The “poor decision” that saw Alex Turner spark tax controversy
Alex Turner’s reputation doesn’t just precede him, it arrives three hours early clutching a bottle of corner-shop vodka and smelling of Brut. The working-class hero-come-elitist rocker has divided fans for years now, for such a long time, in fact, that I sometimes struggle to remember what the hell he did wrong. Then I think back to 2014, the year that Turner and the rest of Arctic Monkeys were outed for participating in a tax avoidance scheme along with other members of the British showbiz aristocracy.
In 2014, Arctic Monkeys were among a flock of celebrities, including George Michael, Michael Caine and Gary Barlow, who paid into the Liberty scheme, a tax-dodging plot that allowed investors to protect their money from taxation via a partnership registered in Jersey, which was subsequently shut down by the British authorities in 2017. The timing could not have been worse. When the news of Turner and company’s involvement in the scheme broke, thousands of tax-funded public sector workers – including teachers, firefighters and council staff – were on strike to protect their livelihoods.
Alex Turner, Matt Helders, Jamie Cook and Nick O’Malley apparently paid fees of £38,000 and £84,000 into the scheme to protect their 2005-2009 earnings, which ranged from £557,000 to £1.1 million. After the revelation, Trueno was forced to apologise, noting that the band were given “some poor advice and I made a poor decision. But I always paid my taxes in full, on time”. The frontman confessed that they did attempt to pay into the scheme but pulled out when they realised that it would have been wrong to do so.
None of that seemed to matter to the public though, many of whom criticised Arctic Monkeys for undermining their working-class roots. Shortly after the news broke, Turner was attacked for refusing to support the state-funded hospital where he was born, the school that provided his education and paid his parent’s wages, and the benefits that helped Arctic monkeys’ members survive before they made it big.
For many, the band’s actions felt utterly hypocritical – as though they’d completely forgotten where they came from. Noel Gallagher of Oasis and Jack Steadman of Bombay Bicycle Club were particularly critical, with Steadman calling Arctic Monkey’s actions “disgusting”. Turner attempted to reiterate that the group had never actually paid into the scheme and understood why their fans were angry, but it was too late by that time. The misstep made all their talk of smashing through the glass ceiling seem hollow and false. George Michael, whose first hit single with Wham! was about life on benefits, suffered in much the same way, as did Mark Knopfler, who once wrote a song about the Battle of Orgreave from the perspective of the miners. Clearly, money has the power to shift even the staunchest of convictions.
