The Guillotine thread.

[Aber gas]

Post your tales and links of rich people taking the fucking piss out of us all.
Here’s the queen investing in Brighthouse. Well known loan shark household goods shop which openly exploits poor people.http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/queens-10m-tax-haven-scandal-11474055
Have fun.

 

[Aber gas]

Here’s Ashcroft avoiding millions upon millions in tax.https://www.theguardian.com/news/20...fshore-trust-wealth-tory-peer-paradise-papers
Why do these people hate this country so much?

 

[Indian Dan]

Not starting a war here, just pointing out they’re all it. Individuals or politicians, they’re all mainly full of bullshit, spouting what they think people want to hear whilst doing the opposite themselves

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...g-tax-on-43-million-worth-of-profits-last-ye/

 

[Aber gas]

Ha, they really are all at it.
However, I really like the spreading of our manifesto by the Torygraph!
Good praxis comrades

 

[AFCB_Mark]

Everyone in the UK who pays into a pension scheme (I might be a tad older than some on here), more than likely has had some of their money invested offshore.

Pensions are managed often by hedge funds, which will diversify investments across the world, and in the most tax efficient way possible to make the pot go furthest. Even the Co-operative pension fund is controlled by faceless private hedge funds investing the member's payments all over the world.

So yeah everyone really is at it. I guess the trick is judging the extent of the 'piss-taking'.

Transparency is key, if you're a rich individual and you're knowingly investing in some scheme that you'd rather wasn't made public by the press, then chances are it's on dodgy ethical ground.

 

[Aber gas]

We can get to pension funds ( let’s not forget that hedge funds skim massive amounts from these funds which is another wealth leak from this country) later. The fact remains that evaded tax by the richest people topped 150 Billion last year. That’s just individuals. At the same time we are being told austerity is the only way for our country to survive, at the same time benefit “scroungers” are vilified and used as an excuse for crippling cuts, at the same time as we are expected to pay for the bloody upkeep of palaces people with ludicrous wealth are hiding billions of pounds from us.
Do all the strawman contortions to defend this you want but it’s disgusting and people are rightfully angry.

 

[AFCB_Mark]

Certainly not defending it Aber, just adding a slant on it, as you are.
Not sure the guillotine is appropriate, outside of any 18th century France fantasies you may have!

 

[Aber gas]

18th century France fantasies you may have!

We’ll see...

 

[Indian Dan]

We can get to pension funds ( let’s not forget that hedge funds skim massive amounts from these funds which is another wealth leak from this country) later. The fact remains that evaded tax by the richest people topped 150 Billion last year. That’s just individuals. At the same time we are being told austerity is the only way for our country to survive, at the same time benefit “scroungers” are vilified and used as an excuse for crippling cuts, at the same time as we are expected to pay for the bloody upkeep of palaces people with ludicrous wealth are hiding billions of pounds from us.
Do all the strawman contortions to defend this you want but it’s disgusting and people are rightfully angry.

Can’t argue against any of that.

 

[TheMinsterman]

Certainly not defending it Aber, just adding a slant on it, as you are.
Not sure the guillotine is appropriate, outside of any 18th century France fantasies you may have!

Disgusting idea.

We hang, draw and quarter people in this country, bloody hoity, toity foreign ideas from Aber.

 

[Laker]

Sadly all the time there are different tax rates/systems in different tax jurisdictions, you'll get people bending the rules as far as possible. Not right or fair in my opinion but it will always happen.

While we can't do an awful lot about the Cayman Islands, Malta and so on, I do struggle with the British islands. Having a Jersey, Guernsey or Isle of Man company seems to give an air of legitimacy where is far from it. Along with the company owners, non executive directors, accountants, secretaries etc on these islands benefit massively at the expense of the British taxpayer. It's a farce.

I work as a tax accountant and I'm proud to say that where I work is very good on this (ie the attitude and consequently the set up is correct) however there are too many companies whose international tax strategy drives their corporate strategy.

This whole thing on the news is so arse about face. International tax rules differ so much and there's such a lack of desire to assist, major accountancy firms almost try to create loopholes for their clients. It's not a great environment in my opinion.

