Complete genius

I wrote last month about a reprehensible Tory plan to restrict poor people's families joining them in the UK. Specifically, someone would have to earn 19k to bring their husband or wife into the UK, and more to bring kids in.

M and I were in a minicab a couple of days back, and somehow this topic came up. When Marie mentioned the 19k minimum earnings the minicab driver laughed, looked shifty, and replied:
"That just sounds like a bit of paperwork. No problem."
The paperwork, a scheme which he hastened to add he personally hadn't taken advantage of, goes like this:
Newly Married Man needs to earn 19k per year to bring his wife to the UK, but only earns 12k per year in a low wage job.
NMM goes to neighbourhood cafe, and cafe owner agrees to put NMM on cafe payroll, and report NMM as earning 8k per year.
NMM doesn't actually work in cafe, and doesn't actually get paid by cafe.
NMM pays tax on his imaginary 8k earnings, so pays approximately 2k real money to HMRC.


Net impact to cafe: zero
Net impact to NMM: -2k real money paid to HMRC, increase of tax assessed salary from 12k to 20k (due to 8k imaginary earnings). NMM can now bring his wife to the UK.
Net impact to the UK tax authorities: +2k tax collected. Tax authorities unlikely to look too closely.
Net impact to the UK Border agency: one wife brought to UK. Bahaha.


Completely brilliant. Who would think that people would defraud the UK authorities to pay more tax - that is what makes this scheme so ingenious. And because I think the original Tories' restrictions were so dastardly, I can't get myself worked up over the illegal overpaying of tax.