Tax Havens

www.theweek.co.uk/62461/benefit-fraud-v-tax-evasion-which-costs-more

This is why tax fraud is more important than benefit fraud.
Somehow I do not think Cameron and Osborne's mates will be committing benefit fraud, which is why there is more emphasis on it in government than on tax fraud.

Osborne needs time to allow people to move their money.

When the BBC put it on the news it just said thousands.
I do not think thousands actually fairly describes 150,000 although it is linguistically correct.

Tv news led all day with the windsors in India , two people sitting on a bench was more newsworthy than the demonstration by thousands of people ?

Not forgetting the fact that the UK is the biggest tax haven of all.

www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethicalcampaigns/taxjusticecampaign/richardmurphycolumn/theukisnowataxhaven.aspx

7 of them are UK tax havens. We can deal with our own and the rest of the world can follow.
Is that not what Cameron, Osborne and cronies always want us to be, world leaders in everything?

I think it's interesting to note there are 82 tax havens and countries of financial secrecy. listed on Wikipedia .

It can only be dealt with on a global basis.

I said it would be a big demo.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/anti-austerity-protest-50000-london-david-cameron-resignation-trafalgar-square-a6987276.html

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2016/04/15/how-many-hmrc-tax-investigators-does-it-take-to-change-a-light-bulb/

One may say that he is stupid for standing up and saying those things (well, he is, quite obviously), but how many of our MPs and others of all parties, walks of life, are doing and thinking the same but not voicing their opinions.

How many consider everyone who has not made themselves rich by evading paying their tax look on the rest of us as 'mugs - the so-called little people'.
Rather than the backbone of society who keep the country going.

Of course, many 'rich' people do pay their fair dues too.

What a reflection on our society where someone can stand up in our parliament and rubbish those people whose wealth does match his own. That includes almost the whole of the U.K. Population.

Brilliant link Jalima. Says it all really doesn't it?

Great post Jalima, what a man to dismiss the majority as low achievers, suppose he would class Ronnie Biggs as a high achiever and he himself as a high achiever for fiddling right to buy causing him to resign from his post

It is ordinary people or "low achievers" according to MP Alan Duncan

Here's one woman's answer to the idiot:

www.thecanary.co/2016/04/12/an-nhs-workers-open-letter-to-the-tory-mp-who-called-people-low-achievers-for-fighting-tax-avoidance/

I have just come to this thread. The bigger picture, as far as I can see, is that there is no motivation for any Government to close tax havens. These are for the benefit of the super rich who in effect run the country, either in government, by donation or lobbying, but opt out financially. It is ordinary people or "low achievers" according to MP Alan Duncan, who pay our tax and keep NHS, and public services going.

One country can start, though.
Unfortunately it will not be this one.

I guess we can all go on forever with pointing the finger to appease partisan politics over all things financial though can't we.

The Co - Op Bank and Labour connections. Jean Claude Junker , the ex PM of ' Luxembourg '!!! ( back to Margaret Hodge 'allegations') , what irony is that. He now is in charge of sorting out tax havens and related financial matters for Europe.

For worldwide taxation problems to ever be sorted it has to be a worldwide agreement to get it done. No country can do it unilaterally it would be financial suicide, that is the crux of the matter.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b076nzhc

Richard Murphy on the Today programme. 2 hrs 10 minutes in.
In case you did not hear it.

The U.K. Needs to clean up its act for sure,

My first thought, whitewave, was that that's not much. Then I read this.

"There will, of course, be a requirement that companies disclose details on beneficial ownership. But there will be no way of checking if the disclosure they make is accurate.

And no extra resources for pursuing those who might not be compliant seem likely to be provided to Companies House.

Worse, we know that around 400,000 companies do not file annual returns each year as required by law and that Companies House make no effort to recover this data. They do instead simply dissolve the companies in question, or ‘strike them off’ in their jargon. This is the ultimate reward for the fraudster: their crime is covered up for them after they have been trading for some time without any demand being made for accounts or ownership data, let alone tax due.

I estimate this costs the UK at least £11 billion a year and it may be more.

The government refuses to accept any such estimate.

The result is a fraudsters' paradise here in the UK where we will in future only have data on beneficial ownership from already legally compliant companies when it is data on the fraudsters that we need."

The government said last night how it is in the lead in beneficial ownership laws.
Rubbish. It's been dragged kicking and screaming to the idea.
For people who want to stay in the EU, why do they not talk about cooperation rather than leading?

Should Javid not have known of it?
A poor director if he didn't.

The problem is that this costs the British tax payer a huge amount of money fighting these cases. It would make so much more sense if these avoidance schemes should by law be run past HMRC before they are implemented. If HMRC considered the lose to the revenue would be too great then they should report it to the Treasury in order that they can take steps to plug the loophole.

More avoidance

Banks -UBS and Deutsche Bank avoidance of £50 million each. Javid -business secretary was a director of Deutsch Bank at the time it was pursuing the scheme. There is no suggestion he knew of it.

Ladbrokes - £54 million.

Traders in Bear Stearn jailed 4.5 years - evasion.

Evasion - one case where an accountant named Dennis Carter imprisoned for 5 years. Proved to have evaded 6 million. His son also charged with evasion. The accountant acted for a number of well known celebrities, included Fiona Bruce amongst others. There is no suggestion in the article that the stars were aware of suppression. HMRC have given the celebrities the opportunity to pay back the evaded tax of up to £40 million.

Got a couple.

Both tax avoidance schemes.

Stagecoach. 11 million recovered

Next. 22.4 million recovered.

That's interesting jane wonder why tax cheats aren't listed like benefit cheats?