[GJM] The Observer: Revealed: how Jersey woos tax avoiders

[Thomas Greco -- CIRC2]

The problem of course is that taxes are levied on the wrong things.

Taxes should be eliminated in favor of fees levied on privileges. Henry
George articulated this in regard to the ownership of land and proposed the
"single tax" on land sites, not on improvements. That concept needs to be
extended to all privileges, not just land ownership.

Thomas Greco

Thomas H. Greco, Jr.
P. O. Box 42663, Tucson, Arizona 85733
520-795-8930
thg at mindspring.com
www.Reinventingmoney.com
Blog: http://beyondmoney.blogspot.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <dharao4 at yahoo.co.uk>
To: <discussion at globaljusticemovement.net>
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 12:28 AM
Subject: [GJM] The Observer: Revealed: how Jersey woos tax avoiders


> Robert Searle spotted this on the The Observer site and thought you should
see it.
>
> -------
> Note from Robert Searle:
>
> Richard Murphy is at it again!! Ofcourse, the chances of stopping tax
evasion, or "avoidance" are largely  zero. The super-rich will always find
ways. It is a loosing battle..and TJN as usual is on a loosing wicket!
>
>
> R.Searle
> -------
>
> To see this story with its related links on the The Observer site, go to
http://www.observer.co.uk
>
> Revealed: how Jersey woos tax avoiders
> Nick Mathiason
> Sunday September 17 2006
> The Observer
>
>
> Internal correspondence between the highest-ranking tax officials in
Jersey, seen by The Observer, expose for the first time how the tax haven is
actively helping the world's super-rich to avoid tax.
>
> A series of emails, dated from last week, and whose participants include
Jersey's head of tax and its Treasury minister, reveal how trust reform will
'allow Jersey to compete more effectively for international work, where
wealthy families will often wish to place assets in a trust structure and
yet retain certain control over the management of the trust assets'.
>
> In the emails, the Jersey Treasury minister, Paul de Gruchy, writes to his
colleagues: 'The tax burden, as with inheritance tax in the UK, will be
borne by those who are moderately wealthy but not so wealthy as to be able
to afford to place significant assets out of reach for a reasonable period
of time.'
>
> When shown the emails, Richard Murphy of the Tax Justice Network, a
campaign group highlighting tax evasion, said: 'This proves that Jersey is
rotten to the core. We now have evidence that its government knowingly
facilitates tax evasion by creating legislation that allows it to happen.
The government of Jersey has allowed the creation of sham trusts. Trustees
are UK-trained and UK-regulated solicitors and accountants. The UK's
professional bodies should make it clear that this is unacceptable. It's
clear that the Jersey government's aim is to help the rich evade the tax
that they should be paying to other governments, including the UK's.'
>
> Vince Cable, the Lib Dem Treasury spokesman, said: 'The UK government
should blow the whistle and not sanction this.' The world's richest
individuals have placed $11.5 trillion of assets in offshore havens.
Chancellor Gordon Brown has come under attack this month for failing to
clamp down on havens.
>
> Malcolm Campbell, Jersey controller of income tax, said: 'There's nothing
novel in the proposed changes, which can also be found in the trust laws of
other jurisdictions such as New Zealand and Delaware plus a number of other
US States. Nor do they do anything to make tax avoidance or evasion more
likely than under the present statute.'
>
> Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Discussion mailing list
> Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net
>
http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net