The latest twisted headline grabber? To pose a question on LinkedIn. Infected with AI slop that promotes optimization garbage, churned out by brown-nosing corporate influencers (and where no one seems to be able to find an actual job despite its supposed raison d’etre), Linkedin is the undisputed worst social media platform. The medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan would say. And what was the message?
To ask if he should delay marrying fiancé Georgia Toffolo for tax relief reasons. Who would ask their LinkedIn followers this over their own reality star girlfriend, I wonder. I suppose the sweet, sweet nectar of attention is more rewarding than her opinion, perhaps.
Typically people in the UK marry to reduce their tax bill thanks to the Married Couple’s Allowance. Of course they do. But alas, multi-millionaires, they are not like us. You see, Aberdeenshire-born Mr Watt is making an investment into Ms Toffolo’s raw dog food business, but his tax advisor “dropped a bombshell” on him the other day.
James Watt’s fiancé Georgia Toffolo
“If I marry Georgia within three years of investing, I become a ‘connected person’ under HMRC rules, and I lose the EIS tax relief,” he explained. “So now I’m facing the ultimate question: Delay the wedding for three years and lock in the tax relief [or] forgo the tax break and marry Georgia in 2025?”
If anyone knows about a loophole or option C, Mr Watt is all ears. The poor girl.
Now, I won’t pretend to know a lot about the kind of financial acrobatics a skilled advisor can perform to navigate the waters of tax relief. But I do know that the combination of Ms Toffolo coming across in this post like a prop, mixed with the allegations made against BrewDog and Mr Watt in the past, made me feel like I was staring down the barrel of puss filled welt.
In 2022, BrewDog lost its ethical B Corp status following a B Lab investigation. B Corp is a scheme that offers certification of a company’s ethical commitment to its community, staff, and the environment.
The blow came when the BBC documentary Disclosure: The Truth About BrewDog was released. The film is about the workplace culture at BrewDog. More than 15 ex-BrewDog workers spoke out to the programme and Mr Watt was accused of inappropriate behaviour and abuse of power in the workplace. Lawyers for Mr Watt said the allegations were false and he denied behaving inappropriately.
READ MORE
An open letter, sent by a group called Punks With Purpose and signed by dozens of former and current BrewDog employees, had circulated around a year prior. “Being treated like a human being was sadly not always a given for those working at BrewDog”, the letter claimed. The letter alleged that a “growth at all costs” ethos led to “toxic attitudes” towards junior staff that left many in a state of misery. In response, Mr Watt apologised.
In January this year, BrewDog axed its pledge to pay staff a real Living Wage in favour of freezing wages and hiring new starts on a minimum wage basis. The move drew backlash from workers and leading hospitality union Unite. The brand has been embroiled in a number of other controversies, from frequently flouting sensible drinking guidelines outlined by The Portman Group to proving that a brand based on laddism is ill-equipped to market to women with its Pink IPA.
Mr Watt stepped down as the CEO of BrewDog in May this year after 17 years. He is now the “captain and co-founder” of the beer giant and remains a board member and director. He’s since developed an app “designed to help make anyone an influencer”. Oh, and he went to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage’s 60th birthday party.
Despite the entire brand being built on “punk”, there is nothing punk about Mr Watt or BrewDog. Mr Watt is believed to be worth more than £250 million. While BrewDog’s losses doubled to £59 million in its final year under Mr Watt, there are whispers the firm could go ahead with plans to float on the stock market. It should leave a nice taxable profit for Mr Watt. Before this week’s LinkedIn poll, Mr Watt was outspoken about his distaste for Labour’s plans to increase Capital Gains Tax and its potential impact on entrepreneurship (on LinkedIn). It’s just cold-hearted capitalism at its finest.
For a long time, Mr Watt has resembled one of the taxidermy fat cats he chucked into London from a branded BrewDog helicopter. BrewDog has long since become one of the conglomerates it first rallied against. Like Heineken, which Mr Watt owns a significant number of shares in, according to the BBC. And the appropriation of punk it used in the process has left a worse taste in my mouth than a swig of canned Punk IPA.
I suppose the reality is that BrewDog has never been a beer company, it’s a marketing company. It’s a marketing company that is consistently in trouble for its ads, led by an anti-Brexiteer who attends a bash with Farage.
Appropriating subcultures for profit is an ick. And jovially asking LinkedIn users to weigh in on your desire to pay less tax at the risk of your marriage is also an ick. My answer to his LinkedIn poll? Mr Watt should think less about his raw dog food business and consider raw dogging his taxes like the rest of us, instead.
Marissa MacWhirter is the editor of The Glasgow Wrap. Each morning, Marissa curates the top local news stories from around the city, delivering them to your inbox at 7am daily so you can stay up to date on the best reporting without ads, clickbait or annoying digital clutter. Oh, and it’s free. She can be found on X @marissaamayy1