Private Data and Inland Revenue
Posted February 23rd, 2008 by quarsan
From the 'You couldn't make this up' Dept:
The British tax authorities have paid an informant for the bank details of scores of wealthy Britons. The records were stolen from one of the world’s most secretive tax havens.
HM Revenue & Customs paid £100,000 for data that it is using to launch investigations of up to 100 British citizens who have accounts at Liechtenstein’s biggest bank. - Source
More details here. Not a bad deal, the Germans paid 3.2 million quid, the UK handed over 100k and the US an undisclosed amount. Not bad for one DVD.
What is the betting that the
What is the betting that the really big fish escape the net and, only the minor ones will be grilled and served up as a job well done.
What's the beef, Quarsan,
What's the beef, Quarsan, why shouldn't the government pay money - if that's what it takes - to get its hands on some of those rich tax-dodging bastards?
It's getting information
It's getting information people, raw data, on those who may or may not be tax dodging.
Secondly, It legitimises the trade in stolen data. I wonder what the CD's that have gone missing from the UK government are fetching in this black market?
Quarsan, you're onto a loser
Quarsan, you're onto a loser here and you know it. No doubt if this were a CD which would help nail Bliar and his friends over Iraq you'd be all for it.
Never quite as straight
Never quite as straight forward as it seems...
"Britain turned down the chance to mount a £100m tax crackdown on residents with funds parked in Liechtenstein two years ago because the UK's tax authority did not want to pay a whistleblower." [here]
hardly surprising since we own roughly half of the worlds tax havens...
"The charity estimates that tax evasion and offshore banking secrecy cost third-world governments up to $500 billion a year in lost revenues." [here]
what sort of message are we trying to broadcast when...
"Behind the surge of money pouring into London is the globalization of wealth. As new multimillionaires are minted in Russia, India, the Middle East and Europe, many are coming to London, drawn by a combination of low taxes, historical ties and a geographical location that makes the city attractive for people doing business in Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East." [here]
we have always been the best places to live if you are extremely wealthy and one of the worst if you are potless. Oh yes bespoke apparel by the bucket load and what do we think of the peasants?...
"Consumer groups demanded an official inquiry into whether the "Big Six" energy companies have been profiteering and plunging low earners into choosing whether they eat or heat their homes.
"It's quite sickening when companies make these huge profits while, at the same time, we are expecting 25,000 excess winter deaths as a result of people not being able to keep warm," said Lesley Davies, the chairman of the National Right to Fuel Campaign. "The Government must do more for these consumers." [here]
ah bollocks who gives a toss anyway.
Why would a Labour - er -
Why would a Labour - er - sorry, Nu Labour government who have given a whole series of tax breaks to the wealthy (many since Bliar left) and sweet FA to the poor, care about tax accounts in Lichtenstein or anywhere else. Reading the FT article posted by tio (here), it seems to me they had decided to do nothing, but being caught with their pants down (again) by the Germans, decided to try and look good.
More Nu Lab spin and don't hold your breath expecting Rupert Murdoch et al to coughing up funds to get off the hook too soon.
Hi quarsan, I cannot find
Hi quarsan,
I cannot find the thread wherein you so effectively dismissed a certian Mr Dutton for suggesting that there are similarities or at least parallels between 1930s krautland and now. I am aware that this site selectively deletes that with which it cannot contain, well I'm here to tell you that you are a certifiable idiot. Bite me.
tio