Rich motherf**kers avoiding tax

[Len]

Not really much of a leak though is it. We all knew about it.

Heads under guillotines would sort the problem I reckon.

[UKHamlet]

Not much. Just 2.6 terabytes.

http://panamapapers.sueddeutsche.de/en/

[twitchy]

[Dacre]

This is going to make the MPs expenses scandal look like pinching some of your Dad's loose change when you were a kid

This is going to run and run!

[jared_7]

This is going to run and run!

Really? I have a distinct feeling that it'll all be brushed aside, a few half-ar*sed remarks from a few governments saying they "are going to clamp down" when they already knew about it anyway and have no desire to do anything.

[Stom]

This is going to run and run!

Really? I have a distinct feeling that it'll all be brushed aside, a few half-ar*sed remarks from a few governments saying they "are going to clamp down" when they already knew about it anyway and have no desire to do anything.

Indeed. The lists of names are pretty...well expectable.

King Salman, Emir of Abu Dhabi, President of Ukraine, that Greek guy, Messi, Platini and Valcke...

Oh, and pig fecker's dad.

It will all disappear.

[Stooo]

This is going to run and run!

Really? I have a distinct feeling that it'll all be brushed aside, a few half-ar*sed remarks from a few governments saying they "are going to clamp down" when they already knew about it anyway and have no desire to do anything.

Indeed. The lists of names are pretty...well expectable.

King Salman, Emir of Abu Dhabi, President of Ukraine, that Greek guy, Messi, Platini and Valcke...

Oh, and pig fecker's dad.

It will all disappear.

Sadly this.

"We are doing more than ever to tackle this tax avoidance..." i.e. just a smidgen more then fuck all.

[Eugene Wrayburn]

Isn't this evasion, rather than avoidance?

[morepork]

It may be brushed aside but under the rug is looking pretty crammed. The more information of this nature that is disseminated the harder it is for the policies of the last 30 odd years to be defended. We need a change, and it just isn't going to come from within. These "leaks" time and time again expose the bullshit prevailing socioeconomic dogma for what it is. Trickle down. Yeah right. Trickle down my hairy left testicle.

[Eugene Wrayburn]

It may be brushed aside but under the rug is looking pretty crammed. The more information of this nature that is disseminated the harder it is for the policies of the last 30 odd years to be defended. We need a change, and it just isn't going to come from within. These "leaks" time and time again expose the bullshit prevailing socioeconomic dogma for what it is. Trickle down. Yeah right. Trickle down my hairy left testicle.

This is nothing to do with policy. It's a leak about money laundering. The whole point of the money laundering is to evade the law.

[morepork]

It may be brushed aside but under the rug is looking pretty crammed. The more information of this nature that is disseminated the harder it is for the policies of the last 30 odd years to be defended. We need a change, and it just isn't going to come from within. These "leaks" time and time again expose the bullshit prevailing socioeconomic dogma for what it is. Trickle down. Yeah right. Trickle down my hairy left testicle.

This is nothing to do with policy. It's a leak about money laundering. The whole point of the money laundering is to evade the law.

You don't think the monetary system in general could benefit from tighter regulation as determined by policy?

[Eugene Wrayburn]

It may be brushed aside but under the rug is looking pretty crammed. The more information of this nature that is disseminated the harder it is for the policies of the last 30 odd years to be defended. We need a change, and it just isn't going to come from within. These "leaks" time and time again expose the bullshit prevailing socioeconomic dogma for what it is. Trickle down. Yeah right. Trickle down my hairy left testicle.

This is nothing to do with policy. It's a leak about money laundering. The whole point of the money laundering is to evade the law.

You don't think the monetary system in general could benefit from tighter regulation as determined by policy?

It could - although I wouldn't call it tighter regulation as such - but that's irrelevant to this story which is about people evading laws which already exist.

[morepork]

This is nothing to do with policy. It's a leak about money laundering. The whole point of the money laundering is to evade the law.

You don't think the monetary system in general could benefit from tighter regulation as determined by policy?

It could - although I wouldn't call it tighter regulation as such - but that's irrelevant to this story which is about people evading laws which already exist.

Must be pretty shit laws then. Either that or rich, connected people act with impunity. We see, in many countries, beneficiaries being hounded as a drain on society and perpetrators of financial fraud (they are stealing YOUR taxes!) while the real damage is being done by the so called elite. For decades. Something is rotten.

[Eugene Wrayburn]

You don't think the monetary system in general could benefit from tighter regulation as determined by policy?

It could - although I wouldn't call it tighter regulation as such - but that's irrelevant to this story which is about people evading laws which already exist.

Must be pretty shit laws then. Either that or rich, connected people act with impunity. We see, in many countries, beneficiaries being hounded as a drain on society and perpetrators of financial fraud (they are stealing YOUR taxes!) while the real damage is being done by the so called elite. For decades. Something is rotten.

