilton, because it didn't suit your argument. I cant believe that you think that people become hungrier with Lewis Hamilton around and buy more hot dogs. He is superb at what he does, but it is sad to see him turning his back on the UK.
Lewis Hamilton is a superb driver-the speed of Mansell coupled with the tactical ability/common sense of Button. Probably the best ever driver born in the UK.
I have no objection to him choosing to live abroad. I just can't abide people who say how much they love our country while choosing to pay their taxes elsewhere. It varies according to where you read, but he earns roughly £50 million a year. That's about £20 million a year that he chooses not to pay to the country he professes to love. Us taxpayers pay that instead. Always love subsidising the super-rich.
No representation without taxation.
PS-weird fact: when Alonso was at his peak, he lived/paid taxes in the UK
You can normally be relied upon as the voice of reason.
Are you suggesting that McLaren would fold if they didn't have Lewis Hamilton? I don't think so.
I'm not suggesting any team would fold without Hamilton. However, Hamilton is a good enough driver to make the difference between winning a constructors' title or not. That's millions of pounds of prize money from the FIA, plus whatever value comes from being constructors' champions to a team (particularly a big car manufacturer like Mercedes). If Mercedes had Bottas and another good-but-not-Lewis level driver, they probably wouldn't have won either championship last season.
At the moment, without Lewis, Mercedes would probs just put Alonso in the car and win everything anyway, but having a multiple time world champion in an uncompetitive car who is still capable of winning a world championship is very much the exception rather than the norm.
As far as Lewis Hamilton creating jobs in the McLaren team is concerned, my guess is that this is not the case. The lesser teams for instance don't just have one person to change the tires because they don't have Lewis Hamilton.
Duh, of course every team is going to have a full pit crew lol.
The growth of the entire sport is due to the quality of top drivers throughout history and their marketability. The sport isn't where it is today without Senna, Prost, Mansell and Piquet, as well as the likes of Hunt and Lauda before them. Bernie doesn't leave his post at Brabham in the mid 80s and take the sport to where it is today without those drivers to sell to the public.
In the case of McLaren, their whole road car program exists because of their F1 success and legacy.
Likewise, the amount of privately entered McLaren GT3 cars in series such as Blancpain and British GT following the launch of their GT programme will be a direct result of sustained success of the McLaren brand, including Lewis Hamilton winning the drivers' championship in 2008. Without Hamilton winning the drivers' title in 2008, McLaren find it far more difficult to sell GT3 cars if they haven't won anything this century in F1.
That in itself is worth hundreds of jobs today, and those people have former McLaren world champions such as Senna, Prost, Fittipaldi, Hunt, Hakkinen and Hamilton to thank for that.
I can only assume that you purposely omitted to mention the doubts about the future of British Grand Prix, despite Lewis Hamilton, because it didn't suit your argument.
Nope, didn't even cross my mind when writing the previous post - But if anything, the British GP wouldn't have survived as long as it has without successful British drivers in the sport. Without Hamilton and Button winning the 2008 and 2009 championships respectively, do you think Silverstone hosts a race in 2010 after the Donington Park mess? There's also no way on earth that 130k+ people would have turned up to Silverstone last year to cheer for Jolyon Palmer if he was the only Brit on the grid. British GP attendance dipped in 2017 iirc, probably because Button retired.
Concerns over long term viability are primarily due to being the only race on the calendar to not receive any funding from the country's Government - Hence Silverstone's ticket prices being an absolute joke to the point where I could probably travel to Spa and crash in a tent at the end of the Kemmel straight for 3 days for less than it costs to watch on Sunday at Silverstone.
I honestly don't think the British GP is in a huge amount of danger atm. We only activated the break clause on the contract through to 2026 last summer. It's pretty standard for any new deals to be announced around the time of that particular race, we haven't had a race since the break clause beyond 2019 was activated for any announcement about a new deal to take place, and there's still 2 races left on the current deal.
