A third of British billionaires have moved to a tax haven

[hurlerontheditch]

Quote

A third of British billionaires have moved to tax havens after an exodus over the past decade, a Times investigation has found.

They are among 6,800 Britons controlling 12,000 UK firms from low-tax jurisdictions. The Exchequer is denied billions a year but many of the bosses still reap the benefits of British assets.

Some have bankrolled political parties while living offshore as successive governments have failed to enact a law passed in 2009 that would have banned large donations from anyone resident abroad for tax purposes.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a-third-of-british-billionaires-have-moved-to-a-tax-haven-zk6q53rtd

 

the country would be in a much better place if EVERYONE paid their taxes

[btl_hater]

The UK really is as corrupt as these African and South American nations (to name a couple of examples) that most of the British look down on.

[iamnumerate]

Surely this is excellent news, relative poverty must be down as the average income has decreased?

[Locke]

59 minutes ago, hurlerontheditch said:

the country would be in a much better place if EVERYONE paid their taxes

They are paying their taxes you towd.

The country would be in a much better shape if people weren't able to use the government to parasitise the most productive members of it.

[Locke]

Just now, iamnumerate said:

Surely this is excellent news, relative poverty must be down as the average income has decreased?

Indeed.

[godnose]

1 minute ago, Locke said:

They are paying their taxes you towd.

The country would be in a much better shape if people weren't able to use the government to parasitise the most productive members of it.

They are not productive. Their employees are productive. The rich are parasitising their workforce.

A worker produces / does £100 worth of work/capital. The capitalist pays them less than that and sells it for more, pocketing the difference. The capitalists live off the poor. Parasites.

In addition, we all know on this forum where money comes from, so called "demand": poor people taking on debt. Without the poor the rich would vaporise.

[hurlerontheditch]

3 minutes ago, godnose said:

They are not productive. Their employees are productive. The rich are parasitising their workforce.

A worker produces / does £100 worth of work/capital. The capitalist pays them less than that and sells it for more, pocketing the difference. The capitalists live off the poor. Parasites.

In addition, we all know on this forum where money comes from, so called "demand": poor people taking on debt. Without the poor the rich would vaporise.

agreed..

like Philip green extracting £1.2bn out of the country in 2005  to Monaco

 

[tomandlu]

37 minutes ago, Locke said:

They are paying their taxes you towd.

The country would be in a much better shape if people weren't able to use the government to parasitise the most productive members of it.

That really is mind-blowingly naive, particularly given the economic history of the last few decades. The 'productive' have used arbitrage and regulatory capture to produce the most unequal society that this country has seen for over a hundred years, yet somehow you think that the money these people have acquired is independent of the state and its institutions.

But by all means, keep drinking the kool-aid.

[Itssimple]

They are the extractive elites.

[Locke]

38 minutes ago, godnose said:

They are not productive. Their employees are productive. The rich are parasitising their workforce.

A worker produces / does £100 worth of work/capital. The capitalist pays them less than that and sells it for more, pocketing the difference. The capitalists live off the poor. Parasites.

In addition, we all know on this forum where money comes from, so called "demand": poor people taking on debt. Without the poor the rich would vaporise.

If it's so easy, why aren't you a billionaire?

[Locke]

6 minutes ago, tomandlu said:

regulatory capture

So, the State

[tomandlu]

1 minute ago, Locke said:

So, the State

If they're the state, why are you defending them?

[byron78]

21 minutes ago, Locke said:

If it's so easy, why aren't you a billionaire?

I'm a millionaire. 

I was born into it. 

Most of my friends are also millionaires. Don't know any billionaires mind. 

I've never met an entirely self-made millionaire. Does help if you have assets to start with. 

Appreciate the sentiment I've "worked hard" for it, but I disagree. 

I was a professional in insurance until I inherited the family estate. I spent decades in London and I can assure you an awful lot of people live hand and mouth and work bloody hard doing so. The trick to getting rich is to take their wealth from their efforts of course. Trickle it up. How our society largely functions. 

Edited March 7, 2019 by byron78

[Arpeggio]

1 hour ago, byron78 said:

I'm a millionaire. 

I was born into it. 

Most of my friends are also millionaires. Don't know any billionaires mind. 

I've never met an entirely self-made millionaire. Does help if you have assets to start with. 

Appreciate the sentiment I've "worked hard" for it, but I disagree. 

I was a professional in insurance until I inherited the family estate. I spent decades in London and I can assure you an awful lot of people live hand and mouth and work bloody hard doing so. The trick to getting rich is to take their wealth from their efforts of course. Trickle it up. How our society largely functions. 

