Not a tax haven.

[myrtle bradley]

It's good to see The Prime Minister's family using tax havens, it's good to get high profile customers in. The Governor used to come to Ramsey Co-Op for his gin, did it the world of good.

[Gladys]

The focus seems to be on the more exotic jurisdictions like Belize (when I think of Belize, I think of the Marlon Brando realm in Apocalypse Now) and Cook Islands. Let's hope the the likes of Jersey, IOM etc. aren't lumped in with them.

[the stinking enigma]

looking at the other places involved it seems pretty clear to me that anyone involved in finacial services on the isle of man must have seriously fucked up somewhere along the line. its the equivalent of an army posting to the Falkland Isles

[pongo]

The focus seems to be on the more exotic jurisdictions like Belize ... Let's hope the the likes of Jersey, IOM etc. aren't lumped in with them.

 

That's an unrealistic hope. The public sees all things 'offshore' as part of the same.

[notwell]

Radio 4 has been full of it this morning.

 

Some interviewees were inaccurate in their facts, some more accurate, not that that matters, offshore tax dodging is becoming a hysteria.

 

One interesting question to a senior (ex) Attorney General or similar.......

 

Q. Is it right that rich people can legitimately avoid taxes by using dodgy offshore structures?

A. That is a moral question.

 

Interestingly he did go on to say that the UK could indeed shut down BVI, however it has a moral responsibly to consider the consequences as to do so would "destroy" the economy of the territory.

You can't legitimately avoid something using dodgy structures. That makes it illegal.

 

The UK are in an interesting position here. And the information (be that all above board or not) on Cameron's father has thrown an additional spanner in the works for the current administration.

The truth of the matter is that the UK government (and those previous) need tax avoidance. They actually encourage it on lots of levels. There are several hundred thousand Personal Service Companies in the UK and many of them were working for government. They need foreign investment. They provide incentives to invest by providing a platform to avoid tax. All quite above board.

 

And the reality is that the rank and file person in the street really doesn't care that much. They are far too immersed in their own lives.

 

These token payments made by the likes of Facebook/Google etc are just that - token payments. And i don't see the UK Government telling Ireland what to do (and Microsoft et al are not sat in Ireland because it's a great craic).

 

I saw a report where some Panorama guy collared a bloke walking in the park about a house sale. He'd already contacted the guy who had given a full and detailed response. So he collars him in the park. To ask him the same question. FFS, is that the best they can do?

[woolley]

Eddie Teare was on this morning with the standard "we are not a tax haven" line, and quoting the automatic information exchange agreements, but surely these are limited in scope. I think we need a better defence than that ready.

[one hung low]

It's good to see The Prime Minister's family using tax havens, it's good to get high profile customers in. The Governor used to come to Ramsey Co-Op for his gin, did it the world of good.

Jah hah! That reminds me, of The Bishop, complete with robes, often visiting the Savings & Investment Bank. It did the bank the world of good too.

 

(Mind you, one of the directors was a church confidante and the Bishop got the word that the bank was in shit street a few months prior to the doors closing)

[notwell]

Eddie Teare was on this morning with the standard "we are not a tax haven" line, and quoting the automatic information exchange agreements, but surely these are limited in scope. I think we need a better defence than that ready.

I'm not sure we do.

What more can he say? It's true that the IOM has spent the last 10 plus years complying with every directive and putting together numerous exchange of information agreements long before FATCA and CRS reared their heads.

 

I suspect the Isle of Man will feature very little in this shit storm. I've always been amazed at how some of the other places have rarely been mentioned when the tax avoidance debate comes up. The likes of Panama and the BVI have long been overdue a shoeing.

[one hung low]

You used to be able to go into the Companies Registry when it was on Bucks Road and look up such as directors' names etc.

 

You can't do that anymore.

 

The Isle of Man has become more secretive in this respect.

[thesultanofsheight]

Eddie Teare was on this morning with the standard "we are not a tax haven" line, and quoting the automatic information exchange agreements, but surely these are limited in scope. I think we need a better defence than that ready.

It's not whether the IOM is specifically mentioned or implicated. It's the huge political backlash they are trying to generate against "offshore" (which is starting to mean anywhere outside of London). They have already debated shutting the BVI down as an overseas territory. It's not a quantum leap for them to start pushing the agenda against us, Jersey etc, as the public gets rabid and the socialists start cranking it up. It won't matter what agreements we have signed by then. This whole morality piece is just divisive; if it applied to all other things that were entirely legal to do and yet were deemed immoral by some sections of society then society could not function. It's almost like going back to the days of the puritans. Most of the stuff highlighted on Panarama was out and out evasion which deserves to be exposed but the moral argument over entirely legal avoidance which is being merged and intermeshed with these headlines does not stack up.

Edited April 5, 2016 by thesultanofsheight

[Shake me up Judy]

The guy in the park that was interviewed on the Panorama programme, hadn't declared or paid any tax anywhere (never mind to HMRC). The million quid profit he made on an Islington property sale just disappeared into a secret offshore account, probably to be laundered back to him.

[thesultanofsheight]

The guy in the park that was interviewed on the Panorama programme, hadn't declared or paid any tax anywhere (never mind to HMRC). The million quid profit he made on an Islington property sale just disappeared into a secret offshore account, probably to be laundered back to him.

He's probably got it coming then. That's tax evasion.

[notwell]

You used to be able to go into the Companies Registry when it was on Bucks Road and look up such as directors' names etc.

 

You can't do that anymore.

 

The Isle of Man has become more secretive in this respect.

That isn't true.

You can go online and get any of that information.

[woolley]

The guy in the park that was interviewed on the Panorama programme, hadn't declared or paid any tax anywhere (never mind to HMRC). The million quid profit he made on an Islington property sale just disappeared into a secret offshore account, probably to be laundered back to him.

Loads of UK property held in Manx companies though, according to what I read.

[the stinking enigma]

any mention of Delaware anywhere yet or is the plan to convince the plebs this sort of thing only happens offshore?