£13tn hoard hidden from taxman by global elite
A global super-rich elite has exploited gaps in cross-border tax rules to hide an extraordinary £13 trillion ($21tn) of wealth offshore – as much as the American and Japanese GDPs put together – according to research commissioned by the campaign group Tax Justice Network.
This is what its all about. Surely this should unite right and left ?
Yeah.. Most of that is South American and Mid East Dictator money.. Gonna be hard to tax those guys I think...
And African as well. In these instances I dont think it is a tax issue. Tax havens are facilitating the robbing of the poorer countries in the world by allowing these scoundrels safe haven.
It would not be beyond the capabilities of the West to cut off these options.
But then it is western corporations that enrich them through bribery so I cant see that happening soon.
Should probably get rid of US Estate taxes then. Because taking 1/2 of what's ALREADY been taxed, just encourages the practice.
But your number is MORE THAN HALF -- Corrupt foreign leaders that are squirreling away a golden parachute should the peons ever decide to raid the palace or NATO decides to bomb their countries. They use the same "havens" because of the anonymity and security of the banks there.
Once income has been taxed I am quite relaxed about it. My main concern is the way these companies use the tax havens to avoid paying any tax on income. It is creating disfunctional societies and putting a strain on public services.
Tax avoidance is the biggest business in the UK and it is at epidemic level.
People focus on the likes of Amazon and Vodafone but pretty much everyone is at it.
As an example look at my wifes former employer Spire Hospitals.
They used to be owned by a mutual company called BUPA but were bought out by a hedge fund a few years back.
The way the buyout was constructed is the key.
Basically the hedge fund set up two shell vehicles in Luxembourg. One they financed through a loan. The first shell company then loaned the same money to the other shell and they used this money to buy the hospitals.
So every year that these hospitals turn a profit it goes back to the Luxembourg shell who then pay off the annual interest on the loan that these characters gave themselves to buy the hospitals in the first place.
So having removed the lions share of the profits there is nothing left to tax.
Why is a hospital in Wrexham owned by a shell company in Luxembourg ? There is only one reason.
And it gets worse. Spire dont train Drs or Anaesthetists. They rely on NHS trained staff to run their business. Most of their business is actually NHS bulk work as well.
They are robbing the people who provide them with their business.
Government should deal with it and restore some equity but when you look at our former Prime Minister who had extensive Panama holdings and then look at the current PM whose husband is a big player in tax avoidance you can see why nothing is done.
And it would be relatively easy to start on this. Refuse to give government work to companies structured in this way. If you want to opt out of the country thats fine,just dont expect us to fill your boots for you.
With the dictators it seems that they had no trouble freezing Russian assets. Why cant they do the same with the other tin pot wankers ?