 

[godnose]

1 hour ago, Locke said:

If it's so easy, why aren't you a billionaire?

byron78 gets to the point here, so I needn't rake over it:

1 hour ago, byron78 said:

I'm a millionaire. 

I was born into it. 

Most of my friends are also millionaires. Don't know any billionaires mind. 

I've never met an entirely self-made millionaire. Does help if you have assets to start with. 

Appreciate the sentiment I've "worked hard" for it, but I disagree. 

I was a professional in insurance until I inherited the family estate. I spent decades in London and I can assure you an awful lot of people live hand and mouth and work bloody hard doing so. The trick to getting rich is to take their wealth from their efforts of course. Trickle it up. How our society largely functions. 

Thank you.

[byron78]

9 minutes ago, godnose said:

byron78 gets to the point here, so I needn't rake over it:

Thank you.

Should add I've resisting taking what I don't need my whole life! 

I was advised to buy up property in the 90s. I do own bits but didn't go mad like some. Do I regret not being greedier? A bit. I underestimated how greedy a lot of my contemporaries are/were and how that mindset has become normalised. 

You're not "greedy". You're "successful". Etc. 

At the end of the day I'm comfortable if a bit lonely. I honestly don't know what drives someone with billions to try to take more. It's always confused me. 

[Big Orange]

Good riddance. These slime balls will eventually run out of bolt holds.

Edited March 7, 2019 by Big Orange

[Dorkins]

4 hours ago, Locke said:

The country would be in a much better shape if people weren't able to use the government to parasitise the most productive members of it.

Agreed, time to euthanase the landlords who are parasitising the workers.

[PeanutButter]

2 hours ago, Dorkins said:

Agreed, time to euthanase the landlords who are parasitising the workers.

What if the landlords are workers too?

[Dorkins]

2 hours ago, PeanutButter said:

What if the landlords are workers too?

They can keep their earned wages but not their unearned ground rents.

[Meerkat]

12 hours ago, godnose said:

They are not productive. Their employees are productive. The rich are parasitising their workforce.

A worker produces / does £100 worth of work/capital. The capitalist pays them less than that and sells it for more, pocketing the difference. The capitalists live off the poor. Parasites.

In addition, we all know on this forum where money comes from, so called "demand": poor people taking on debt. Without the poor the rich would vaporise.

This theory has been proved to be blatantly wrong and yet you still peddle it. How many million people have died globally because of this doctrine? You are even contradicting yourself I suspect as some of the ills you rant about have been brought about not by capitalism proper, but its exact opposite (i.e. omnipotent state), not least through usurping the function of money and credit supply. (The income inequality would be lower and there would be less of the poor if the state and its cronies had a lesser role to play in our daily lives.)

[Meerkat]

12 hours ago, tomandlu said:

That really is mind-blowingly naive, particularly given the economic history of the last few decades. The 'productive' have used arbitrage and regulatory capture to produce the most unequal society that this country has seen for over a hundred years, yet somehow you think that the money these people have acquired is independent of the state and its institutions.

But by all means, keep drinking the kool-aid.

You are quite right observing the outcome, but the causes? Unless there is some misunderstanding and just like Locke you agree that the state and its regulatory, re-distributive power must be cut back to level the playing field for everyone.

[byron78]

1 hour ago, Meerkat said:

You are quite right observing the outcome, but the causes? Unless there is some misunderstanding and just like Locke you agree that the state and its regulatory, re-distributive power must be cut back to level the playing field for everyone.

But that wouldn't level the playing field for everyone. 

It would just get replaced with something else. 

There isn't a single country in the world without some sort of heirectical structure in place. 

And there's a reason for that. 

Natural order. And the people with the money (me) are always always on top. 

If tax havens were accessible to the poor and could be used by everyone they would be banned tomorrow. 

White collar crime doesn't carry the same heavy sentences as blue collar/working class crime. 

Etc etc.

[tomandlu]

9 hours ago, Meerkat said:

You are quite right observing the outcome, but the causes? Unless there is some misunderstanding and just like Locke you agree that the state and its regulatory, re-distributive power must be cut back to level the playing field for everyone.

Money accumulates money - you can demonstrate this with a few lines of code.

My personal belief is that the job of the state is to create a "hostile environment" towards the excesses and reckless exuberance of free-market capitalism - not with the intent of destroying it but with the intent of saving it.

I remain of the belief that it is fundamentally naive to believe that either the state can be removed, or, if it were possible, that the outcome would be "fair".

[winkie]

23 hours ago, Locke said:

They are paying their taxes you towd.

The country would be in a much better shape if people weren't able to use the government to parasitise the most productive members of it.

Are people judged solely on how financially productive they are to themselves or others......the more money you can make the more worthy you are?.....I don't think so.