Tax Havens

I am just reading the Peston interview and an analysis of it.

When Cameron said that Blairmore wasn't set up with the view to avoiding tax, he was lying.

All the paperwork was from Panama, which was where it was set up for dollar exchange, according to Cameron. However, Blairmore did not pay taxes in Panama, where it was incorporated, as the base was in the Bahamas.
Another lie found out. There was no need for it to be based in the Bahamas unless it was for tax purposes.

I would be much less likely to 'play the Tory bashing card' if those who do it were less negatively inclined to those of us less likely to wholeheartedly embrace Socialism. You lot are jumping on a media bandwagon. Its a Godsend to you. Wonder why the Labour party didn't close those tax loopholes? They had plenty of time to do it. Yes you're definitely pushing me into the Tory camp! FYI I voted labour last time. Not now if you're anything to go by.

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2016/04/09/the-eu-is-planning-to-make-it-easier-to-own-offshore-shell-companies/

Oh dear. You all really need to read this.
I cannot believe the EU wants to get away with this.
Fortunately there are lots of ethical groups that can try and change their minds.

Anyone else's computer seeming to have a mind of its own lately?
Are we being spied on, daphne?

This has obviously been pounced upon to bring Cameron down. Wonder who the anti-Dave's on GN would put forward for PM. Please not the labour lot, who know nothing at all about financial affairs.

Not so, obie. Cameron would have to prove that I'm wrong.

Thank you, whitewave. I'm glad somebody can see what I'm getting at.

Cameron's personal gain is small change in all this. I doubt if anybody would bat an eyelid, if he weren't PM, supposedly committed to cracking down on tax avoidance and has been found out to be less than transparent.

But loving them is a lot more than trying to understand them.

Who fully trusts any MP?

If this issue stopped being about party politics at all, and about what is allowed to be legal, then the issue would get somewhere.
Can we manage to do that on here, let alone the country?
daphnedill, pretty sure the onus is on you and not the other way round. You might be best off looking it up.

A wealth management company's view of Caroline Benn's tax planning:

www.claruswealth.co.uk/2014/11/tony-benn-his-strategy-for-inheritance-tax-reduction/

I doubt if the company is made up of 'lefties' intent on whitewashing the Benns.

I think the bigger picture as daphne is alluding to is very worrying.

Don't forget whilst we are all busy being a bit parochial about the tax avoidance hypocracy, this is happening world wide. The firm of lawyers is only the third biggest providing these services of aiding tax evasion, avoidance, laundering and just plain secrecy. Plus anything else dealing with being on the fiddle.

But the real concern for me is the realisation that there is a powerful group of people in the world sitting in all nations who are not subject to that nations sovereignty and its tax laws, the powerful including the political elite aid and abet this sovereignty avoidance - if there is such a thing- whilst the poor suffer and the middle class pay.
I think this is a worrying and serious problem for democracy.

Jane, no use playing the Tory bashing card . This is not about politics, it's the fact the PM who runs this country was not honest . He should have said - yes I had shares and sold them in 2010. He chose not to . He had the shares when he was a MP and didn't have to disclose the fact. Once becoming PM he would have to have disclosed the fact, so he chose to get rid of them just before the possibility he would become PM , if all so innocent and honest why the secrecy , why the need to sell them st that time . The fact he is a Tory has nothing to do with this, it is to do with the man . I assure you if this was a labour PM I would say the same and would expect a resignation.

People do not invest in off shore accounts for any other reason than to avoid paying the tax in the country they live in . Cameron said Jimmy Carr trying to pay less tax was immoral. If Cameron had not been facing the election one is left with the question - when and where would he have sold them .

So not political, just a PM who cannot be trusted . How can he say he will never in the future benefit from off shore accounts, did his father leave his wife out of his will, will she leave her son out of her will. He is not responsible for his fathers choice of making money but he will be responsible for accepting monies made by his father .

niggly,

Of course Cameron doesn't HAVE to reveal how much he will inherit when his mothers dies. However, it will be a matter of public record, unless the money is offshore, which is what happened when his father died. You can search wills over a certain amount (can't remember how much) in the London Gazette. Yes, this applies to everybody in the country.

Is it cheating, niggly? I presume you mean what Tony Benn did with his property.

In that case, Ian Cameron did just the same. So presumably you think he is a cheat as well?

All Cameron has to do is give an open and honest statement to parliament on Monday, as Corbyn has asked.
I am sure he is working on it now with his spin doctors.

You are not the only one who needs to read a bit more carefully, Elegran.

"If any Labour MPs or backers are caught out in this, I will be just as vociferous in my condemnation. Haven't heard of any yet, though. I am sure if there are any, you will find them though, niggly."

This is what I said, Jane10. How does that imply all socialists good, all Tories bad?
Your prejudice is showing.
I hope that others will see how bad the Tories are and join the socialists.

Why on earth should David Cameron reveal how much he will inherit when his mother dies?!! Surely this is a private matter or does this revelation apply to everyone in the country?! Why on earth would we be interested in something that is none of our business? Except of course to check up on any tax avoidance!!

daphnedll no, I am sure you would not say anything that was not as accurate as you could make it. It was Dj who claimed that David Cameron's father "made all his money from tax avoidance" which is an exaggeration - he must have made money to not pay tax on . There is not yet a tax in existence which takes 100% of anyone's whole income - though I daresay the treasury would love to introduce one.

Jane10, If you trawl around the internet, you'll find that some of Cameron's biggest critics are coming from his own backbenches, UKIP and other right wing (even fascist) groups. This really isn't as simple Conservative vs Labour bashing.

Elegran, No, I don't think I can say anything about a person unless they sue me, but Cameron has lied on a number of issues.

Not going to be sidetracked from the main op. If it bothers you that much, prove that he's never lied.

niggly, Receiving cash in hand for a job and not declaring it for income tax is tax EVASION, which is illegal.

I think one of the biggest issues with seeing the great and good getting away with not paying their fair share in tax is that it sends out the wrong moral messages. When the Prime Minister and those at the top of the pile are seen as getting away with avoiding tax, people at the bottom, who can't afford a lawyer in Panama, will follow them in their own way.

That's why I think Cameron is in the wrong. He lectures us all about austerity and 'doing the right thing' and claims he finds tax avoidance abhorrent, but can't bring himself to admit that what his father was doing was immoral according to his OWN standards. The facts had to be dragged out of him and nobody knows even now how much he stands to inherit when his mother dies or whether there's more money stashed away. Cameron himself is the one who tries to occupy the moral high ground and has been found wanting.

Nevertheless, I think he is probably a small player in this whole affair and I'm interested to know why others are being ignored.

niggly is prejudiced? Now I've heard it all! Just give up. There will only ever be disagreement and continued sniping as long as its 'All Tories automatically bad and all Socialists automatically good' most people are somewhere in between but the continued Tory bashing just risks pushing others into the Tory camp and you wouldn't want that would you?

Correction - Daphnedll, not durhamjen - Moral - check your facts carefully before posting. That applies to others posting as well as to me!

Do you mean that you believe you are free to say what you like until someone sues you, Durhamjen? No need to think first about whether it might mean that you are telling lies jumping to conclusions that may not be true?

If that is so, why would anyone pay any attention at all to any of your allegations about anything?

obieone, The onus is on David Cameron to sue me and prove that he's never lied, but somehow I don't think he will.

It's still cheating though, and you know it!!!

www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/07/how-mossack-fonseca-offshore-helped-fight-modigliani-painting-stolen-nazis-panama-papers

Here's a good story. Mention of Hitler on this thread is not far-fetched.