bren2k wrote:Not my words - the words of Dodgy Dave when he condemned people (using the comedian Jimmy Carr as an example) for using an off-shore vehicle to avoid tax.
Whatever the historical justification, or the practical implementation of the system as it stands - it is what it is; and it seems fairly clear that for the super-rich 1% and large companies, it's optional. That can't be right.
Sure, let's just do away with any sense of realism and continue discussing the matter within the safe confines of a fantasy paradigm. I guess the issue is just too big for you. Although since 99% of the guff I've seen written or spoken on this topic demonstrates similar levels of unsophistication and naivete I suppose you are in excellent company.
I'm probably wasting my time but here goes ... regardless of what you or I believe the determining factor of what is "right" in any civilization is Might. Whilst there have been moments in history when the super-rich (corporations are modern concept) have contributed more to the pot - such as under the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, they have never truly bore their full share of the tax burden stretching all the way back into antiquity.
Politicians have ALWAYS talked tough on tax whilst treading very softly because to do otherwise is to court disaster. Just look at the political fallout which tore apart the Roman Republic in the wake of what were some very modest reforms proposed by the Gracchi brothers.
Presidents and prime ministers have been KILLED for merely suggesting tax reforms so what makes you think a little snot like Cameron is going to bully Real Power into coughing up more money when the trend has been in the opposite direction for decades?
These people are
NOT going to pay their taxes and there's
NOTHING the Prime Minister can do to change this situation without setting in motion events which will result in him not being Prime Minister any more. Period. Whining about him being unable to achieve the unachievable whilst attaching significance to his criticisms of some comedic non-entity is just symptomatic of the bubbles of self-delusion most people prefer to live within these days.
Before I'd read so much as a word written on what have now come to be known as the "Panama Papers" I said this was a pre-planned operation, Vladimir Putin would be the first individual targeted and there would be very few Westerners implicated which aren't expendable or susceptible to being squeezed (as Cameron clearly is in the run up to key decisions on our relationship with the EU).
This is a media-driven story from start to finish and few if anyone would give a poop if it weren't for them bombarding us with the idea that we do. Whilst the sums talked about are new (and if you believe them more fool you) Cameron's "dodgy" tax-avoidance has been in the public domain for years without anyone raising so much as a pitchfork.
The real story here is NOT how much Cameron and his old man managed to fleece HMRC out of - it's
WHY has he suddenly become a target
NOW when any journalist worth his salt could have pursued the question to some satisfactory resolution years ago but didn't.