Paradise Papers

It will be half a million before I go to bed. It's Question Time tonight.
I hope Gordon Brown is going to have help, carrying all those signatures.
He tried to get it stopped when he was chair of the G20. Just shows how powerful the rich are.

535,000 now.
Very few Brits seem to be signing compared with other European countries.

Do the Brits really approve of tax havens or does Avaaz just not have such a big reach in the UK?

Perhaps they are signing the 38 degrees one

That is the one that pops into my inbox.

Avaaz has 45 million members worldwide. They send petitions out to 10,000 and hope that social media does the rest.
It obviously has in this case. Over half a million for any petition is quite amazing.

They can sign both, like some on here have, Jalima.

Yes, I know, but I was just pointing out that 38 degrees is UK based, possibly there are more people signing that one, not that the Brits really approve of tax havens

This is how false assumptions arise.

Maizie, some Brits must approve of tax havens; otherwise most of them wouldn't be British.
The fact that our low corporation tax is going to be even lower and the lowest in the world soon seems to be a source of pride for some Brits.

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2017/11/10/what-about-the-workers-is-no-defence-for-tax-havens/

Only a source of pride to those who can afford private health, private education and choose to live elsewhere if they don’t like the way this country is going. Most of us do not have that choice.

fullfact.org/economy/tax-gap/

It doesn't matter who is right or wrong on the tax gap; there is enough money to be collected to fund the NHS properly, so why isn't HMRC collecting it?

Now pardon my cynism here- could it be because it is their plan to destroy the Health Service (to replace it with private insurance from which they will be the beneficiaries/and/or a sell out to USA to get a business deal back.

Have read Chomsky's perfect description oh how to destroy a public service- to facilitate the take-over. It is amazingly simple. And it works.

The technique is brilliant:

defund the service so he doesn't work- keep undermining it to make sure it doesn't recover- so people who need the service get angry and desperate. Then give them access to private services via the back door- subsidised - show them 'solutions' and then bingo - you can privatise without too much fuss- as you can show that the old service does not work. Then rake in the money - it is totally brilliant (for some, the very few).

... so 'it' doesn't work

Has anyone here had a look at how their pension funds invest to see if they use any offshore vehicles or trusts? I know the MPs pension fund holds money offshore, I would imagine it's commonplace.

The technique works, jura. You can tell by some of the threads on here.

Primrose, I know where my pension funds are invested, thank you.
It doesn't matter if they are invested in overseas territories; what matters is if they are not in taxfree juristictions. There is a difference.
Mine are not invested in any companies that sell tobacco or are cruel to animals, and lots of other environmental considerations.
There are lots of ethical funds you can find.

How can you choose where your pension fund is invested unless it is a SIPP? or you are drawing income from self-invested savings over the years?

Look up ethical pensions, Jalima.

I know about ethical savings djen and can choose for (myself if I had anything to save that is) but I would not be able to choose where my pension has been invested - it is up to the pension fund administrators and trustees.

Oh, so my pension provider is lying to me when he tells me where my pension pots are invested, is he?
He'd better not be, considering the length of the forms I had to fill in to tell him what he could and couldn't invest my money in.

Lucky you durhamjen having so much money ( or any money) to invest.

You may be surprised where the money is invested.

Yes, but it sounds as if you have a SIPP?
Or an annuity which you chose yourself

Perhaps I should have phrased my post thus:
How can one choose where one's pension fund is invested unless it is a SIPP? or one is drawing income from self-invested savings over the years?

(no-one said he was lying btw )

Or one is instructing one's financial adviser where one wishes to invest one's wealth?

Thanks, lemongrove. My husband had to die when he was 65 for me to have as much money as I have.
No, it's not a SIPP, and I can't be bothered to justify myself any more.
Suffice it to say my pension pot is invested in ethical funds, and I am not surprised at where they are invested. I can change it when I want if the company changes how it invests, and none of it is invested in tax havens.