And?

The Guardian tries to turn a story about one of the directors of the Taxpayers' Alliance not paying tax into some sort of a scoop. Which is kind of ironic given The Guardian's record when it comes to taxes. Anyhoo, the newspaper shrilly writes:

The Guardian has learned that Alexander Heath, a director of the increasingly influential free market, rightwing lobby group, lives in a farmhouse in the Loire and has not paid British tax for years.

They cite a response from the TPA:

"Mr Heath, a retired teacher, has lived in France since marrying his French wife in 1973," said Elliott in a statement. "He is still a British citizen but he is a French taxpayer (where taxes are higher than in the UK!). He is passionate about the Taxpayers' Alliance." Elliott said Heath returned to the UK for about a fortnight each year and owned no property in Britain.

I'm sure I'm not the first person to say this, but I will say it anyway - why the hell would it matter if Elliott pays taxes in this country or not? Surely we aren't saying that in order to have an opinion on the taxes in a particular country you have to pay taxes there? I mean, there would be no shortage of opinions from Guardian journalists on taxation in the USA; yet I'd imagine precious little of them actually pay taxes in the US.

Frankly, I would be more worried if Heath did pay taxes in this country despite being resident abroad. That would reek of hypocrisy and stupidity. As if stands, Heath comes across as a concerned observer; his tax status is supremely irrelevant to the debate about whether the taxation levels in this country are acceptable or indeed in anyway defensible.