IMO Liberty are obviously going to get as much as they can while keeping Silverstone on the calendar past 2019. As soon as Silverstone gets a discount, you've got 20 other venues on the calendar that will expect the same discount because "Why Silverstone and not us?", and that doesn't help Liberty's share prices. It's one of those spots where there'll be a stalemate for a while (There's arguably an interest for both sides in doing nothing to try to get Government funding and drive up sales for the 2019 race), but they'll eventually get something sorted because it's in everyone's best interests to have a British GP, provided Silverstone can at least come close to breaking even. I bet there'll be talk of "Is this the last F1 race at Silverstone?" next year, then they'll announce a new deal just before, or during, the 2019 race weekend.
I'm really not worried about the future of the British GP until we complete the 2019 British GP without hearing anything.
I should have really made it clear that I was being facetious. You brought up the failure of the German grand prix since Schumacher, and claimed that Lewis Hamilton is fundamental to the success of the British grand prix, yet the future of it is in doubt, despite Lewis Hamilton. McLaren have been successful without him. We have apparently had a British grand prix since 1926, long before Lewis Hamilton was even thought of, and will probably have one long after he retires. McLaren continue to sell a small number of road cars to very rich enthusiasts, which they did long before he came along. Any credit for jobs created by Lewis Hamilton, is pure speculation, and not intentional. When he is driving on his final lap in the lead, I cant believe he is thinking that if he wins, he might create a couple more jobs. I think that you are clearly missing the point. I am not sure it is because you don't want to see it, or perhaps you just cant see it. The point is he chooses to pay his tax in Monaco, despite what the UK has done for him. You should listen to the voice of reason.
You brought up the failure of the German grand prix since Schumacher, and claimed that Lewis Hamilton is fundamental to the success of the British grand prix, yet the future of it is in doubt, despite Lewis Hamilton.
Incorrect. I stated that successful British drivers in F1, Hamilton included but Button and Coulthard before him, are the reason we didn't lose the race a long time ago, because they bring fans in and have kept the losses down.
Lewis, but future British drivers too, are fundamental to the continued success (or rather, non-catastrophic failure under the current business model) of the event. Successful home drivers are typically fundamental the success of Grands Prix where Governments aren't just throwing stupid money at the event (or in the case of Silverstone, any money at all...) - Talk of a Dutch Grand Prix returning has absolutely everything to do with Max Verstappen too, FYI.
We have apparently had a British grand prix since 1926, long before Lewis Hamilton was even thought of, and will probably have one long after he retires.
And in 1926, motor racing was for wealthy amateurs, not professionals.
By the time that circuits paying a promoter to host an event became a thing (anything prior does not compare), we had Mansellmania, then Damon Hill, Coulthard, Button, and finally Hamilton. The last time we didn't have a past/present/future British world champion on the grid at Silverstone would have been after Hunt retired and before Mansell started racing, so probs 1979/80, and even then we had a multiple race winner in John Watson who went on to win in '81.
The one year (2006) that we didn't have any hope of a British race winner - Despite a win in Hungary later that season, the 2006 Honda that Button was driving sucked and Coulthard was at Red Bull who were a midfield team at the time - Silverstone were still selling tickets at the last minute. Not sure if they even sold out or not.
We've been fortunate to have quality British drivers the entire time to keep fans coming to the race, not only Lewis, although he's the only British driver on the grid this year.
I am not sure it is because you don't want to see it, or perhaps you just cant see it. The point is he chooses to pay his tax in Monaco, despite what the UK has done for him. You should listen to the voice of reason.
I see it and I don't care that he chooses to do that because it's not a problem for me. Hamilton is free to live where he wants, as were Jenson Button, David Coulthard, Nigel Mansell...
Any ethical issue that I may have is resolved by knowing that he still indirectly contributes to income tax collected in Britain because he creates a significant increase in taxes from other sources, and he's likely to put a decent chunk of his money back into UK charities and so on in retirement.
