
UK 'a tax haven for multinationals' (2014) - dragonbonheur
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27187398
======
Theodores
It is quite hard to think of a tax haven that is not part of the Commonwealth
or former British Empire, Panama being one of the few. A true tax haven is a
different thing to mechanisms like the 'Double Irish', seems UK PLC is getting
even with that.

The Square Mile - 'City of London' \- is like a country within a country too,
so lots of strange finance things go on with London being one big black hole
that money orbits, mysteriously.

This is how Britain punches above its weight to make London a 'world city' as
far as global capitalism is concerned. This has been going on for centuries.

~~~
cylinder
Australia also has very lax money laundering laws, it is said that Mossack
Fonseca would have faced less regulation being based in Australia vs Panama.

Tories are all about extracting wealth through property and money management
(tax avoidance and money laundering are forms of asset management really).

~~~
jamessb
Australia is in the Commonwealth:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_states_of_the_Commonwea...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_states_of_the_Commonwealth_of_Nations)

------
rmc
And don't forget the Channel Islands and Isle of Mann. Lots of sorta-British
tax havens there.

~~~
anexprogrammer
You missed a few British territories.

Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Jersey, Isle of Man, and Bermuda is
the full list I think.

Makes statements from Cameron on the topic especially hypocritical.

~~~
loopbit
You forgot Gibraltar, but your point stands.

~~~
dghughes
What about the City of London within London does it have separate banking
rules?

~~~
pjc50
The "city" as a social group has a lot of _indirect_ influence. The City of
London Corporation is an unusually-shaped local authority with a long history.
It's not the banking regulator, that falls between the BoE and the FSA. The
City does however have control of the anti-fraud police.

------
mentos
Anyone else feel like the problem here isn't tax havens but the tax system.

Is there a better approach than collecting taxes?

What if inflation was used as a tax (printing money)?

~~~
Hermel
That's why VAT is such a popular tax in Europe. It is very hard to evade. As
soon as you spend money, you pay taxes.

~~~
scurvy
What about VAT fraud? A couple of shell companies and not only have you evaded
the tax, you've now profited from it.

~~~
Hermel
It's certainly possible, but still much harder to evade than a sales tax or an
income tax.

------
mavhc
So is USA of course, as shown on The Daily Show. 15 second clip:
[https://youtu.be/pm_a58S1NjU?t=27](https://youtu.be/pm_a58S1NjU?t=27)

------
known
UK is also a haven for fugitives
[http://www.economist.com/news/business/21697271-after-
good-t...](http://www.economist.com/news/business/21697271-after-good-times-
comes-reckoning-vijay-mallya-hangover)

------
guard-of-terra
Для многонационалов.

If you understand what I'm getting at.

~~~
mtmail
That translates to "for multinational". I don't understand what you're getting
at though.

~~~
guard-of-terra
A person who fits a profile:

\- Born in Russia

\- Speaks Russian

\- Holds or used to be holding Russian passport

\- Does not really consider oneself Russian or answers "I'm Russian, but"

\- Does not respect Russians, not really, but knows what's better for them

\- Probably has ancestors who were important Soviet officials, often in some
now-independent Republics

\- Liberal political outlook but ends up backing Putinism when acting

\- Probably owns something in London, Miami, Nice

\- Family members living in aforementioned locations

\- Probably sits in government or duma or connected to such officials

\- In a position for which it's hard to reason if they are competent and how
their life trajectory landed them there

That's the people who run & own Russia for all its sorry state.

~~~
mtmail
Thanks a lot!

------
vixen99
Tangentially - if there's no tax rate competition which seems to be the
desired goal of many, there's nothing to stop politicians continuing to bribe
their electorate with bread and circuses paid for by that electorate's money.
The gigantic debt mountains in the US and the EU demonstrate the degree to
which they do that. And when it's all over, out of office, out of
responsibility! Companies have of course to keep prudent accounts or go out of
business.

~~~
Ontheflyflyfly
" if there's no tax rate competition"

The point is, these executives are not living in Ireland or Panama but in the
valley or some highly developed country in Europe. So while the enjoy the
benefits of those countries, the want to avoid paying taxes.

No one has anything against people who want to enjoy Irish tax laws who move
to Ireland. Or people who want to have a company in Panama to move to Panama.

~~~
icebraining
That's a novel position. So US companies, whose executives presumably live in
the US, shouldn't open an EU subsidiary, and vice-versa? Is it wrong for
Toyota to open a subsidiary in the US?

Not to mention that executives don't "have" companies, shareholders do.

~~~
Ontheflyflyfly
Yes, if the executives at Apple decide that they want to pay corporate taxes
in Ireland instead of the US to reduce their taxes and increase their income,
they should move Apple to Ireland from the valley.

You can twist my words to "Is it wrong for Toyota to open a subsidiary in the
US?" as you like, it doesn't change the point.

Some people bring arguments, some play word games "Not to mention that
executives don't "have" companies"

------
dragonbonheur
Speaks volumes why Obama wants the UK to remain in the EU. His corporate
handlers know that it is inevitable that taxes will increase if there is a
Brexit.

~~~
vidarh
That makes no sense. The EU countries with higher tax levels are constantly
pushing to reign in the EU "tax havens", whereas outside the EU, the UK will
be free to use even lower tax rates and more tax breaks as a means of
retaining and attracting international business, and may need to, in order to
prevent an exodus from the City etc.

~~~
varjag
To be fair, exiting EU would put the UK at disadvantage as EU tax heaven /
headquarters beachhead. Common customs and VAT space goes out of the window,
as well as hundreds other compliance regulations tying the EU together.
Luxembourg and Cyprus will certainly get a lot of new business.

But I really doubt Obama rationales have anything to do with that.

~~~
dragonbonheur
Obama by himself, no. But the executives from which he raised money will make
him do and say anything they want.

~~~
fauigerzigerk
No one can make a US president in his last year in office say anything.

~~~
dragonbonheur
TPP and the manner with which it was discussed proves otherwise... Obama is a
moderate Republican, really.

[https://theintercept.com/2015/05/12/cant-read-tpp-heres-
huge...](https://theintercept.com/2015/05/12/cant-read-tpp-heres-huge-
corporations-can/)

[http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/24/barack-
obama-...](http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/24/barack-obama-fast-
track-trade-deal-tpp-senate)

[http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/27/corporations...](http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/may/27/corporations-
paid-us-senators-fast-track-tpp)

~~~
fauigerzigerk
Please explain to me how this proves or even just suggests that Obama was
forced to say anything.

