Jimmy Carr: “Whose fucking moral compass am I?”

Jimmy Carr defends himself.

Jimmy Carr has reacted angrily to suggestions from a national newspaper that he shelters 3.3 million a year in an off-shore tax avoidance scheme.

At a show in Tunbridge Wells last night, comedian Carr broke his silence on The Times’ expose of his financial affairs when a heckler shouted: “You don’t pay tax.”

His response? “I pay what I have to and not a penny more. I’ve not broken the law, I’ve not done anything illegal, but morally, morally…”

Carr added: ‘Whose fucking moral compass am I? When the Murdochs are questioning your morality, you know you’re in trouble.’

Yesterday The Times began their investigation into aggressive tax avoidance with the exposure of a Jersey-based scheme that protects £168 million a year from the taxman.

And Carr, who performed for the Queen at the Diamond Jubilee celebrations earlier this month, has been named as the largest beneficiary of the legal loophole – despite previously lampooning Barclays for using similar 1% tax loopholes in a 10 O’Clock Live sketch.

Since Giggle Beats published the Carr story on Tuesday morning, several high profile comedians have spoken out on the issue.

Robin Ince, who performed alongside Carr in 2001 Fringe show Rubbernecker, tweeted: “Oh dear, seems people are questioning Jimmy Carr, who will be my moral compass now?”

Jason Manford, who made headlines for the wrong reasons himself in 2010, defended Carr on his official Facebook page, posting:

“Don’t get the Jimmy Carr tax thing at all.
Accountant: ‘I’ve got a way you can pay £50k tax instead of £1m.’
Jimmy: “Is that not illegal?’
Accountant: ‘No it’s perfectly legal.’
Jimmy: ‘Erm, well I’ll do that then *laughs like a suffocating seal*’

Manford later commented: “I understand the country doesn’t run on fresh air, but for News Corp to put a story like this on what is a pittance compared to the tax that they avoid, is a piss take. I don’t think it is amoral, he is paying tax, more than you or I, but not paying it all at once and not at a piss taking 50%!”

While John Bishop perhaps had the final say on the matter, tweeting: “@jimmycarr ‘s finances are like his jokes – every comedian in the country read it and said, ‘I wish I thought of that!’”