You don't have a UK passport for your own benefit. In the modern globalised world, people have nationalities because it suits the authorities for them to have them. Furthermore, the UK Government cannot strip you of your nationality because that would violate International law. Citizenship isn't a right or a privilege or a status symbol - it's a form of accountancy.
I know you can't see why but that's not the same as it being a good idea The tax rebate for not having children is offset by the additional notional taxes they should be paying on the benefit of actually "having a life" instead of kids.
Er... I don't know really where you're going on this one. Nonetheless, it remains an excellent question. Do I get any benefit from it? I'm thinking hard. Nothing really comes to mind. I don't even use it when travelling to the UK. I just use my Swiss ID card, because it fits in my wallet and it's one less thing to carry around and lose. So I just pass for a foreigner as I sidle through passport control, after being vetted by a load of people who almost certainly weren't in the country when I was born in it. Whatever. I can't see a lot of benefit of a UK passport over a Swiss one, to be honest. I suspect I'd be less likely to be executed by a hijacker with a Swiss passport...
So under my rule you would be faced with a choice, give up your UK passport if there is little or no benefit, or if there is a worthwhile benefit pay up. But I am unlikely to be in charge anytime soon
But you do get a benefit from being part of a society, and like it or not that society does need to be paid for, or at least some of it, the rest is being rolled forward for future generations, or not, as the case may be.
I consider myself Anglo-Swiss. My cultural references are overwhelmingly British still and I still have a great interest in British culture (probably why I'm looking at Newsnight now). I don't see why this should cost me anything. I don't use British services or anything much British that tax goes towards paying. I may be looking at the BBC, but no doubt what I pay for my TV monthly goes towards paying to have the BBC on my TV. I fail to see why I should give up being British just so that I can contribute to a load of people's lifestyle in a country I no longer live in and from which I ask nothing. But if you were king, yes, you can have my passport back if you expect me to contribute to HMRC.
Where is all the tax evasion then? Not seen a lot of actual finger pointing,just the usual jealous sniping and innuendo from the HM opposition and the left wing media. As far as I'm aware this is mostly about tax AVOIDANCE,(legal),rather than tax EVASION,(illegal). Wealthy people can afford the best advice,the best planning,the best interpretations of the rules that they and their ilk thought up: that's what money buys,the very best. You won't find me defending the wealthy,but thems the rules,and there'll be plenty of footballers/athletes/nouveau riche among those with offshore trusts,not publicity grabbing names so won't get a mention...personally I don't give two hoots about a dead Libyan dictator or Vlad Putin,jeez I already thought they were bad,bad men,so I struggle to see what the headlines are trying to say. Don't like the regulations? Then vote for a Government that will change them,but don't expect all the wealthy in other countries to help ya,these are INTERNATIONAL regulations remember. An Islington other-world dweller like Corbyn is completely oblivious of how the world actually turns,so don't rely on him to change the rules. His intelligence is limited to looking down his nose at what Camerons father did,i.e,ran a company that set up offshore trusts for others to invest in. Similar companies are in business in the City right now,why not aim his guns at them? First class idiot. As long as the poor/lower classes are kept in their place with welfare and poor education,the rich enjoy support from media arse-lickers,and those in uniform are dazzled by cheap baubles and medal ribbons from the monarchy,there will never be a fair and equitable society. So there.
ultimately its all by the the by. what will come out will be found to be mostly legal. yet we keep voting for it. how many actually knew the extent of offshoring? i remember NonDoms being part of labours campaign. how many know about TTIP and camorons push for it? very few i will wager. how many people know that a lot of our media is owned and registered off shore. how many people realize they are being force fed bollox from the BBC and most traditional "respected" media?. a 20min segment on news night after the fact is not in depth investigate reporting. its there freekin job to report it not spin it. as i said earlier questions where being raised in parliament all the way back to the seventys about these arrangements. camorons father along with several other prominent westminster figures where implicated in owning vast areas of land up here and registering it off shore. yet if i mention it at least 2 in 3 wont know about it?. and ultimately how many people realty care now and did they ever?. yip.got my anti BBC and BuM head on at the mo. the holyrood election campaign is running up here and i cant stomach the BBC or any paper for that matter. quality unbiased reporting from any of them? aye right. meh.
corbin doesn't understand how the world works yet the kippers wont to expose us to the full force of it? cant you see the contradiction there?
i see Iceland has done the right thing. AGAIN. anyhoo. for the scots. and anyone else that can handle a different take on things. http://derekbateman.scot/
No I can't. The idea that somehow within the EU we are going to be protected from these kind of events is failing to see the real nature of the EU which is corporatist to it's core. Note, I used to think it was socialist to it's core but Greece and TTIP has put paid to any such ideas.
Once again, people are differentiating between tax evasion and tax avoidance. A distinction with no difference is no difference at all. The "legality" of tax avoidance is wool - pulled over your eyes. It is big, it is clever but it's every bit as immoral as tax evasion.
yip. dont fully understand the Greece situation. or maybe i do actually. why didnt they walk when they had the chance? fear? allowed in when they shouldn't of been and put in a financial situation where they think they cant? sound familiar anyone? still in denial about camorons part in TTIP? every thing i have read suggests he is the TTIP champion. like iceland i can see a big enough backlash from the people of the EU to change things. our representatives are elected after all. maybe i have to much faith in the truth being outed. cant imagine it will be reported as such tho. lots of little countries waking up? mibies aye mibies naw. dont know loz. we vote for tax avoidance, it appears we reward for for tax evasion.
In what way does the money we don't have to spend on education due to tax avoidance differ from the money we don't have due to tax evasion? If education is underfunded either way, what is the difference? If someone can answer that, it might help.
its called democracy. we get what we vote for. or we just punch f..k out of each other instead. my priority is not your priority. although i could be forgiven in this case for thinking we are more similarly aligned than i give you credit for. i like some tory/ukip policies but on the whole i would like to punch most tory/UKiP reps square in da face. :Hilarious::smileys:
Absolutely. If the primary objective is to avoid tax then it is evasion, and that should be the basis of any legal framework.
In yer dreams. Our representatives, the MEPs may be elected but the people who hold the power and make the laws, the Commissioners, are appointed, just like in Russia and China.
how far do you want to go? should my business rates relief by in jeopardy? someone is gonna have to explain to me how this works. commissioners arnt elected or responsible to a sovereign nations government (thats elected)? i think if more people where aware of whats going on it would never of happened in the first place. call ME naive. i dares yah! :smileys:
