Tax havens exposed in huge law firm leak

Originally Posted by Chris

I tend to agree ... It's all about Brexit.

While Cameron is under fire there may be others crossing that they will escape notice..

Originally Posted by Hugh

Just to inject a note of humour into this rather dry, if impassioned, subject...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36010902

And of course, no politics thread is complete without a quote from Nigel..

Here is Jeremy's latest suggestion on the matter

https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk...-return-big-no

Jeremy Corbyn has revealed he was fined £100 for a late tax return

http://news.sky.com/story/1676607/co...n-reveal-taxes

couldn't make it up

[Arthurgray50@blu]

The word we keep hearing here is TRUST.

We TRUST our MPs of any party to be honest, when the ask for our vote, to get elected.

I watched the Commons debate today, and he was very quick to take the heat off himself, and then Osborne. By slagging off what HE has done for this country towards Tax evasion.

But what DC forgets is that the TRUST has now gone. Even Skinner, was sent from the chamber as he called DC a Dodgy character. Here is an honest man, speaking from the heart.,

What we are all forgetting is this. NO MP is above the law. IF that was anyone of us, we would get arrested, and bang.

[Gary L]

I've always said Dave is dodgy.



it's funny hw people exist to make money on top of whatever money they have already. probably more money than they'll ever need. and probably die before they've got around to spending any of the money they already have.

and they go to work after making money to take as much money as they can off people who have not much money in the first place.

then after work they go and do some more dodgy stuff to make more money than they'll probably ever need or get around to spending.

[heero_yuy]

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

What we are all forgetting is this. NO MP is above the law. IF that was anyone of us, we would get arrested, and bang.

How many times does it need to be said? He hasn't broken any laws Arthur.

And nobody is going to be arrested for arranging their tax affairs in the most efficient way. If they were the majority of the population would be in clink.

[Osem]

Arthur's impervious to facts mate.

I wonder why few people seem to be quite so exercised about the vast sums of money being 'earned' (and tax potentially avoided etc.) by self serving football players, sports stars, TV personalities, celebrity luvvies and the like. All this venom being aimed at politicians who at least serve the country yet earn in a year what more than a few bladder kickers get in just a week or two.

Originally Posted by Osem

Arthur's impervious to facts mate.

I wonder why few people seem to be quite so exercised about the vast sums of money being 'earned' (and tax potentially avoided etc.) by self serving football players, sports stars, TV personalities, celebrity luvvies and the like. All this venom being aimed at politicians who at least serve the country yet earn in a year what more than a few bladder kickers get in just a week or two.

Footballers/celebrities are not running the country..and we need to be sure that our politicians truly are beyond reproach.It's not a lot to ask surely?

[Stop It]

Originally Posted by heero_yuy

How many times does it need to be said? He hasn't broken any laws Arthur.

And nobody is going to be arrested for arranging their tax affairs in the most efficient way. If they were the majority of the population would be in clink.

Indeed, all Cameron is guilty of is dragging his heels. Frankly, most of us would do exactly the same as him in his situation. Tax wise I mean, hopefully more of the population will have a bit more common sense! Stonewalling the media only results in more, rather than less scrutiny.

Originally Posted by Osem

Arthur's impervious to facts mate.

I wonder why few people seem to be quite so exercised about the vast sums of money being 'earned' (and tax potentially avoided etc.) by self serving football players, sports stars, TV personalities, celebrity luvvies and the like. All this venom being aimed at politicians who at least serve the country yet earn in a year what more than a few bladder kickers get in just a week or two.

You know something? I would be accusing you of creating strawmen if it wasn't for the fact that there really are people who see "Person X, in this case, Cameron = bad" and find anything to stick on them rather than separating the person from the story and realising that frankly, this is a complete non issue. That being said, hypocrisy knows no political colours, and is a human trait, rather than a trait of any political leanings.

Cameron didn't help himself when he vowed to crack down on "aggressive tax avoidance" while never quite defining it. the fact that he has embarked on pretty mundane tax avoidance takes a back seat however and things have got a bit silly.

Still waiting on some proper analysis of this whole story though and rubbish such as this doesn't really do anything but muddy the waters.

Oh, and as above, if a footballer started railing against tax havens and aggressive tax dodging while doing it themselves, I'll be the first to call them a bit of a plonker too. I couldn't give a stuff about the opinions of "celebrity lurvies" etc either.

