
The UK will now become a tax haven for the rich - zhengiszen
https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/uk/uk-will-now-become-tax-haven-rich/
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bonaldi
The rich are busily withdrawing their money from the UK as fast as possible,
and the closest thing to government policy right now is "er, we'll leave
Europe but stay in Europe", so let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

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zhengiszen
That is a normal reaction in the near future, because London will lose its
role as the European Banking Authority among other things... but in the long
run, freed from the EU regulation, it only remains for the UK to become a big
tax heaven among the likes of Switzerland and the British Virgin Islands.

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ricksplat
Tax havens are so 2015. At a time when there is a rising impetus towards
closing tax loop-holes the UK is going to try to differentiate its economy by
exploiting them? It might just work, for London, but the UK is just too big to
fly under the radar, and in any case it's difficult to build a domestic
economy of the size of the UK on crumbs from the rich man's table ...

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jkot
I am pro EU, but this article is just garbage. UK already is tax heaven for
rich.

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alistairSH
UK, or London? Serious question - the concentration of finance and money in
the City of London makes me wonder if the city has some different rules than
the rest of the UK.

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m_t
The City of London[1] is not London[2] and, yes, it has different rules.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London)
[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London)

~~~
alistairSH
That's why I was asking - I'm aware the City has all sorts of different rules
because of it's history. I just don't know how those rules impact banking,
finance, etc.

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phillc73
It's interesting that this article mentioned Ireland with regards to corporate
taxes. I don't know the background to the Apple story noted in the article,
but I am well aware that corporate tax is not standardised across Europe.[1]

Ireland also has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the EU at 12.5%. I'm
about to embark on a new venture which will require a Limited company. Ireland
is extremely attractive due to the low corporate tax rate and the ease of
starting a new Limited company. The other good options are the Baltic
countries, such as Estonia, but things are more complex in terms of initial
capital costs and somewhat of a language barrier. Or go properly offshore.

If the UK really wanted to become a tax haven for the rich, they would lower
corporate and top personal tax rates. There are some plans to lower UK
corporate tax from 20% to 18%, but it's still not really enough to entice many
and lay claim to being a tax haven.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_rates_in_Europe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_rates_in_Europe)

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throwaway987611
All this doom and gloom for the UK is laughable.

Lets say the UK government did this.

1) Lowest business taxes in Europe.

2) Least amount of red tape for businesses in Europe.

3) High Priority Visas for tech people and other sectors like bio,
engineering, etc.

4) Investment for setting up businesses.

Pretty much, things that a conservative government which is pro business does.

In one fell swoop they can keep the current businesses here and make the UK
attractive for foreign investment and also, with a strong economy. Once again
make it a safe bet and keep that AAA rating.

I really wouldn't bet on the UK imploding. Those who say it will, don't know
what they are talking about

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bryanlarsen
Your #1 and #2 say "in Europe". Either Britain will be part of the EEA so they
can't have less red tape than the rest of Europe, or they aren't in the EEA so
the "in Europe" part of your statements isn't relevant.

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phillc73
As much as many Leave voters might wish for it, the geographic position of the
United Kingdom is unlikely to change and therefore they will remain part of
Europe.

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mathattack
It sounds like this is aimed more at companies than anything else. The UK can
now offer tax deals that other countries can't.

What's strange is this happens between states in the US. Part of it is
differences in state tax rates, and part is a willingness to cut special deals
to get corporate headquarters.

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hocuspocus
> The UK can now offer tax deals that other countries can't.

This isn't so simple. If the UK wants to keep access to the EEA, it
effectively won't.

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mathattack
Yes - my point is that the title suggests that it's about rich people doing
tax arbitrage. The article is more about companies.

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kowdermeister
It would be interesting development if they turned their (already compelling)
corporate structures into something Monaco like :)

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pipio21
ohhhhh nohh!!!!!!, just like Gibraltar? Isle of man? Jersey? British virgin
Islands?

UK is already a tax haven for the rich. Without it, "the City" wouldn't be the
the City.

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Bombthecat
Even if, another tax haven. So what?

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FuturePromise
This is much ado about nothing, as a famous Brit once said.

The UK could also become a monarchy again, or it could try to invade France.
This is crazy agenda-driven speculation that belongs on Breitbart or DailyKos,
not Hacker news.

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alistairSH
_And what 's a "tax haven for the rich?" You know why there are no "tax havens
for the poor?" Because they don't pay taxes._

Poppycock. The poor pay plenty of taxes... sales tax/VAT, SSI/employment tax,
property tax (on cars, in some areas).

You know exactly what is meant by "tax haven". Playing semantic games doesn't
make the practice of shifting wealth to avoid taxes any less unsavory, even if
it is legal.

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vixen99
Many UK citizens have an ISA which is a special account devised by the UK
government, exempt from income tax and capital gains tax on investment
returns. In other words, it allows you to shift wealth to avoid taxes. Is this
unsavory?

Hate to keep repeating it but everybody arranges their affairs to minimize
their tax bill thereby avoiding tax. It's not only legal, it's sensible. The
government sets the rules (and changes or repeals them if it wishes) and good
citizens obey them to the letter. If there's a highly devious suspect scheme
afoot to minimize tax, the courts are there to examine it and make a
judgement; if it is deemed to be tax evasion then serious consequences will
and should follow.

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alistairSH
Are those accounts tax exempt, or tax deferred? The equivalent in the US is
called a 401k, which is just tax deferred. Still shifting wealth, so I suppose
we're talking shades of gray.

Anyway, I'd just as soon do away with market-distorting tax code like tax-
advantaged retirement accounts, mortgage interest deductions, etc and just
lower the marginal rates accordingly.

