Head Taxman Is A Tax Evasion Expert [
23 July 2012
]
QUOTE
HMRC have
announced the appointment of Edward Troup as the new Tax Assurance Commissioner
(to take over from Dave Hartnett), and Ian Barlow as the Lead Non-Executive
Director to succeed Mike Clasper.
UNQUOTE
Saw in Private Eye the other day new head Edward Troup quoted as saying in 1999 Taxation is
legalized extortion and only valid to the extent of the law.
Set a thief to catch a thief? Or set a thief to let his little friends get away
with it? To be fair the man is right. Tax is extortion that politicians use to
bribe special interests. The Mafia understands them.
http://www.arrse.co.uk/community/threads/gen-cowans-edict.210998/page-13
Danny_Dravot said:
Is this the city that nearly bankrupt our country -
that relied upon the taxes of the working man to be
bailed out? Where drug-taking, indulgence, opulence,
tax-evasion and uber-complicity in stinking
financial malpractice are rife?
I'll stick to
my working-class values of common decency if you
don't mind....
Hmm,
The bit that failed was a very small part of the City
revenue. The rest was still one of the major contributors to the UK
economy.
I don't like to burst your bubble, but "ordinary
working people" don't actually contribute much in the way of taxes.
First of all, discount anyone employed in the public sector. They
get their
Money from the state, so anything they give back is a
nil sum item. They are a tax burden.
Discount anyone in the
private sector on a relatively low (less than perhaps £30k) wage,
because pretty much everything they pay in taxes will be absorbed by
them in services provided by the state. They are tax neutral.
Only corporations and people in the private sector with higher
incomes pay taxes in excess of the services provided by the state.
They are tax contributors. The City is one of the largest of these,
both corporately and on an individual level.
Anyway, back to
discussing how an email about sandwiches and who writes the thank
you letters will bring about the downfall if the British military.
Rich Pay Far More Tax Than Poor
[ 18 August 2019 ]
QUOTE
A quarter of a century ago, pale with terror, I stumbled in to my first
university history tutorial. It is fair to say that I was not a stunning
success. The subject was the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, something
about which I knew next to nothing. My tutor asked me what I thought held states
together................
And then, after another interminable pause, he
spelled out, perhaps a bit too gleefully: ‘T ... A ... X.’ He was exaggerating,
but he was not entirely wrong. Tax is one of the key pillars of government, and,
indeed, of society itself.............. No taxes would mean no borders, no
roads, no police, no NHS, no state pensions . . . and the list goes on.
A country without taxes is, almost by definition,
a failed state.....................For as the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)
reported this week, the latest HM Revenue & Customs tax data shows that the
percentage of British adults paying income tax has fallen to just 57 per cent,
the lowest figure this century.
UNQUOTE
The
Mail is on the right lines but most
Tax is stolen or wasted. Think of all the parasites
running QUANGOS and paid a lot more than our wonderful prime minister. Lots of
them 'retire' with golden goodbyes and go to work for the firms they gave
multimegabuck contracts. If it sounds like systematic corruption be assured that
it is.
If you doubt the ugly reality look at
The Power of Organized Crime to know
how the underworld and Establishment happily
co-exist.
Taxpayer Defrauded By Government, Lawyers And Third World Liars On The Make
[ 3 June 2020 ]
QUOTE
Hounded veterans demanded an apology from defence chiefs last night after it
emerged that all but one of thousands of war
crime allegations from
Iraq have been thrown out.
More than 3,500 allegations against UK forces
between 2003 and 2009 have already been dismissed by taxpayer-funded probes.
Yesterday an independent investigator looking
at the final few cases said it was ‘quite possible’ none of the claims would
lead to a criminal prosecution.
UNQUOTE
They are deeply, sincerely corrupt. What's new? Not a lot. Recall that
Her Majesty's Government let
Gerry Adams and
Martin McGuinness get away with murder
while
Phil Shiner, a light
fingered, left wing shit on the make was allowed to get away with touting
for business. But HMG does not hesitate to screw men of the
Parachute Regiment. Some things don't change.
How Tax Has Shaped The Course Of Human History
QUOTE
...............You can look back through history, take any notable event,
and, lurking in there somewhere, there is almost always a tax story, without
which things might have been very different.
Jesus Christ was only born in Bethlehem because Mary and Joseph
were there to pay taxes. Taxation paid for man to take his first steps on
the moon. In Britain, income tax was introduced as “the tax to beat
Napoleon” and in many ways it did.