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Footballers/celebrities are not running the country

Their behaviour has more impact on the attitudes and behaviour of our young people than any politician. They have a position of privilege and influence and should certainly be under scrutiny.

Just read an interesting article - the Scott Trust, owners of GMG, owners of the Guardian, was set up to avoid Death Duties (the predecessor of Imheritance Tax); it was even dissolved and reformed in 1948 as it was going to be liable for taxes....

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Trust_Limited

And even more interestingly, an article on the GMG Investment Fund.

http://www.theguardian.com/gnm-press...fund-statement

While the majority of the funds are based outside the UK, GMG is subject to UK tax on all income and realised gains arising from these investments.

Seems one rule/criticism for some, and another rule/lack of criticism for others....

[Osem]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Footballers/celebrities are not running the country..and we need to be sure that our politicians truly are beyond reproach.It's not a lot to ask surely?

No but actors/luvvies, musicians, authors and the like (often from highly privileged backgrounds themselves) certainly do more than their fair share of public moralising on such issues as poverty etc. and often get quite heavily involved in politics in one way or another. Of course their fans aren't likely to criticise them to the same extent as some suit in parliament, especially when it's so easy to brand them. I don't have any problem with our politicians being beyond reproach but in the real world that's asking a hell of a lot, especially when they're often damned if they do and damned if they don't. Right now it's quite fun for people to be branding all our politicians as somehow untrustworthy when I think most of them aren't any more so than anyone else.

---------- Post added at 13:17 ---------- Previous post was at 13:16 ----------

Originally Posted by Hugh

Just read an interesting article - the Scott Trust, owners of GMG, owners of the Guardian, was set up to avoid Death Duties (the predecessor of Imheritance Tax); it was even dissolved and reformed in 1948 as it was going to be liable for taxes....

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Trust_Limited

And even more interestingly, an article on the GMG Investment Fund.

http://www.theguardian.com/gnm-press...fund-statement



Seems one rule/criticism for some, and another rule/lack of criticism for others....

I wonder if all those baying Guardian hacks and readers will want to comment on such appalling double standards...

Originally Posted by Osem

No but actors/luvvies, musicians, authors and the like certainly do more than their fair share of public moralising on such issues as poverty etc. and often get quite heavily involved in politics in one way or another. Of course their fans aren't likely to criticise them to the same extent as some suit in parliament. I don't have any problem with our politicians being beyond reproach but in the real world that's asking a hell of a lot, especially when they're often damned if they do and damned if they don't. Right now it's quite fun for people to be branding all our politicians as somehow untrustworthy when I think most of them aren't any more so than anyone else.

---------- Post added at 13:17 ---------- Previous post was at 13:16 ----------



I wonder if all those baying Guardian hacks and readers will want to comment on...

Really?You don't want to hold them to a higher responsibility than anyone else?You don't want them to be MORE trustworthy than anyone else?Truly is that your belief?I certainly do whichever political persuasion they belong to.

[Osem]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Really?You don't want to hold them to a higher responsibility than anyone else?You don't want them to be MORE trustworthy than anyone else?Truly is that your belief?I certainly do whichever political persuasion they belong to.

I said I have no problem with the notion of politicians being beyond reproach. I'm merely pointing out the real world in which we live and in which it sadly isn't possible. We should expect lawyers, teachers, doctors and all manner of professional people to be beyond reproach but they're not and never will be because they're all human just like the rest of us.

[papa smurf]

‘dodgy Dave’



http://www.express.co.uk/news/politi...Prime-Minister

It's obvious Cameron has, at least with what's been revealed so far, done nothing wrong. The only reason people are having a go is either because they don't understand that offshore doesn't mean 'tax evasion', they simply don't like Cameron and this is a chance to have a go, a small minority who genuinely think any tax avoidance is immoral and Tory MPs who probably have done these things themselves but see taking down Cameron as an advantage for Brexit.

What's worse is people like Jimmy Carr mocking this as Cameron being caught out but the difference is that Carr didn't pay a bunch of tax whereas it seems Cameron has paid every bit of tax that the law intends. Again though, people don't understand that setting up a company to avoid tax which loans to back to you is not the same as investing in offshore companies but then paying tax when you take the money out. Like pretty much most pension funds.