The last post for me, otherwise we will be involved in the history of motor racing, hot dogs, and made up assumptions about Lewis Hamilton. There is no proof that he has created one job, and with all due respect nobody is in a position to know what he intends to spend his money on when he retires. I would argue that neither of these issues matter anyway. Although there are many big earners that manage to help charities, and pay tax in the UK. Many people in a similar position manage to help other people, and pay their way. This debate is about Lewis Hamilton the person, and the fact that he chooses to pay his tax elsewhere and not in the UK. Some people will feel that to see him parading around with a Union Jack, only goes to rub salt in the wounds. The difficulty of any debate about a sport star is that some people will see them as heroes and fail to acknowledge any criticism of them. Despite the overwhelming evidence. If we were debating about a sport star that was generally disliked, the response would probably be different. Going on Phils figure of £20m per year in tax that he is avoiding. Over a 10 year period this will come to £200m. How many NHS operations would that pay for? How many cancer treatments? How many care home places? There was a massive public outcry over the likes of Starbucks, Google, Amazon, Facebook etc siphoning off their profits to other jurisdictions with lower tax rates, to avoid paying any substantial UK tax. Despite the fact they have created many thousands of jobs. This was a red rag to a bull for many people. How can you not apply the same argument to Lewis Hamilton and those like him.
It's an interesting position to take to say you're happy someone doesn't pay tax in the UK so long as they'll contribute to a few UK charities at some point in the future.
Where's the opt-in for this? If everyone was told they had to pay UK tax but they could decide on which services it goes to, oh, I think I'm about to privatise everything......
The richest among society aren't really a part of the society, they don't have to rely on the services that everyone else pools their money together to support. The more power we give to people to decide whether they want to pay (and I'm thinking more about large corporations rather than Hamilton here) then the more we'll see small businesses struggle, high streets close down, and services get pulled.
No problem if someone wants to up and leave and keep their cash to themselves, but I agree it does stick in the craw to parade a flag as a proud Briton.
Tax systems haven't really reacted to the availability of global markets, and there will always be a loophole.
PS - should poker pros pay tax, and/or to charity?!
Lewis Hamilton is not alone in this, there are many others The top 1% of earners pay almost one third of all income tax, and can feel proud to fly the Union Jack. We are fortunate that many people don't even look for a loophole.
Comments
On top of that, you've got things like the food vendor who mugs you off for a £6 portion of chips or a £8 hot dog at Silverstone on race weekend who are printing money and also paying income tax in the UK.
It also affects other motorsports - Without Hamilton (and predecessors such as Nigel Mansell), not as many people become interested in motorsport, so other championships such as BTCC would also be less lucrative because they wouldn't have the same fanbase. Again, Hamilton is indirectly putting more tax £ into the treasury.
None of the things you are quoting have anything to do with Lewis Hamilton.
If he left McLaren they would still employ the same people, and the same hot dogs and burgers would be sold.
Nigel Mansell is another one.
Whatever contribution Lewis Hamilton has made to formula 1, he still chooses to pay his tax elsewhere.
That is what he thinks of the UK, despite the photos with the flag.
Yes, it does affect the money made by the circuit itself and businesses operating at the circuit on race weekend. There's a reason why Germany could afford to have a race at Nurburgring and Hockenheim every year during the Schumacher years, including significant reconfiguration to both tracks in 2002 (RIP Old Hockeheim
No, teams wouldn't hire the same staff without the best drivers - Not every player that signed for Manchester United from the early 90s onwards would have done so if they didn't have Alex Ferguson in charge. Likewise, teams won't be able to hire and retain the same staff if they don't have a driver and/or car that is capable of competing for championships.
I have no objection to him choosing to live abroad. I just can't abide people who say how much they love our country while choosing to pay their taxes elsewhere. It varies according to where you read, but he earns roughly £50 million a year. That's about £20 million a year that he chooses not to pay to the country he professes to love. Us taxpayers pay that instead. Always love subsidising the super-rich.
No representation without taxation.
PS-weird fact: when Alonso was at his peak, he lived/paid taxes in the UK
I don't think so. They would recruit another good driver and sell similar amounts of merchandise.
The teams with the best cars have always found it easy to recruit the best drivers for obvious reasons.
Using your football analogy, if Ronaldo moved to Barcelona, then his fans throughout the world would buy his Barcelona shirt, in a shop in the country where they lived. The shop would then presumably pay some tax on their profit in that country.
