Why has David Cameron’s pledge to crackdown on tax-avoiders left me speechless?
On the same day of the report that 60% of Spain’s graduates and youngsters are unemployed, the UK’s Prime Minister, new leader of the G8 countries, yesterday pledged to the world’s movers and shakers meeting at Davos that he will promote international cooperation to ensure that multinationals will reduce “aggressive avoidance” and pay “their fair share of taxes” – saying that he is for low-tax not no-tax on the rich and powerful.
As an informed observer of tax and economics, I felt I should have a clear reaction to what seems like a clear statement; but I didn’t.
This morning I realised why. David Cameron is at base a trained PR media man and embedded in his message is the incorrect assumption that the hyper-aggressive tax and accounting dodges of the past 30 years may be anti-social but are legal; and thus, that new international laws are required to curb the excesses. Underlying this dangerous error is the deeper assumption that if and when such new international rules are agreed – somewhere over the rainbow – the breaches of the past will be forgiven and forgotten. Thus, the greedy, super-rich who have locked $21 trillion in tax-havens (OECD 2011 estimate), freezing most of the planet’s liquidity and directly causing the 60% Spanish unemployment, will keep their ill-gotten gains, gouged from our economies – denying us the free circulation of money that would revive the Western world.
Despite infiltrating the directorate of UK tax-offices with known, commercial, global tax-planners, and despite the massive Public Relations and political efforts to distort the truth and re-interpret the rules - broadcast since 2008/09 when Wall Street and The City “lost” about $3 trillion of our money and had to be bailed out - the US, UK and OECD tax laws on keeping two sets of books, false accounting and fraudulent conspiracy have not been rescinded or “forgiven”. There is no need for new laws.
OECD tax authorities are fully empowered, in law, to retrospectively review all the funny-money invoices and contracts that have been claimed as tax-deductible, to make profits earned in OECD tax regions vanish and to gouge out the capital from our High Streets to tax-havens. It only needs the tax-officers to retrospectively deny tax relief on, for example inflated Royalties for Brand Names, allegedly registered in tax-havens; or for example Directors' salaries dressed up as massive dividends paid to close relatives allegedly tax-resident or domiciled in Monaco or Delaware; or for example billions of dollars merrily charged and happily accepted for “Mergers and Acquisition Fees” from a beach-chair under a coconut palm in Cayman to a major multinational in Japan. All such obvious Enron-Accounting tax-claims (gravely approved by mega-audit firms) of the past 30 years can, under existing laws, be denied and reversed by tax-officers; and the correct tax assessments can be issued and enforced.
In addition, all criminal and unexplained assets can be taxed in the same way. Such immediate actions by the OECD nation’s Treasuries will quickly repatriate the $21 trillion buried in tax-havens, pay off ALL the deficits – and put the World back to work.
In addition, all criminal and unexplained assets can be taxed in the same way. Such immediate actions by the OECD nation’s Treasuries will quickly repatriate the $21 trillion buried in tax-havens, pay off ALL the deficits – and put the World back to work.
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