A Corporate Coup d?Etat You thought elections counted for something? Look at what wasn’t in the manifesto. By George Monbiot. Published in the Guardian 8th February 2011 “I would love to see tax reductions,” David Cameron told an interviewer at the weekend, “but when you’re borrowing 11 per cent of your GDP, it’s not possible to make significant net tax cuts. It just isn’t.”(1) Oh no? If you’ve heard nothing of it, you’re in good company. At the moment tax law ensures that companies based here, with branches in other countries, don’t get taxed twice on the same money. Foreign means anywhere. But that’s not the end of it. These measures will drain not only wealth but also jobs from the UK. So how did this happen? I used to think of such processes as regulatory capture: government agencies being taken over by the companies they were supposed to restrain. Reading Treasure Islands, I’ve realised that injustice of the kind described in this column is not a perversion of the system; it is the system. www.monbiot.com
Tax havens are not fair and only benefit global elites By Daniel Tsai Tues., Nov. 14, 2017 When it costs as much as $1,200 an hour to hire a top tax lawyer in Canada for offshore tax planning, tax havens have long been a tool of wealthy elites and corporations and not normal tax planning for ordinary citizens who clearly can’t afford such fees. These global elites take advantage of tax havens that, as sovereign countries, can do whatever they want with their taxation laws, including charging little or no taxes, and allowing favourable banking secrecy laws and solicitor client privilege, to hide wealth and income. Tax havens, given their small size and distant and exotic locales, have little to no local economy of their own, except to handsomely profit off the legal and financial service industries that set up tax avoidance structures. These jurisdictions have no incentive to ensure that extremely wealthy Canadians, or other global elites, pay their fair share of domestic taxes.
Taxation of the financial sector - European commission The Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) The proposal of 14 February 2013…and the way ahead The original proposal of 28 September 2011…and its fate Is the FTT as proposed in compliance with international taxation and European law? Background information (Documents, links, videos) The proposal of 14 February 2013 … On 14 February 2013, the European Commission tabled a proposal for a Council Directive implementing enhanced cooperation. the proposal itself (COM/2013/71 ), the impact assessment (SWD/2013/28 ) and its summary (SWD/2013/29 ), an updated presentation(946 kB) illustrating the features, impacts and functioning of the proposed framework, as well as non-technical(42 kB) and more technical answers(268 kB) to questions raised on the functioning and impacts of the proposal. Through the FTT, as proposed, the financial sector will properly participate in the cost of re-building the economies and bolstering the public finances of the participating Member States. … and the way ahead ).
Offshore Incorporation, Offshore Incorporating Solutions Taxman faces probe into £6bn Vodafone 'let-off' By Lucy FarndonUPDATED: 09:15 GMT, 20 January 2011 Tax bosses are facing an inquiry into how they strike deals with multinationals following accusations that Vodafone was let off a £6bn bill. The National Audit Office yesterday confirmed it was in the 'early stages' of the probe and will look into how tax inspectors reach settlements with large firms. The investigation is the latest in a series of embarrassments for HMRC. Previous bungles include losing the personal data and bank details of 25m people, as well as other similar losses of sensitive data. An NAO spokesman said: 'We are reviewing HMRC's procedures for resolving tax disputes. The results of the review will be published in July. The probe will cause a further dent to morale within the tax office, which is already marred by infighting between disaffected employees. Some HMRC staff are unhappy at the approach taken by controversial tax chief Dave Hartnett. HMRC has said that the suggestion that Vodafone owed £6bn is an 'urban myth'.
Category:Offshore finance From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to search The offshore finance industry refers to the use of structures in offshore financial centres in connection with financing transactions. Subcategories This category has the following 6 subcategories, out of 6 total. Pages in category "Offshore finance" The following 69 pages are in this category, out of 69 total. Centro Nuovo Modello di Sviluppo Delaware - The Onshore Offshore Offshore tax havens bring to mind tropical islands or Alpine towns. But the preferred location for organized crime figures and corrupt politicians worldwide is the US state of Delaware. Last month, prosecutors for the Romanian Unit to Fight Organized Crime and Terrorism arrested an offshore registry agent named Laszlo Kiss for masterminding an embezzlement and laundering operation for executives of a Romanian oil services company. Kiss is the author of a book promoting his business – and outlining just how to take advantage of the tiny state of Delaware to avoid taxes and launder money. Delaware has long been criticized for an incorporation process that leaves it vulnerable to criminal activity. Delaware is becoming the choice of drug dealers, organized crime and corrupt politicians to evade taxes and launder money, an investigation of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) found. The Tax Justice Network listed the tiny state as their No. 1offender in their 2009
To us, it's an obscure shift of tax law. To the City, it's the heist of the century | George Monbiot 'I would love to see tax reductions," David Cameron told the Sunday Telegraph at the weekend, "but when you're borrowing 11% of your GDP, it's not possible to make significant net tax cuts. It just isn't." Oh no? Then how come he's planning the biggest and crudest corporate tax cut in living memory? If you've heard nothing of it, you're in good company. The obscure adjustments the government is planning to the tax acts of 1988 and 2009 have been missed by almost everyone – and are, anyway, almost impossible to understand without expert help. Like the dismantling of the NHS and the sale of public forests, no one voted for this measure, as it wasn't in the manifestos. At the moment tax law ensures that companies based here, with branches in other countries, don't get taxed twice on the same money. Foreign means anywhere. But that's not the end of it. These measures will drain not only wealth but also jobs from the UK. So how did this happen? And this government?
Tackle Tax Havens Why offshore? A lesson from Cameron | The Offshore Funds Blog As we saw today in the House of Commons, David Cameron is quite capable of defending himself over his ownership of shares in an investment fund before he became Prime Minister and so this blog is certainly not intending to act as cheerleader or critic of the points he made. But his circumstances create a valuable “teaching moment” for this blog and for those that question why investment funds are traditionally set up offshore in the first place. Blairemore Holdings Inc, the entity in which he held shares from 1997 through to 2010, is an investment fund. Originally incorporated in Panama, it was operated out of the Bahamas and moved to Ireland in 2010. It invests in global equities and has a minimum subscription amount of US$100,000. Therefore, investing in this type of fund structure doesn’t even amount to lawful tax avoidance, let alone illegal tax evasion. Clearly, the case for offshore funds is nuanced, complex and not well suited to tabloid headlines or 140 character twitter feeds.
Warning: they want us to pay the private sector to make a profit from NHS Why does the Health Secretary think that the private sector needs a subsidy to be able to enter the market for services now provided by the NHS? Because public provision is a more efficient way to do things, maybe? But then why get rid of it? Why does the Health Secretary think that the private sector needs a subsidy to be able to enter the market for services now provided by the NHS? The Department of Health has just published its 165-page “ Health and Social Care Bill 2011 Impact Assessments ”. What a convenient conclusion for the private sector. The largest is that NHS staff have generous, subsidised pensions. The Daily Telegraph recently highlighted the case of David Metter, chief executive of Innisfree, the PFI company which owns or part-owns 28 hospitals as well as 269 schools. The second major distortion relates to cost of capital. The third distortion is that private companies have to pay corporation tax. <div class="disqus-noscript"><a href="