The US Revenue Act of 1942, described by Time magazine as, “the
biggest piece of machinery ever designed to separate dollars from citizens”,
brought income taxes to ordinary Americans for the first time. Those taxes
paid for the US war effort, which was what swung World War II in favour of
the Allies.
I argue that tax has in fact shaped the course of history.
Every war, from ancient Mesopotamia to modern Iraq, was paid
for by some kind of tax. Taxes make wars possible. If you want to end war,
end taxes!
The aim of every conqueror, from Alexander the Great to
Napoleon and beyond, is to take control of the tax base: the land, the
labour, the produce and the profits. Conquerors plunder and then they tax.
Every revolution and revolt has inequitable taxation at its
heart. “No taxation without representation” was the cry of the American
revolutionaries. Ruinous taxes levied by the tsar against peasant farmers
led to the Russian Revolution. Perhaps most explicitly of all, the
Philippine Revolution began with the Cry of Pugad Lawin, exhorting rebels to
tear up their tax certificates.
From Spartacus to Boudicca to Robin Hood to Mahatma Gandhi, the
greatest rebels in history were usually tax rebels.
History looks different when viewed through this lens of
taxation.
Taxation is as old as civilisation itself – probably older –
and in all the years since men first came down from the Zagros mountains to
settle on the fertile plains between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, there
has never been a civilisation without taxation. Taxation is inevitable.
Rulers will always expropriate the labour, the produce and the
profits of people for the greater good of society.
Some see taxes as “a necessary evil”, as Winston Churchill put
it – the price we pay for a civilised society. Others see them as theft.
Both points of view are right. And the art of taxation is
surely to cause as little disruption as possible to people’s lives – as
Louis XIV’s infamous finance minister put it, to pluck “the most possible
feathers with the least possible hissing”.
But Louis XIV’s finances were a mess. His successors adopted
his poor habits and his contemptuous attitude towards his subjects’ wealth,
and the eventual result was the French Revolution. We should be wary of
taking said finance minister’s advice.
The evolution of tax and the state
Taxes should not be about milking the system for everything you
can. They should be fair. Today’s tax systems are anything but. Labour is
taxed heavily, capital barely at all. The result is a society skewed towards
asset ownership Ten percent is the ancient proportion – the tithe. The number
goes all the way back to ancient Mesopotamia, and was adopted across ancient
cultures, whether Chinese, Egyptian, Indian, Greek, Roman, Carthaginian,
Phoenician or Arabic.
We tend to think of the tithe as a tax paid to the church, but
the distinction between god, king, ruler, church and government was not
always clear, and often they were one and the same. Some scholars argue that
ancient cultures arrived at the figure of one tenth because we have ten
fingers, and calculations were often made using one’s fingers. It is a
natural number.
Just like taxes today, tithing paid for wars and defence, for
buildings and infrastructure, for the lavish lifestyles of leaders, but also
for alms. Almsgiving is an essential feature of just about every religion –
indeed, I would say it is a part of human nature – and one of the main roles
of the church through history was to provide the contemporary equivalents of
welfare, healthcare and education, responsibilities that have now largely
passed to government.
That 10% figure lasted right up until the 20th century. In
1900, government spending was much lower and taxes played a far less
prominent role in our lives. In the US, it was around just 7% of GDP; in the
UK, it was 9%; in France, 13%. Of nations in the modern era, Sweden in 1870
had the lowest spending, at just 5.7% of GDP.
These low rates of tax ended with World War I and have never
been seen since. At least not in the West. Countries such as Hong Kong and
Singapore kept their taxes below 15% of GDP in the second half of the 20th
century, and their economies consequently boomed.
In authoritarian or totalitarian societies such as Soviet
Russia or North Korea, people have virtually no ownership of their labour,
their produce or their profit. Government takes it all. On the other hand,
in ancient Greece, many taxes were voluntary.
The developed world today sits somewhere in the middle of those
two extremes. Excluding inflation (itself a form of tax), if you are a
typical American, roughly 38% of everything you ever earn is taken from you
in taxes. In the UK, 45%. In France, the figure is an eye-watering 57%.
Ultimately, tax is power. Whether king, emperor or government,
if they lose their tax revenue, they lose their power. This rule has always
applied, from the first king of ancient Sumer to the social democracies of
today. Taxes are the fuel on which the state’s operations run. Limit taxes,
and you limit ruling power.
Daylight Robbery – How Tax Shaped The Past And Will Change The Future
is available at Amazon and all good bookstores with the audiobook, read by
me, on
Audible and elsewhere. If you want a signed copy – and what could make a
nicer Christmas pressie? –
you can order one here.
