can pay, won’t pay
Let’s not beat around the bush, the 50% tax rate is on borrowed time. You know it, I know it and politicians of all colour and persuasion, know it. Thankfully, for the time being it’s too visible and too sensitive for posh Dave and Georgie-Boy to do anything about just yet. The public outcry would be loud and vociferous, and with Vince Cable having to fall on his sword, the coalition would dissolve. Mark my words though, six months before the next general election it will be cast aside in the same manner as the coalition will be, further highlighting it is no more than a marriage of convenience.
With small man Sarkozy introducing a 3% increase on their super-rich, the taxing of Europe’s rich & wealthy is a hot topic currently. High profile philanthropists such as Warren Buffett, Lilaine Bettencourt and Bill Gates are setting an admirable example of both giving huge amounts of cash away as well as opening themselves up to fair and accurate taxation but they are in the minority.
Old Etonian Osborne’s Swiss deal of a one-off charge of 34% should net the treasury close to £5bn but it’s still less than the tax evaders would have paid if they’d have declared their income in the first place and, perhaps more importantly to them, they still retain their anonymity. Half the world’s income is funnelled through the legally approved tax havens and are routinely used by multinationals, financial institutions, oligarchs, fraudsters and Gaddafi! That’s why GE paid no taxes in 2010 despite profits of $14.2bn and News Corp paid no UK corporation tax for over eleven years. A crackdown on tax havens would not be an attack on wealth creation but an attempt on creating a fair and level playing field for individuals and business alike.
