I despair with you all. When will you all realise that according to the Tories the rich do not have enough money and the poor have far too much of it. That is why they have had to produce the policies announced in the budget. So carry on voting Tory and let the buggers get away with it. I often wonder what they will find to take back from all those near 200 people who sleep on the streets and in the parks in Southampton. They must have some money because I have noticed that inside those cardboard boxes some of them are snug in sleeping bags and they don't pay tax on the unearned income from begging so surely the Chancellor has to find a way to get his hands on that. Anyway just ignore me for I am just an old fashioned socialist who cares about people and cannot stand greed in the face of poverty.
please log in to view this image Harry...Harry Redknapp. Mmm...No never heard of you. What are you famous for...acting?
So you didn't vote for Blair and Brown and the remaining blairites in the labour party then. They are all the same as the Tories. This leak is not a political divide and I suspect many many socialists and capitalists will be outed as cheats here. Hopefully all of them and their money recovered. It may well pay off the national debt instead of my grandchildren doing so.
Hmm, I wonder what the percentage split will be, of those who are uncovered, who vote Conservative, Liberal or Labour.? You know what, for some reason, I can't shake, I think there might be a few more Tories.
Don't generalise St.G. It only makes you appear a bit dense, when quite clearly there are those with diverse political leanings on this forum.
This seems to have turned into the Politics thread! If this is a political story - which I don't think it is - maybe it should be merged? Either that or stick to the topic. If I want to read about Tory bashing I'll know where to go then.
Probably the best idea as it's sometimes easy to be drawn in. Many a time my fingers have poised over my keyboard having read something in the thread which is very biased and not strictly factual but luckily I've stopped myself just in time. Even trying to remain neutral can get a reaction!
"The Messi family wants to make clear that Lionel Messi has not carried out any of the acts attributed to him, and accusations he created a...tax evasion plot, including a network of money-laundering, are false and insulting," it said in a statement. ... Messi and his father are named as owners of a Panama company that had not previously been disclosed during a Spanish probe into their tax affairs. "The Panama company to which they refer to is a totally inactive company that never had any funds or any open current accounts," the Messi family said. ... Barcelona published a message of support to their star player on their official website. "The club supports the arguments which the Messi family published in a statement today," said the Barca statement. "Since the very first moment that the 'Panama papers' which accuse Leo Messi were released, FC Barcelona has sent its affection and support to the player and to his whole family. "The Club makes all of its judicial means, fiscal and administrative, at the family's disposal in order to make his actions and honour clear in this case." https://www.yahoo.com/news/messi-denies-tax-evasion-panama-papers-scandal-162103770--spt.html Messi is trying to sue the papers that leaked the stuff about him...
Is this illegal or just tax reduction....people have always used every trick to reduce their tax burden. I've never had vast amounts of money, so can't promise that I wouldn't try every legal trick to hold on to it if I came into a vast inheritance (sadly unlikely ).
A British banker who spent two decades living in communist North Korea set up a secret offshore finance company allegedly used by the Pyongyang regime to help sell arms and expand its nuclear weapons programme. Nigel Cowie – a fluent Korean and Chinese speaker, who studied at Edinburgh University – was behind a Pyongyang front company, DCB Finance Limited, registered in the British Virgin Islands, papers show. He says DCB Finance was used for legitimate business and that he was unaware of any unlawful transactions. Cowie moved to North Korea in 1995 when Kim Jong-il was in power, and went on to become head of its first foreign bank, Daedong Credit Bank. Initially operating out of a ramshackle Pyongyang hotel with a staff of three, Cowie led a consortium that in 2006 bought a 70% stake in the bank. Giving his address as Pyongyang’s International House of Culture, he registered DCB Finance Limited, an offshoot of the bank, in the BVI in summer 2006, with a senior North Korean official, Kim Chol-sam. The Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca incorporated the company, despite North Korea being an obvious high-risk destination. That July Kim Jong-il signalled his defiance of US sanctions by firing seven ballistic missiles. In October, North Korea carried out its first nuclear weapons test with a controlled underground explosion. The ensuing diplomatic crisis saw the UN impose asset freezes and and travel and trade bans. http://www.theguardian.com/news/201...m-allegedly-used-by-north-korea-weapons-sales This answers your question Fran...
Think it may be a bit of both but too early to say, hence all the enquiries being started. Everyone is being tarred with the same brush at the moment. I agree with what you say if an accountant said I can save you x amount the majority of people would jump at the chance. Why pay more than you legally have too? It's the tax laws that need changing to close all the loopholes. It's far too complicated at the moment. Let's face it even your local trader tries to offset everything he can to cut down his tax bill. This is on a larger scale obviously but the principle is similar.
A mix of the two. Faking records so that no-one can tell who actually owns the actual company is illegal, dumping your money off-shore in a shell company in the BVI isn't. The problem is that people hide behind the "but it's not illegal" line to get away with immoral activities. What we need is a social paradigm shift, where this kind "not illegal" nonsense just doesn't wash anymore, rather than letting them get away with it whilst we cut our public services (which benefit everyone) to the bone. It's pretty simple really. If Sid's café has a turnover of X and has to pay £Y a year in tax and GlobalCorp coffee has 200 shops and a turnover of 200 x X, I'd expect their tax bill to be at least somewhere in the region of 200 x £Y. It may be more or a little less, due to inefficiencies or economies of scale, but if they're only paying tuppence ha'apenny in tax, I'd expect the serious fraud office to invite the CEO and CFO down to the station for a quick chat, not having some government minister tell me how "they're employing so many people" that they should be exempt from payment. If you benefit from society, you should pay back to society. So if you're buying property and assets in England, I expect you to pay the requisite duty on them. Running your affairs through a shell company in the British Virgin Islands to avoid paying tax is perfectly legal, but in effect what you're actually telling me is that you're happy to gain from all the benefits of our society (decent infrastructure, educated population, stable currency, law and order, and so on) without making any contribution to it. Let alone that some of these parasites then have the temerity to criticise those on the dole as scroungers or demonise refugees fleeing from warzones...
It's looking like behaviour which, while not technically illegal, is still patently dishonest. Blairmore, the company set up by UK based directors including David Cameron's father, had to be managed (rather than just registered) from abroad in order to avoid liability for tax in the UK. They therefore recruited "directors" in Switzerland and the Bahamas so they could show that the company was based outside Britain. These directors appear to have been paid a fee solely for the use of their names - all the investment decisions were taken in the UK. So it was a con, though not neccessarily illegal.
