The Money Programme last night [10pm, BBC2; UK television] will have been reminded about these ghastly existents called “tax havens”. Places in the world where those who happen to have 6-figure bank balances can… hibernate, without contributing to society. In other words, they don’t have to pay taxes.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4763984.stm
It’s one of the most classic of examples of how the world needs fundamentally re-evaluating. Of course, to achieve this, we would not only need an alternative manifesto, set of ideologically-free values, but a plan of action that has moral, legal and democratic substance.
Anyway, Michael Robinson’s programme on BBC2 highlighted how anyone with that amount of money can dodge the UK treasury by having earnings achieved here being paid in someone’s name in an overseas tax-haven, or cycling their financial assets through third party bodies away from the mainland. It also reminded young gentleman like myself of how NI contributions were previously side-stepped with payments made in gold, or anything with an immediate sell-on value. They didn’t even have to stick the bars or nuggets in the jacket pockets; they were simply handed possession notes saying where the asset was being held, and the paper could be cashed in for its financial value instantly. (‘Blue Monday’ even received 20-seconds of instrumental time during this part of the report!)
I won’t mention any names quoted in the show, for in reality there are so many that tax avoidance is now not only a massive industry in itself, but that it has now become such an ‘inevitably accepted’ part of our society (on a global scale), that it has achieved some form of respectability.
Both Mr Robinson and the BBC should take much credit for as much as raising these fundamental points and issues. Most current affairs TV simply glosses over two convenient opposing points of view in their most recent form (when in reality, there are not only more than two viewpoints, but far more fundamental questions behind them).
It should also be noted how phrases like “stealing from the NHS” were absent from all interview conversations that took place, at least from those who felt they had some to gain from appearing on the cameras. Anyone, from those who campaign for the opportunity to have Herceptin on the NHS to any other necessary public service should note this as one of the biggest reason why those funds are not there, when campaigning for these vital services.
