This Panama Papers leak is going to make a lot of very rich, powerful people very uncomfortable

[Classic Jorge]

https://news.vice.com/article/the-panama-papers-massive-leak -reveals-the-global-elites-secret-cash-havens?utm_source=vic enewsfb (https://news.vice.com/article/the-panama-papers-massive-leak-reveals-the-global-elites-secret-cash-havens?utm_source=vicenewsfb)

[Berni]

him) and the Prime Minister of Iceland (who knew they had one?) in terms of political figures so far is a bit disappointing.

[Luis Anaconda]

Lesbian I believe so you may argue she doesn't exist. Our driver who seemed to know everyone on the island just pulled up and parked outside her official residence. She popped her head out the door and said hi

[Classic Jorge]

...to analyse it at all.

If they do what they did with the MP's expenses then everyone should be able to start wading through it looking for some c**t they dont like.

Open journalism :cloud9:

[Classic Jorge]

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

Rich people keep their money offshore?

Erm, we sort of knew that, didn't we?

[Classic Jorge]

Now there's some juicy evidence of the wheres, whats and whys of it.

I do find it interesting that alongside the "legitimate businesspeople" there's also a lot of crooked mafia and cartel stuff going on. It's almost like there's some sort of confluence in their business models or something.

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

Are you sure about that?

[Berni]

https://geirgigja.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/sigmundur-davc3adc3b0.jpg

[Classic Jorge]

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

Even by your standards, that is quite amazing.

[Berni]

If a rich chap legally protects his assets from the taxman, no-one is in the least surprised or particularly cares.

[Classic Jorge]

I mean, surely the nicest possible reason you could want/need one would be avoision.

[Berni]

[Steve Williams - gay for Mark Knopfler]

As in legal tax avoidance.

[Berni]

[Classic Jorge]

[Berni]

[Classic Jorge]

[eastgermanautos]

financing. maybe he will be spooked?

[eastgermanautos]

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

Stunning.

[Classic Jorge]

http://i.imgur.com/HVHdjrO.png

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

liability?

Like not paying tax on the first 10,600 of your income?

[Classic Jorge]

I mean, surely there must be other more above board ways and means of doing this without resorting to the exact same methods popular with corrupt politicians looking to squirrel money out of their countries or cartel heads looking to launder illicit billions.

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

legal behaviour because you don't like it.

If I made a great deal of money and wished to keep that information to myself, are you denying my right to privacy?

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

please?

If you don't, you are clearly hiding criminal behaviour.

[Classic Jorge]

[Berni]

[Classic Jorge]

Maybe I should have secreted my tens of pounnds in a secretive cayman island holding company so I wouldnt have to do that

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

And anyone who does is guilty of some criminal behaviour?

Blimey.

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

[Classic Jorge]

I dont see why anybody else should be treated differently just on the basis that they're too wealthy.

[Classic Jorge]

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

You are perfectly at liberty to minimise your tax liability in accordance with the law, just like anyone else.

[Berni]

either pay all the taxes the government wants from you or you are an evil, tax-evading ******* who should be imprisoned.

It's all a bit more complicated than that.

[Classic Jorge]

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

Not what some random paranoid bloke considers 'looks a bit shifty'.

Can you see any potential problems with that?

[Classic Jorge]

...in a secretive tax haven with famously lax company formation, accounting and accountability laws?

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

You could invest in some property, I suppose. People do well out of that; I've never had an appetite for it myself, buit that's my problem.

You could seek to expand your business by a process of organic growth, or you could look to a more acquisitive model.

To be honest, j, if I were an expert in this matter, I'd have done it myself by now. I mean, I'm falttered that you'd come to me for advice, but the sad truth is that there's no easy answer.

Anyway, I wish you luck in your endeavours.

[Classic Jorge]

I'm wondering why somone who wasnt bent as a nine bob note would want to do that.

[Berni]

You get what you pay for. You don't expect a 10 year-old Nissan Micra to perform as well as your Jag, do you? So why would you think that the services of a top notch tax accountancy firm would deliver the same results as some bloke you've found in the Yellow Pages?

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

If my accountant told me that my tax liability this year was going to be 10 million pounds, or that I could take part in a complex scheme to park the money offshore and pay 1 million pounds instead, I would almost certainly listen to his advice.

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

[Berni]

as 'bent as a nine-bob note'?

[Ashberto]

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/30/georgia n-soap-magnates-russian-oligarchs-joined-in-grand-absurdity (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/30/georgian-soap-magnates-russian-oligarchs-joined-in-grand-absurdity)

[Classic Jorge]

I mean, it costs our government 25bn a year, by some estimates.

To the untrained eye it could possibly look like the government are more intent on cracking down on people claiming 40 quid a week than it is on people avoiding paying hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of pounds.

Just seems a bit disproportionate really, you know, just not cricket.

[Classic Jorge]

I can ask you again if you like

[Classic Jorge]

We're still ostensibly governed by the same rules of the road, rather than one car being given the keys to the executive money laundry room.

[Berni]

poverty, basically? Well, welcome to capitalist democracy - come on in, the water's lovely.

The Government simply harvests taxes where it can. If you're on PAYE, there's f**k all you can do to stop them, whereas if you're self-employed, there are options.

[Berni]

[Classic Jorge]

Just really advocating for some fairness, I mean it's sort of our leitmotif as a nation, no?

[eastgermanautos]

themselves. not me, however. like I say I need the rich to pay for my particular brand of revolution.

[Sir Charlie of Nicholas]

Is that fair?

[Classic Jorge]

[Classic Jorge]

[eastgermanautos]

[Berni]

the unpleasantness of Birmingham. However, if you cannot afford it, you just have to stay on the crappy old road.

[Classic Jorge]

The 'wealth management' end of the spectrum, the forming of complex rings of holding companies, shell corporations and the use of secretive countries who refuse to disclose any information about their clients even when confronted with massive fraud cases is slightly different.

[Steve Williams - gay for Mark Knopfler]

If that meant paying a professional a sum of money in order to save multiples of this sum then win-win.

[Snin]

and media elite usng the same methods to avoid tax, what the papers actually show is that thr russians due to ridiculous embargos on them because they didnt do what the EU/USA wnated in Ukraine and Syria is that they use many verious methods to move money around the globe and to give and take aid and money from other countries like syria and irn etcwho are also under ridculous embargos..its nothing to do with tax avoidance. I do like it how everyone espeially yankies are using it to yet again blacken the name of good ol Puts imo

[Snin]

money and assetts..just see what you chaps did with old yeltsin before coming up with ridiculous comments imo

[eastgermanautos]

[eastgermanautos]

very grateful. I'm all about the bidness yo.