In the case of R v Mote, last year's conviction of the former UKIP MEP for the South East, it was noted that Ashley Mote had his bank accounts in the Isle of Man. If tax avoidance is good enough for the hero of the Eurosceptic movement then it should be good enough for all of us.

Can anyone really believe that a MEP, elected on the UKIP ticket, would have registered his business in Delaware (another offshore jurisdiction) and banked his money in the Isle of Man whilst running a consultancy advising others to do the same if it were not the patriotic thing to do?
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This isn’t the trivial matter that it might seem to be at first sight.

Quite apart from the annual bottom line cost to the UK exchequer of £250,000,000 after VAT and other receipts have been taken into account in the vase of the Isle of Man, there is the huge losses as a result of tax dodgers and tax evaders who use the place and are taking advantage of what WE are paying to maintain.

The losses in evaded taxes run into billions. Note I use the word “evaded” rather than “avoided” though there are also billions lost “legally” by using these tax dodgers havens for tax avoidance.

More than a few of those that dodge paying tax do have a “home” on the Isle of Man in particular and so are residents of the Isle of Man, but in fact they spend no or very little time there and simply use it as an address that provides them way to evade paying UK tax.

There’s no border checks to see who is where or when, and so there’s a whole lot of people driving a coach an horses through laws that Joe public has no option but obey. Not only pay, but pay more as a result of lost revenue.

There are ways that this ridiculous situation could and should be stopped.

To start with sever all agreements whereby the UK takes any VAT or duty payments from the places, and in return provides them with NOTHING other than a customs barrier. Anything else they need from medical services to providing further education for their kids should be paid for by them. No exceptions.

Next do away with the right of abode in England for these people who cling to their “nationality”.

Especially so for those on the channel Isles where the situation exists that a person from one of them may come and live in the UK, buy a house, get a job, whatever.

Yet the same does not apply to a UK person who might want to live there unless they meet very stringent requirements involving huge sums of cash and only buying from a set list of very expensive properties.

They should be given a simple and stark choice. Either become the equivalent of a UK county, or get lost.
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Originally Posted by The Bear:
Tax dodgers and tax havens

Tax dodgers continue to get away with what amounts to theft by avoiding paying their dues by taking advantage of archaic arrangements with the channel isles and the Isle of Man.

Wait, let me get this straight. By trying to avoid having your own wealth taken from you by a bunch of thugs who want to spend it on harming and killing others, you are being a theif?!

Bear, when a mugger asks for your money or your life, do you give up your money willingly? Since to not do so would certainly be theft on your part! Your dues are to that mugger. :-)

What a crock.
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What I find surpriising in some of the above posts is that they are so critical of the British government. If you are a Unionist, it is after all your government!
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Originally Posted by Smidgey:
Wait, let me get this straight. By trying to avoid having your own wealth taken from you by a bunch of thugs who want to spend it on harming and killing others, you are being a theif?!

No,

By evading the lawful taxation that a legally elected government imposes on the citizens of a country is what makes a person a thief.

Originally Posted by Smidgey:
Bear, when a mugger asks for your money or your life, do you give up your money willingly? Since to not do so would certainly be theft on your part! Your dues are to that mugger.

IF that mugger provides me and my family with the services and facilities that I need to live and if that mugger is asking not for my life but for a sum of money to cover his costs then the answer is YES.

These tax evading money laundering parasitic tics on a decent country should be closed for business.


Not such a "crock" when you think it through eh?
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Originally Posted by The Bear:
No,

By evading the lawful taxation that a legally elected government imposes on the citizens of a country is what makes a person a thief.

Just because something is in law doesn't make it right. Remember the Nazi government, it was legally elected.

Originally Posted by :
IF that mugger provides me and my family with the services and facilities that I need to live and if that mugger is asking not for my life but for a sum of money to cover his costs then the answer is YES.

You mean to say that you are incapable of purchasing these services yourself? I never realised that anyone could have such a low opinion of their own capabilities.

"Oh mighty state! How I revere you, you give me life! I shall give you my undying affection - I am just thankful that you have the lenience and the good grace to not do what you must and take everything I own!"

Originally Posted by :
These tax evading money laundering parasitic tics on a decent country should be closed for business.

Not such a "crock" when you think it through eh?

I thought it through and decided that stealing was wrong.
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Originally Posted by Smidgey:
Just because something is in law doesn't make it right. Remember the Nazi government, it was legally elected.

What was elected in Germany was the National Socialist Party.
Very few Germans would have voted for what it turned out to be.

You should be careful when involving Nazism into a debate. Godwin’s Law remains firmly in place.

In any case it may not make it right, but it does make it legal and in the case of UK taxes although in my opinion they are too high and the government do provide far too much, nonetheless it is theft to evade paying tax if a person should do so.

For places, especially the Isle of Man who really take the p*ss by not only providing a haven for criminals who do evade taxes but actually charge the UK as part of the deal is simply wrong in every possible way.

Originally Posted by Smidgey:

By The Bear ... "IF that mugger provides me and my family with the services and facilities that I need to live and if that mugger is asking not for my life but for a sum of money to cover his costs then the answer is YES."

You mean to say that you are incapable of purchasing these services yourself? I never realised that anyone could have such a low opinion of their own capabilities.

One aspect of living in Britain is the existence of the Welfare State. This is funded out of tax revenue. The costs of the Welfare State take account of those who do cater for themselves as well as those who can not.

Unfortunatly it also caters for those that will not and it delivers, in my opinion, far too much but that is another matter.

Originally Posted by Smidgey:
I thought it through and decided that stealing was wrong.

Then you must agree that the presence of the tax evasion bolt holes IS wrong and that it is even MORE wrong that the British government is not doing its utmost to interfere in every possible way such as to prevent their continued existence.

The Isle of Man and the Channel Isles should be given an ultimatum. Become a full part of the UK, much as is the Isle of Wight, or face being treated as foreign territory in every way.

It is well past time that this was doen.
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Originally Posted by The Bear:
Tax dodgers and tax havens

It’s time that these corrupt little offshore dumps were made to come into line with the UK ... a banking system with rules that probably wouldn’t last ten seconds if it were UK or even Europe based.

Time to call game over on these tumours on the UK.

Hmmm...banking rules that wouldn't last 10 seconds in the UK? UK banks -now what a good example of proberty, excellent risk management, lack of greed and managerial competence to have used. And so well regulated.

I would accept that European banks are generally better run and regulated than UK ones but even they seem to have had just a few problems...
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Originally Posted by The Bear:
The Isle of Man and the Channel Isles should be given an ultimatum. Become a full part of the UK, much as is the Isle of Wight, or face being treated as foreign territory in every way.

It is well past time that this was doen.

So what about Gibraltar, the Cayman Islands, Falkand Islands etc.?

Now what I like about these places is that they don't interfere in our affairs by sending politicians to Westminster. It's a pity Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland weren't like this, so that the British parliament is replaced by the English parliament. 'Dependent territories' would be a more fitting way to describe them, as opposed to 'partners' in a Union.
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