I love this ridiculous argument. Avoiding tax is legal and everybody does it. "Travel to a business meeting is tax deductible". Evasion is illegal and politicians are quite entitled to "clamp down" on it but we all know, it never works - big corporations and wealthy individuals are far brighter and clever at spotting new loopholes - one of which is basing themselves elsewhere, which everyone is rightly free to do. Hot air smelling of retsina.

Forget about big corporations, and the wealthy, for a moment - tax evasion in Greece is rampant. Say, the typical home owner selling his domestic residence.

Because of the absence of a Land Registry (until very recently), the individual will simply declare a lower sale price - most likely with the collusion of the purchaser - to reduce the level of duty applicable.

Almost everyone does this type of thing all the time - with the system incapable of monitoring false declarations made in so many business transactions.


Change is needed from the bottom up - and will be a key requirement of the ECB and IMF, for their continued help.

JK2006 wrote:
I love this ridiculous argument. Avoiding tax is legal and everybody does it. "Travel to a business meeting is tax deductible". Evasion is illegal and politicians are quite entitled to "clamp down" on it but we all know, it never works - big corporations and wealthy individuals are far brighter and clever at spotting new loopholes - one of which is basing themselves elsewhere, which everyone is rightly free to do. Hot air smelling of retsina.

Music Magpie are brilliant at it. They offer very little for CD's (30p)sell them for a few quid and post them off from the channel islands where tax is exempt.

Ah but my point SP is not whether or not such things need mending but that, even if they are corrected, the effort needed will be wasted as other legal and legitimate loopholes will be found. They always are. Encourage investment and opportunity, make it worth their while to contribute more - and make more; attract the big corporations to come here instead of there by giving them tax breaks, cheaper deals, better benefits. Don't punish, exclude, reject. Encourage, use bait, make it worth their while. Employ double the staff and pay even less tax. Build affordable housing for your workers and get even more breaks. Take on a thousand vans and drivers and we let you deduct petrol expenses.

JK is now preaching dangerous socialism.

Of course politicians can close tax 'loopholes'..they did it after 9/11 with terrorist entities & threatened all the tax havens with dire consequences if they did not obey.

# noting the (ghastly)Jack Straw matter, UK politicians are paid quite ridiculous small salaries.

The idea they can also take on paid consultancy jobs is an alarming conflict of interest.

the problem : today's breed of career politicians who are just passing through Parliament on their way to private corporations like that god-awful couple in the news recently, the man with the camera happy younger wife.

Yes JK - but tax evasion is just another crime. And requires systems to prevent it happening on a corporate/international scale as well as in the day to day lives of a country's population.

HMRC seem to, at least, be successful, doing the later. Greece is apparently ambivalent to both 'types' of fraud. And thankfully, the IMF/ECB won't wear that attitude anymore.

Ah yes Hedda; my kind of government would take the best of communism, the best of socialism and the best of capitalism and plop a benign autocrat on top of it, who must be over 70, with no personal ambition and a limited term of office - 5 years. After which he or she would be replaced by another benign autocrat. MPs would still be elected for local issues only.

JK2006 wrote:
Ah yes Hedda; my kind of government would take the best of communism, the best of socialism and the best of capitalism and plop a benign autocrat on top of it, who must be over 70, with no personal ambition and a limited term of office - 5 years. After which he or she would be replaced by another benign autocrat. MPs would still be elected for local issues only.

thank you. And I would indeed be the ultimate Benign Dictator.
# I'd even be kind to ITK. Somewhat

JK2006 wrote:
Ah yes Hedda; my kind of government would take the best of communism, the best of socialism and the best of capitalism and plop a benign autocrat on top of it, who must be over 70, with no personal ambition and a limited term of office - 5 years. After which he or she would be replaced by another benign autocrat. MPs would still be elected for local issues only.


Absolute codswallop

Simplistic, child-like and base

Meaningless and worthless typing, too



For those of us who live in the real world



.....

SP17 wrote:
JK2006 wrote:
Ah yes Hedda; my kind of government would take the best of communism, the best of socialism and the best of capitalism and plop a benign autocrat on top of it, who must be over 70, with no personal ambition and a limited term of office - 5 years. After which he or she would be replaced by another benign autocrat. MPs would still be elected for local issues only.


Absolute codswallop

Simplistic, child-like and base

Meaningless and worthless typing, too



For those of us who live in the real world



.....

but most of Europe, the Middle East , USA ,NZ and Australia are pretty well a mix of what JK says..to lesser & more degrees.

I was surprised when first going to the USA in '74 and finding my friend was on welfare because of illness, that welfare in the USA is often far more generous than the UK or Europe.

Something they play down of course.I think to tempt ITK there.

hedda wrote:

I was surprised when first going to the USA in '74 and finding my friend was on welfare because of illness, that welfare in the USA is often far more generous than the UK or Europe


But Hedda - over 40 years later - no sane person would go to the USA without health insurance.....


Feel free though...