Paradise Papers

If someone is putting their money/assets off shore, we as ordinary punters have no way of knowing whether what the wealthy person is doing is legal or not. We only have their word for it. Only HMRC will know for sure.

Whitewave "Ignorance is no defence in law" but the point is surely that no one is suggesting that anyone has broken the law?

The point I thought I had made clearly, but obviously not since it has been made again by others, is that this keeps cropping up and it is the law which needs to be changed. I also made the point that I think it needs international cooperation which is probably why it hasn't happened.

If what you are doing is morally wrong, it is absolutely no defence to say it is legal.

Ignorance is what is being touted by those being questioned about the morality of their actions.

Of course the law needs changing, but just watch the wealthy media, and wealthy powerful screech and argue when such changes are suggested.

"It's only not illegal because those who do it have greater sway over what is allowed and what isn't."

Exactly And they have a greater sway because they use their money to gain access to decision makers. Direct personal access in a way that the ordinary citizen cannot. It makes a mockery of democracy.

Most of us don't have the choice of whether we choose to pay our taxes or not. I agree with Nandalot the queen does not need to know every little minor detail about her various investments but should make it clear that they are all to be above board and ethical. Part of me puzzles why an incredibly rich and privileged woman in her 90's needs to squirrel money away in dodgy investments. It's not as though her grandchildren are going to need it for a deposit on their starter home is it?

The sanctions and money laundering bill currently under consideration must all tie into this as well.

and as said above, this is what the EU is doing - and probably the main reason behind Brexit

Certainly if you look at those who supported Brexit and funded the Brexit camp, all seem to be implicated in dodgy financial dealings or major tax avoidance.

I'm with Gillybob and Whitew on these matters. Anyway I have no time for the privileged class in their ivory towers they must laugh up their sleeves at these mere peasants going to food banks etc. But yes the law SHOULD be changed to tighten up all the so called legal loopholes.

Just watching a bod from the Cayman Islands explaining away the reasons for putting your money off shore

Well if you believe that you will believe anything!!

A really decent society is one that goes beyond behaving legally - it behaves ethically. ER and her supporters can't have it both ways - we are told what a role model she is, how she contributes to the very cohesion and moral fabric of our society. In that case, she should be setting the example to those of her subjects who think that the letter of the law is all that matters. I also want to reiterate the point I made earlier about the problem of offshore trusts being about much much more than tax avoidance - participating in these trusts means participating and implicitly condoning a whole range of behaviours that result from money laundering - ER should be ashamed of herself for being complicit in this.

I think perhaps we should all be scrutinising exactly where our pension income is coming from, state and private. Not many people would know precisely where the money we invest ends up, even the most vigilant of us, as where it starts, i.e., the bank, building society Insurance, often isn't where it ends. So castigating th Queen is, I think, very unfair.

'the' Queen. She's almost certainly not personally complicit in anything, and it's very wrong of people to say that she is. Where's your proof?!

I would be very surprised if the Queen knew anything about her invested funds, there will be various bods looking after her private finances.

That’s quite an allegation whitewave saying ‘Certainly if you look at those who supported Brexit and funded the Brexit camp all seem to be implicated in dodgy financial dealings or major tax avoidance’ ! Do you have private information on all of them?

Well said nellie. I suspect if any of us looked carefully at the details of where our pensions come from we would be just as 'complicit' as HRH! Yes, I include those on public sector pensions they are quite possibly invested in exactly the same way as the programme said of the well-healed and well known!

I think maybe that should be the end of this discussion.

Just shows what money can buy, most of us on meager income cannot take advantage of such facilities. As for Brexit I cannot see what financial advantage anyone could have from the leaving the EU. Even the Brexiteers struggle to explain how we or they could be better off.

May be the Russians want to wreck us and/or the EU.

So 71% of the funding came from the 5 wealthiest individuals including Banks who gave over £8million, by far the biggest donor.

We know that Banks is complicit in tax avoidance. We know that he has shell companies in BVI.

The other major contributors have all stated that they see no reason to pay tax in the UK.

The Queen pays financial advisors accountants and so on to invest her money. People whom she trusts to do things properly for her. What would be the point in doing that and then constantly questioning and querying their decisions? You might as well do it yourself in the first place! I agree her advisors need scrutinising, but not HM.

Everybody who has money looks for ways of legal tax avoidance, and there will be millions of people who have pensions from funds which are invested in all sorts of off shore trusts.

^ Do you have private information on all of them?^

No need to, it's all freely available on the internet.

Damn. Formatting fail....

The more you read the worse it gets too maize