Off Topic Political Debate

This provides a very interesting angle...... and how different parties will 'use' the info for their own ends.........

 

Of course, the media is controlled by the political interests. Just watch Trumps assistant destroy the media right here. Goes to show its not just national interests but anyone the elites do not like

 

Fair play to the lady - and fair play to CNN for broadcasting that. Something the BBC & British press would never countenance.

 

Superb posts, Hornets.

 

Problem is Yorkie, until the tax laws are written so that such practices are illegal, then little can be done in some of these cases. Successive governments have failed to address this. I am sure it will turn out that the Icelandic PM did nothing illegal under Icelandic law - although the hypocrisy of his actions will only be highlighted by some contributors.
It will be very interesting to see some of the names revealed on these lists. I wonder if all the Islington village MP's who have sold their homes to offshore companies will be included?
I also see that it has been revealed that the paragon of the Liberal Left, The Guardian, has been revealed for some dodgy dealings. Selling their building to an offshore trust so they would not have to pay CG tax on it. It also seems that the holding company is also based offshore and pays no tax...all this seems to have been missed by their own crusading investigative hacks. Strange that.
I will await, the usual change of topic and abuse without any eager anticipation.
http://order-order.com/2016/04/04/media-organisations-using-offshore-havens/

 

If the publicising was not done in The West, where would it could have been done more effectively? Surely Russia is totally out of the question? Maybe China or North Korea? No suggestions in the article though.

 

Fair point. I suppose social media could have a part to play - Nicholas Wilson, Steve Topple & Craig Murray do their best using that route.

 

And just in case you were wondering how to explain it to your boy...

 

Point taken.... but the question that comes to mind is where does the money come from? Do the relevant authorities in their own countries etc know about it... .etc etc

On the Guardian issue are they ALL doing it??

 

Why should superhorns be considered my boy?

 

Anyone guilty of tax evasion should be held culpable. What we must avoid if the 'left' pointing fingers at the right or the right pointing fingers at the 'left'. Naive me!

 

I though tax evasion is already a crime?

 

Personally, I would like to see it all published on an open website and let whoever had a mind investigate further. In that way all that are involved can be shown

 

It is SH, as you well know you little tinker. Problem is that there is such a grey area between tax avoidance and tax evasion that any half-brained lawyer and accountant can drive the proverviable coach and horses through the laws We have tax laws written in the 1920's trying to be used to legislate for huge corporates, huge government structures like the EU that compete internally and the age of the Internet. It will never work and the criminals will thrive.

 

There are lots of places that the money can come from. You have the obvious totally illegal stuff like drug money and illegal arms dealing money laundering, then there are people like Putin and then those with large private wealth that they seek to protect from taxation. In the final category, their wealth was created mostly legally - like the example in BB's link, but the methods to protect it can be questionable.
The money laundering laws in the UK are quite strict and I have seen them in operation in the past few weeks. My eldest son is in the middle of buying a house and he had to show bank statements and as executor of his grandfathers will, I had to confirm that he had inherited the money that we was using to pay for the "deposit" on the house. The solicitors would also not accept cash or a bank transfer for the deposit for their services - I had a great laugh as sonny is all modern and pays by Applepay and contactless cards and laughs about cheques and old school ways to pay. So I had to write a cheque and he transferred the money to me - I have been living off of that foe weeks.

 

The problem is each chancellor begins with wanting to simplify the tax system but only ever adds more layers. The experience I've had in running a medium sized company is that many of the previous legal means of reducing a taxation bill have been closed. The latest government has attempted to target multinationals who build up false costs in the UK.

There is no reason to close down off shore accounts, especially those paying good interest rates. However they should not be used to hide money, more transparency is required.

I wonder if some of the fiddling eurocrats have stuffed their ill-gotten gains in these safes?

 

Hopefully Panorama does not have film of me walking out of the bank with a rucksack!!

 

Or some of the celebrities who whilst standing on their soap boxes have been using some clever ways to protect their earnings and multiple homes.

 

Or film of what is stashed under the bed.
A good mate of mine who I go to football with is a plumber and gets fed up with everyone asking for him to "do it for cash" - he cannot claim the VAT back on large items like boilers as the VAT man will soon see through that and so nothing to gain there. He cannot bank many large sums as the bank will report him, so he just does the odd smal tap washer change for pound notes. Yet everyone wants a deal for cash.

 

Including many of those pointing fingers on here.

Fraud is fraud.