 

[Aber gas]

I have a few suggestions on how to deal with this sort of legal but unacceptable practice. Firstly, tax evaders should be banned from holding office. If you want a seat at the table pay your due. Second, tax evaders should be banned from contributing to any political party. Again, don’t pay your due off you fuck. Third, all tax evaders are to be banned from bidding for or taking over any public contract be that rail, construction, telecoms or what not.
Finally, any bank facilitating what is effectively laundering and fraud should have any public money invested in it immediately frozen and reclaimed.
As Laker has just explained, the time for self regulation and a softly softly approach is over.
I have lots more ideas but they include nationalising a load of stuff. I don’t want to frighten everybody off just yet

 

[Habbinalan]

Sadly all the time there are different tax rates/systems in different tax jurisdictions, you'll get people bending the rules as far as possible. Not right or fair in my opinion but it will always happen.

While we can't do an awful lot about the Cayman Islands, Malta and so on, I do struggle with the British islands. Having a Jersey, Guernsey or Isle of Man company seems to give an air of legitimacy where is far from it. Along with the company owners, non executive directors, accountants, secretaries etc on these islands benefit massively at the expense of the British taxpayer. It's a farce.

I work as a tax accountant and I'm proud to say that where I work is very good on this (ie the attitude and consequently the set up is correct) however there are too many companies whose international tax strategy drives their corporate strategy.

This whole thing on the news is so arse about face. International tax rules differ so much and there's such a lack of desire to assist, major accountancy firms almost try to create loopholes for their clients. It's not a great environment in my opinion.

I think that, despite being an accountant, you may have persuaded comrade Aber that you shouldn't be among the first up against the wall after the guillotine is fully booked and the lamposts are fully festooned.

My nomination, after the media folk and the FA have been dealt with would probably be Philip Green and his missus.

 

[Indian Dan]

The problem is that what has happened isn’t illegal. As far as I can tell it is a matter of tax avoidance - which is legal - as opposed to tax evasion, which isn’t.

That regulator in the Isle of Man who decided to go against European wide VAT rules so Lewis Hamilton could get reimbursed £3.5m VAT on his jet purchase must be guilty of something.

They’ll all squirm for a bit, then carry on as usual

 

[Laker]

I think that, despite being an accountant, you may have persuaded comrade Aber that you shouldn't be among the first up against the wall after the guillotine is fully booked and the lamposts are fully festooned.

My nomination, after the media folk and the FA have been dealt with would probably be Philip Green and his missus.

Haha, I did think that posting in this thread and "outing myself" as an accountant was a dangerous tactic. On the whole, I'm a capitalist but I do believe that people should pay tax rather than seek to avoid it.

What Philip Green did was nothing short of disgraceful and he should definitely be towards the top of this list. Frankly he should know better.

I do have some sympathy for some celebrities, like Jimmy Carr for example. Don't get me wrong, he took the piss out of the system but I can forgive him to a degree for being swung by his accountant to try to avoid tax - I don't think Carr and others necessarily know how the tax system works but if their accountant tells them they can save some tax then they of course say yes - most unaware/ignorant people would.

 

[AFCB_Mark]

Price Charles in a spot of bother now. Investments that his Duchy of Cornwall have made, into companies involved in climate change efforts. Some of which are Bermuda and Cayman Island based outfits. Companies that would directly benefit from Charles' well known campaigning and lobbying efforts regarding climate change agreements.

Maybe it's fair enough to buy into companies that work in a cause he's genunaly interested in, or maybe not given his position. But then going on to lobby on behalf of that cause, knowing you also have financial as well as personal investments in the area, is probably a step too far and a conflict of interest. In one investment he reportedly tripled his money in the space of a year - not bad if you can get it!

 

[Aber gas]

I think that, despite being an accountant, you may have persuaded comrade Aber that you shouldn't be among the first up against the wall after the guillotine is fully booked and the lamposts are fully festooned.

My nomination, after the media folk and the FA have been dealt with would probably be Philip Green and his missus.

We will need folk like Laker. Getting our money back

 

[smat]

lmao