In awe of a narky Scottish God

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Etienne, it's quite heartwarming that you think Murray and Konta don't have limited companies in their name based in the Isle of Man or the Cayman Islands that all their earnings go to, even if they themselves remain resident in the UK.

[Janik]

There was a Guardian interview about 18 months ago when Konta said something about having formed a company to receive her prize money, and being initially confused and frustrated by it as the set-up costs were meaning she was paying out rather than receiving. However I'm less dubious about that than tax exiles - income taxes are predicated on constant salaries over a 40-year period but Athletes earn most of their money in a much shorter time span. If they just paid straight income tax, by normal retirement age their tax to earnings ratio would be well above what someone earning the same total in regular salary would have paid out. So having some kind of scheme that keeps the money somewhere sheltered and then spreads it out over the rest of their lives for tax purposes seems reasonable, as it is just putting them in the same boat as everyone else.

[Ray de Galles]

If one is going to support people based purely because of the country in which they were born or live, surely one should make an exception for anyone who tries to avoid paying the taxes for that country?

I fear I may be quoting you widely on that come the SPOTY results tonight.