Merchandise is sold throughout the world. Lewis Hamilton will be paying the tax on his cut of the merchandise to Monaco, and not to the UK.
As far as Lewis Hamilton creating jobs in the McLaren team is concerned, my guess is that this is not the case. The lesser teams for instance don't just have one person to change the tires because they don't have Lewis Hamilton.
I can only assume that you purposely omitted to mention the doubts about the future of British Grand Prix, despite Lewis Hamilton, because it didn't suit your argument.
I cant believe that you think that people become hungrier with Lewis Hamilton around and buy more hot dogs.
He is superb at what he does, but it is sad to see him turning his back on the UK.
At the moment, without Lewis, Mercedes would probs just put Alonso in the car and win everything anyway, but having a multiple time world champion in an uncompetitive car who is still capable of winning a world championship is very much the exception rather than the norm.
Duh, of course every team is going to have a full pit crew lol.
The growth of the entire sport is due to the quality of top drivers throughout history and their marketability. The sport isn't where it is today without Senna, Prost, Mansell and Piquet, as well as the likes of Hunt and Lauda before them. Bernie doesn't leave his post at Brabham in the mid 80s and take the sport to where it is today without those drivers to sell to the public.
In the case of McLaren, their whole road car program exists because of their F1 success and legacy.
Likewise, the amount of privately entered McLaren GT3 cars in series such as Blancpain and British GT following the launch of their GT programme will be a direct result of sustained success of the McLaren brand, including Lewis Hamilton winning the drivers' championship in 2008. Without Hamilton winning the drivers' title in 2008, McLaren find it far more difficult to sell GT3 cars if they haven't won anything this century in F1.
That in itself is worth hundreds of jobs today, and those people have former McLaren world champions such as Senna, Prost, Fittipaldi, Hunt, Hakkinen and Hamilton to thank for that.
Nope, didn't even cross my mind when writing the previous post - But if anything, the British GP wouldn't have survived as long as it has without successful British drivers in the sport. Without Hamilton and Button winning the 2008 and 2009 championships respectively, do you think Silverstone hosts a race in 2010 after the Donington Park mess? There's also no way on earth that 130k+ people would have turned up to Silverstone last year to cheer for Jolyon Palmer if he was the only Brit on the grid. British GP attendance dipped in 2017 iirc, probably because Button retired.
Concerns over long term viability are primarily due to being the only race on the calendar to not receive any funding from the country's Government - Hence Silverstone's ticket prices being an absolute joke to the point where I could probably travel to Spa and crash in a tent at the end of the Kemmel straight for 3 days for less than it costs to watch on Sunday at Silverstone.
I honestly don't think the British GP is in a huge amount of danger atm. We only activated the break clause on the contract through to 2026 last summer. It's pretty standard for any new deals to be announced around the time of that particular race, we haven't had a race since the break clause beyond 2019 was activated for any announcement about a new deal to take place, and there's still 2 races left on the current deal.
IMO Liberty are obviously going to get as much as they can while keeping Silverstone on the calendar past 2019. As soon as Silverstone gets a discount, you've got 20 other venues on the calendar that will expect the same discount because "Why Silverstone and not us?", and that doesn't help Liberty's share prices. It's one of those spots where there'll be a stalemate for a while (There's arguably an interest for both sides in doing nothing to try to get Government funding and drive up sales for the 2019 race), but they'll eventually get something sorted because it's in everyone's best interests to have a British GP, provided Silverstone can at least come close to breaking even. I bet there'll be talk of "Is this the last F1 race at Silverstone?" next year, then they'll announce a new deal just before, or during, the 2019 race weekend.
I'm really not worried about the future of the British GP until we complete the 2019 British GP without hearing anything.
You brought up the failure of the German grand prix since Schumacher, and claimed that Lewis Hamilton is fundamental to the success of the British grand prix, yet the future of it is in doubt, despite Lewis Hamilton.
McLaren have been successful without him.
We have apparently had a British grand prix since 1926, long before Lewis Hamilton was even thought of, and will probably have one long after he retires.
McLaren continue to sell a small number of road cars to very rich enthusiasts, which they did long before he came along.