UNQUOTE
Quite a sensible look at the business. He might even cover the waste and theft
that goes with it.
Biden, Obama, Holder & Clinton Accused Of Major Tax Fraud
[ 9 November 2020 ]
QUOTE
Today David A. Keene discusses an oft-ignored international scandal
involving tax evasion at the highest levels leading back to Washington,
D.C.’s corridors of power. To understand all of the particulars, David spoke
with whistleblower Brad Birkenfeld. Birkenfeld worked at the Swiss
investment bank UBS, offering wealth management services before returning to
the United States and disclosing Switzerland’s banking secrecy laws:
According to Birkenfeld, key figures in this scandal include Barack Obama,
Joe Biden, Eric Holder, and Hillary Clinton. When Birkenfeld appeared before
the United States Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on
Investigations in 2007 and shared knowledge of UBS’s illegal practices
taking advantage of federal tax law, then-Senator Barack Obama was
conspicuously absent..............
According to Birkenfeld, that’s only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
Next comes Joe Biden and his implacable [ sic ] Delaware roots.
UNQUOTE
Bradley Birkenfeld, the author of
Lucifer's Banker fingers Joe Biden,
Obama, Hillary
Clinton et al but, presumably was not get sued for
Libel. His book fail to convince all of its
buyers however
UBS Was Ordered To Pay $5 Billion For Tax Evasion. It kept the directors
out of prison. It was only other people's money so it was well worth it.
Oxbridge Man Gets An Extra Ten Years But Keeps £11 Million
[ 20 August 2021 ]
QUOTE
An environmental
scientist who was jailed for his role in Britain's biggest ever tax fraud
has had 10 years added onto his prison sentence after failing to pay back
millions of pounds.
Michael R
, one of
five businessmen involved, was ordered to pay back £11million of his
ill-gotten gains from the fake 'green' investment scheme which saw
celebrities, including comedians, sports stars and relatives of politicians,
swindled out of £107million.
The 59-year-old, who was described as the
leader of the fraudulent scheme, was originally convicted of cheating the
public revenue and sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2017.
When sentenced, Richards was described by the
judge as a 'fraudster to his core' who was in control of the scheme in
partnership with Gold and splashed his share on a £2.7m house and splashed
out £32,000 on a diamond engagement ring for his girlfriend from luxury
Mayfair jewellers Boodles.
Two years later, the CPS Proceeds of
Crime Division successfully applied to the court for Richards to pay back
£9,999,999 of his ill-gotten gains which has now risen to £11.1 million with
interest.
UNQUOTE
That extra ten year stretch is worth better than a million a year. It is tax
free too. But will his friends rob him? The government tried to with the
interest they added on.
Chancellor Of The Exchequer Uses Fancy Footwork Against Tax
[10 April 2022 ]
QUOTE
Rishi Sunak was facing questions over his own financial affairs last
night after it emerged he kept
Boris Johnson in the dark about his family’s complex tax arrangements.
In a remarkable development, Mr Sunak confirmed reports that he had
continued to hold a US green card until October last year. It means the
Chancellor was classed as a ‘permanent resident’ of the United States while
living in
Downing Street.
In another twist last night, the Independent claimed that the Chancellor
had been named as the beneficiary of trusts held in tax havens in the
British Virgin isles and the Cayman Islands.
The newspaper claimed to have seen documents ‘linked to Miss Murty, her
family and companies linked to their businesses... In a number of them, Mr
Sunak was listed as a beneficiary.’ A Treasury source said Mr Sunak, his
wife and her wealthy family were not aware of any trusts naming the
Chancellor as a beneficiary.
Treasury sources confirmed Mr Sunak, who
worked in America for a decade before entering politics, had also continued
to file annual US tax returns until last year.
UNQUOTE
Sunak makes the
rules, including the exceptions. Who helps make the leaks? Try any of the
Big Four accountants. They were the Big Five until
Arthur
Andersen came unstuck, proving that Audits are
pretty much worthless. It was also goodbye to
Enron. Her Indoors
aka
Akshata Murthy is alleged to be a non-dom [
non-domiciled ] in spite of living next door to
Her Majesty's Prime Minister. Of course it is all legal or, realistically
never going to be prosecuted. If your face fits you get away with all sorts.
NB The previous
Treasurer of the Conservative Party bought his way in using hefty bungs &
staying out of prison. See e.g.
#New Tory Treasurer is Director of 7 Companies With Overdue Accounts. The
current one is a Pakistani, Malik Karim a greed driven chancer - see
Tory treasurer 'to make a fortune from the sale of LV to US private equity firm'
ex Daily Mail.
