I should, of course, point out, that the country would be in a far better state if people paid a fair tax, but justifying that position by saying 'if he doesn't pay much tax, then nor should I' isn't tenable logically or politically. The better way is to make sure everyone 'gives to Caeser what is Caeser' (that is, what is rightfully owed to Caeser, not necessarily everything that Caeser would like to have in his coffers!). So whilst clamping down on the moderately and fairly wealthy to up their payments from in the mid-teens of percent up to 50%, perhaps more effort should be spent ensuring that the top 1% of earners pay more in absolute terms than a bottle-washer or dinner lady. Greater simplicity, greater parity will make it harder to dodge legally. But I digress..
Three things struck me about Carr's apology: what it wasn't, what it was, and what it was missing.
Here it is in full (it ran to several tweets - an interesting note in itself. This is at one at then same time the most significant medium for getting your message out in your own words without spin, which is why Carr used it, and also a medium ill-suited to a proper statement. Carl Trueman puts it eloquently when he points out 140 characters are too few to satisfy the twin requirements for saying something significant - clarity and specificity.):
I appreciate as a comedian, people will expect me to ‘make light’ of this situation, but I’m not going to in this statement...as this is obviously a serious matter...I met with a financial advisor and he said to me “Do you want to pay less tax? It’s totally legal.” I said “Yes.”...I now realise I’ve made a terrible error of judgement...Although I’ve been advised the K2 Tax scheme is entirely legal, and has been fully disclosed to HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs),...I’m no longer involved in it and will in future conduct my financial affairs much more responsibly. Apologies to everyone. Jimmy Carr
What it's not
The first thing that struck me about the apology: it's not your usual celebrity apology (witness: Joey Barton after his sending off at the end of the season, etc., etc., etc.). It wasn't:
- Sorry that I got caught
- Sorry that you got offended
What it is
It struck me that he got the shape of things right. For once, a celebrity (whether he needed to or not), said 'I got it wrong. I'm going to stop doing that, and start living right.' Straighten up and fly right. He got the 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 shape of repentance right - turning away from something, turning to something else. It was refreshing to hear a celebrity admitting they were wrong, turning away from being wrong and turning to something else.
What it lacked
I'm always a bit wary of Christians having to 'claim' someone as one of theirs before they can agree with them. Jimmy Carr doesn't have to be a Christian to get something right. God's common grace means that bad people (and ok people and middling people and people people) can do good things. We can applaud someone getting it right without them being 'on our team'. But just it was a good illustration of the shape of repentance, it also served as a helpful illustration of what was missing in terms of content.
It lacked Jesus.
Just as the shape was right (turn away from this, turn towards this), the object was ultimately misplaced. He was right to turn away, but it should be from rebellion from God the Father, and he was right to turn towards, but it should have been towards the true and living God, and to wait for the Son from Heaven, who saves us from the wrath to come.
That's repentance.
What Carr said was great - it was so much better than the usual 'whoopsie'. But it was a huge leap short of what's really needed for every human. It was a great apology. But it wasn't repentance.
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