[ESPORTIVA]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jul/21/global-elite-tax-offshore-economy?mobile-redirect=false

What the hell....... £13 trillion?

[Darkphilosopher]

get rid of the m. in the link. That page is designed for phones

Edit: Imo the 50% (soon to be 45% if it hasn't already changed) tax bracket starts at too low of an income. Somebody earning 150k per annum isn't going to have nearly the same lifestyle as somebody earning over 1mil, and even then I don't think they should have to pay such a high tax rate

[NietzschanGuy]

Just saw this on the BBC. Normally I mitigate my criticism to avoid a negative backlash from the more extreme libertarians, but in this case, sod it. That is an obscene criminality, and as far as I'm concerned people who can be demonstrated to be doing such things should receive more than a small beating during their god damn arrest.

There's earning your success, there's fighting for fairer tax laws, and then there's absurd greed and outright criminality, and for criminals, the best they can hope for is to leave their cells with their body intact, and whether that is the outcome we should hope for I leave to your judgement.

I don't know what else to say really, only that limiting my anger to a desire to have them beaten up is a demonstration of extreme self control.

[rosee92]

[Azaro]

so?

[ThisIsTheLife]

Good. Those trillians are far better off in the hands of those who earned it than in the hands of incompetent governments and welfare parasites.

I am only disappointed that the number is not as high as it could be.

[OMGWTFBBQ]

There would be no incentive to hide it if tax wasn't so high.

Come at me.

[G56]

(Original post by NietzschanGuy)
Just saw this on the BBC. Normally I mitigate my criticism to avoid a negative backlash from the more extreme libertarians, but in this case, sod it. That is an obscene criminality, and as far as I'm concerned people who can be demonstrated to be doing such things should receive more than a small beating during their god damn arrest.

There's earning your success, there's fighting for fairer tax laws, and then there's absurd greed and outright criminality, and for criminals, the best they can hope for is to leave their cells with their body intact, and whether that is the outcome we should hope for I leave to your judgement.

I don't know what else to say really, only that limiting my anger to a desire to have them beaten up is a demonstration of extreme self control.

People expect rich people to be constantly dishing out money so some 'underprivileged' family in Liverpool can buy their kid the latest PS3 game.
Exactly the type of thing that children should do less of to avoid falling in the welfare trap.

If I was rich I would do everything in my power to avoid paying tax.

[rmpr97]

It's not illegal, and to be fair most people would hide their money off shore if you're getting taxed at 50%.

[Snagprophet]

It's a shame it can't be put to better use but it's the government's fault for driving them away.

[The Dark Lord]

(Original post by OMGWTFBBQ)
There would be no incentive to hide it if tax wasn't so high.

Come at me.

paying 0.1% tax.... paying 0% tax. However low tax is, I'm pretty sure people would prefer to pay nothing. A low rate of tax would still be an insane amount when applied to £13t...

[thegodofgod]

Tbh, it's not necessarily about these tax avoiders as much as it's about the government not closing these tax loopholes.

If that were done, tax avoidance could potentially be reduced to nothing.

[ThisIsTheLife]

(Original post by thegodofgod)
Tbh, it's not necessarily about these tax avoiders as much as it's about the government not closing these tax loopholes.

If that were done, tax avoidance could potentially be reduced to nothing.

... and then the new name for it would be "country avoidance".

[NietzschanGuy]

(Original post by G56)
People expect rich people to be constantly dishing out money so some 'underprivileged' family in Liverpool can buy their kid the latest PS3 game.
Exactly the type of thing that children should do less of to avoid falling in the welfare trap.

If I was rich I would do everything in my power to avoid paying tax.

Well, if you're just going to create straw men arguments, I have nothing to say to you, and if you're going to be that supportive of such blatant criminality, I would lock the cell myself and do so with a smile.

EDIT: Amendment times for the win. As has been pointed out, this activity as stated in the article (I really should have calmed down before starting a moral argument, although perhaps those two things are impossible to separate?) is not illegal due to the excellent work of some very meticulous lawyers and not so meticulous legal doctrines. This therefore makes my statements, as most of them have been already, a matter of opinion i.e. 'What -should- be the case' rather than 'What is'. Although in my defense, most of my argument was that way already, this Freudian slip notwithstanding.

[ThisIsTheLife]

(Original post by G56)
People expect rich people to be constantly dishing out money so some 'underprivileged' family in Liverpool can buy their kid the latest PS3 game.
Exactly the type of thing that children should do less of to avoid falling in the welfare trap.

If I was rich I would do everything in my power to avoid paying tax.

+1.

[silent ninja]

Percentage-wise the rich pay less tax than the low paid and middle class. Is that fair? SOCIETY enabled them to make money, it's not a one man effort, so they should pay a fair tax. The rich have enjoyed the benefits of this country more than anybody else.

[thegodofgod]

(Original post by ThisIsTheLife)
... and then the new name for it would be "country avoidance".

That is true, but surely saving £13tn would be better than losing a few £tn, as only the mega-rich would be 'country avoiders'?

[silentlife]

Tax dodging is bad, but taxes are too high. Some people don't even try to get a job because they have to work 20h a week just to get a bit more than someone living off benefits.

[IFondledAGibbon]

Some of the responses in this thread make me despair. People across the world are facing harsh austerity whereas the super rich are hoarding more than enough money to solve the Euro crisis or help African poverty. It's one thing to try and justify extreme income inequality through some misguided notion of "wealth creation", however it's another thing altogether to justify deliberate tax avoidance.

[james22]

(Original post by NietzschanGuy)
Well, if you're just going to create straw men arguments, I have nothing to say to you, and if you're going to be that supportive of such blatant criminality, I would lock the cell myself and do so with a smile.

What they are doing isn't illegal....