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John McDonnell profits from offshore investments...

...just like millions of other Britons.

From his tax return we have seen that he draws considerable amount of funds from his Westminster City Council pension fund, a fund that has invested £100m in Longview Partners (Guernsey). While he lectures people for profiting from offshore investments he himself is doing the exact same thing, along with almost every other man woman (but not child I guess) in the UK who has a pension fund. Is he going to now U-turn and accept that the sort of investments he attacked Cameron for are actually normal and exploited by the average joe, or is he going to brand himself a hypocrite?

http://order-order.com/2016/04/12/mcdonnells-14000-a-year-pension-managed-in-guernsey/
Guernsey has only been named a tax haven by the following countries according to the BBC:

Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal and Spain.

Which also makes this somehow hilarious one liner:

Poland listed Guernsey but only because of Sark.

Why are France and Germany not here? Do these countries have anything to gain by blacklisting Guernsey?

Obviously it isn't quite the same thing as he isn't doing it directly. He may well not even be aware of it at all.

That said if he was aware of this investment (and Guernsey really is a tax haven) I do think it makes him a hypocrite when he already has a comfortable salary.
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Avatar for Jammy Duel
Jammy Duel
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Original post by a noble chance
Guernsey has only been named a tax haven by the following countries according to the BBC:



Which also makes this somehow hilarious one liner:



Why are France and Germany not here? Do these countries have anything to gain by blacklisting Guernsey?

Obviously it isn't quite the same thing as he isn't doing it directly. He may well not even be aware of it at all.

That said if he was aware of this investment (and Guernsey really is a tax haven) I do think it makes him a hypocrite when he already has a comfortable salary.


If he is unaware of it I question whether he would be fit to be chancellor, it's hardly uncommon knowledge that such is the case. Further I would not say he is alleviated from hypocrisy for already being in the top 20% given he was attacking other 20pcers for offshore investments

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That's like moaning that he has bought a PC where the electronics were made in China. You just can;t avoid doing it unless you want to live a hermit life outside of society.
Original post by Jammy Duel
...just like millions of other Britons.

From his tax return we have seen that he draws considerable amount of funds from his Westminster City Council pension fund, a fund that has invested £100m in Longview Partners (Guernsey).


But aren't pensions a funny beast? After all, you invest tax free. Any capital gains are tax free (although the pension companies are taxed and raided once in a while) and then when you draw down on them, you are taxed. So where they are invested doesn't really matter.... or have misunderstood something.

There is surely a difference between citing your company in a tax haven that has no corporation tax compared to investing in an offshore company like Microsoft or Facebook that just happen to exist outside the UK. Similarly, hiding assets in a company to hide you as the owner is a bit dodgy.

I remember a great tax dodge from a few years ago, where people used to give their home to a company for a nominal about (£1). They would then sell the company to another party for the price of the house hence avoiding stamp duty.
Come the day, everybody on here will have a pension
I would expect that either parents or grandparents already do.

Many of these pensions will be partly funded by such deals.
Not to say that I agree with the principle

But suggesting that being a recepient of a pension set up by a local authority is the same as setting up a personal offshore account is a bit rich
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Jammy Duel
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Original post by domonict
Come the day, everybody on here will have a pension
I would expect that either parents or grandparents already do.

Many of these pensions will be partly funded by such deals.
Not to say that I agree with the principle

But suggesting that being a recepient of a pension set up by a local authority is the same as setting up a personal offshore account is a bit rich


Who're we talking about here?

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