There's nothing wrong with the laws that have been broken. They are just extremely expensive and difficult to investigate. I'd change the law to make it simpler and more purposive.

[UGagain]

Don't worry, the Grauniad (and Luke 'the spook' Harding) is on the case.

And surprise, surprise! It's all about Putin.

http://off-guardian.org/2016/04/03/pana ... lf-parody/

[twitchy]

Poor vlad can that plucky little fella ever catch a break?

[UGagain]

Poor vlad can that plucky little fella ever catch a break?

It would be funny if the agenda behind it wasn't so serious.

Whatever happened to our own self styled Russian expert?

[twitchy]

Poor vlad can that plucky little fella ever catch a break?

It would be funny if the agenda behind it wasn't so serious.

Whatever happened to our own self styled Russian expert?

Truly my heart bleeds for him. Can't a billionaire sort out his finances with out the pesky media sticking their noses into every thing? What a world we live in today.

[Eugene Wrayburn]

Poor vlad can that plucky little fella ever catch a break?

It would be funny if the agenda behind it wasn't so serious.

Whatever happened to our own self styled Russian expert?

Truly my heart bleeds for him. Can't a selfless public servant who strangely has the lifestyle of a billionaire sort out his finances with out the pesky media sticking their noses into every thing? What a world we live in today.

Fixed, you cycnic you.

[morepork]

It could - although I wouldn't call it tighter regulation as such - but that's irrelevant to this story which is about people evading laws which already exist.

Must be pretty shit laws then. Either that or rich, connected people act with impunity. We see, in many countries, beneficiaries being hounded as a drain on society and perpetrators of financial fraud (they are stealing YOUR taxes!) while the real damage is being done by the so called elite. For decades. Something is rotten.

There's nothing wrong with the laws that have been broken. They are just extremely expensive and difficult to investigate. I'd change the law to make it simpler and more purposive.

So. Shit laws then. Who do I need to lobby to make them purposive?

[Eugene Wrayburn]

Must be pretty shit laws then. Either that or rich, connected people act with impunity. We see, in many countries, beneficiaries being hounded as a drain on society and perpetrators of financial fraud (they are stealing YOUR taxes!) while the real damage is being done by the so called elite. For decades. Something is rotten.

There's nothing wrong with the laws that have been broken. They are just extremely expensive and difficult to investigate. I'd change the law to make it simpler and more purposive.

So. Shit laws then. Who do I need to lobby to make them purposive?

The fault when someone deliberately breaks a law is rarely the law. Making them purposive wouldn't really make deliberate illegality much less expensive to investigate, it just cuts down the legal options of legal avoidance.

ETA I think the states alrwady has some general anti-avoidance clauses of the type I'd advocate. In the UK the Lib Dems have been the only advocates thus far.

[UGagain]

Poor vlad can that plucky little fella ever catch a break?

It would be funny if the agenda behind it wasn't so serious.

Whatever happened to our own self styled Russian expert?

Truly my heart bleeds for him. Can't a billionaire sort out his finances with out the pesky media sticking their noses into every thing? What a world we live in today.

And the road to war against Russia will be built with the complicity of useful idiots like you.

The propaganda doesn't even need to make any sense anymore.

There's plenty of morons that will believe everything that's dished up to them when there's foreigners involved.

[Dacre]

It would be funny if the agenda behind it wasn't so serious.

Whatever happened to our own self styled Russian expert?

Truly my heart bleeds for him. Can't a billionaire sort out his finances with out the pesky media sticking their noses into every thing? What a world we live in today.

And the road to war against Russia will be built with the complicity of useful idiots like you.

The propaganda doesn't even need to make any sense anymore.

There's plenty of morons that will believe everything that's dished up to them when there's foreigners involved.

The British media should be concentrating on British people who are named in these files first and foremost - then go after the high profile foreigners. But it won't happen as the Brits named are probably mates with the newspaper owners and have had a word!

[Stom]

It could - although I wouldn't call it tighter regulation as such - but that's irrelevant to this story which is about people evading laws which already exist.

Must be pretty shit laws then. Either that or rich, connected people act with impunity. We see, in many countries, beneficiaries being hounded as a drain on society and perpetrators of financial fraud (they are stealing YOUR taxes!) while the real damage is being done by the so called elite. For decades. Something is rotten.

There's nothing wrong with the laws that have been broken. They are just extremely expensive and difficult to investigate. I'd change the law to make it simpler and more purposive.

Yet the laws that allow massive tax evasion are surely broken, too. It's not right that a big corporation can avoid paying tax where it does business. It's not right that it can pay shareholders through shell companies in tax havens - legally.

Those are the "loopholes" that need closing, which is completely a policy issue.

I don't see how it's completely possible to shut down tax havens, but the UK has the buying power to take a stand and introduce two simple laws:

1) Point of Consumption Tax
2) Abolition of holding companies

[twitchy]