Any credit for jobs created by Lewis Hamilton, is pure speculation, and not intentional. When he is driving on his final lap in the lead, I cant believe he is thinking that if he wins, he might create a couple more jobs.
I think that you are clearly missing the point. I am not sure it is because you don't want to see it, or perhaps you just cant see it.
The point is he chooses to pay his tax in Monaco, despite what the UK has done for him.
You should listen to the voice of reason.
Lewis, but future British drivers too, are fundamental to the continued success (or rather, non-catastrophic failure under the current business model) of the event. Successful home drivers are typically fundamental the success of Grands Prix where Governments aren't just throwing stupid money at the event (or in the case of Silverstone, any money at all...) - Talk of a Dutch Grand Prix returning has absolutely everything to do with Max Verstappen too, FYI.
And in 1926, motor racing was for wealthy amateurs, not professionals.
By the time that circuits paying a promoter to host an event became a thing (anything prior does not compare), we had Mansellmania, then Damon Hill, Coulthard, Button, and finally Hamilton. The last time we didn't have a past/present/future British world champion on the grid at Silverstone would have been after Hunt retired and before Mansell started racing, so probs 1979/80, and even then we had a multiple race winner in John Watson who went on to win in '81.
The one year (2006) that we didn't have any hope of a British race winner - Despite a win in Hungary later that season, the 2006 Honda that Button was driving sucked and Coulthard was at Red Bull who were a midfield team at the time - Silverstone were still selling tickets at the last minute. Not sure if they even sold out or not.
We've been fortunate to have quality British drivers the entire time to keep fans coming to the race, not only Lewis, although he's the only British driver on the grid this year.
I see it and I don't care that he chooses to do that because it's not a problem for me. Hamilton is free to live where he wants, as were Jenson Button, David Coulthard, Nigel Mansell...
Any ethical issue that I may have is resolved by knowing that he still indirectly contributes to income tax collected in Britain because he creates a significant increase in taxes from other sources, and he's likely to put a decent chunk of his money back into UK charities and so on in retirement.
There is no proof that he has created one job, and with all due respect nobody is in a position to know what he intends to spend his money on when he retires.
I would argue that neither of these issues matter anyway. Although there are many big earners that manage to help charities, and pay tax in the UK. Many people in a similar position manage to help other people, and pay their way.
This debate is about Lewis Hamilton the person, and the fact that he chooses to pay his tax elsewhere and not in the UK. Some people will feel that to see him parading around with a Union Jack, only goes to rub salt in the wounds.
The difficulty of any debate about a sport star is that some people will see them as heroes and fail to acknowledge any criticism of them. Despite the overwhelming evidence. If we were debating about a sport star that was generally disliked, the response would probably be different.
Going on Phils figure of £20m per year in tax that he is avoiding. Over a 10 year period this will come to £200m. How many NHS operations would that pay for? How many cancer treatments? How many care home places?
There was a massive public outcry over the likes of Starbucks, Google, Amazon, Facebook etc siphoning off their profits to other jurisdictions with lower tax rates, to avoid paying any substantial UK tax. Despite the fact they have created many thousands of jobs. This was a red rag to a bull for many people.
How can you not apply the same argument to Lewis Hamilton and those like him.
Where's the opt-in for this? If everyone was told they had to pay UK tax but they could decide on which services it goes to, oh, I think I'm about to privatise everything......
The richest among society aren't really a part of the society, they don't have to rely on the services that everyone else pools their money together to support. The more power we give to people to decide whether they want to pay (and I'm thinking more about large corporations rather than Hamilton here) then the more we'll see small businesses struggle, high streets close down, and services get pulled.
No problem if someone wants to up and leave and keep their cash to themselves, but I agree it does stick in the craw to parade a flag as a proud Briton.
Tax systems haven't really reacted to the availability of global markets, and there will always be a loophole.
PS - should poker pros pay tax, and/or to charity?!
The top 1% of earners pay almost one third of all income tax, and can feel proud to fly the Union Jack.
We are fortunate that many people don't even look for a loophole.
Yours in poker