Pandora Papers

It's very easy isn't it? I mean, it's only shaking up decades old tax laws and going against some of the most powerful people and corporations on the planet.

I'm sure if you were in power it would have been sorted day one.

 

Some seriously wealthy people named thus far. Thoughts are with Gally at this stressful time.

 

Too much much money to care

 

yeah if only Tony had been in power he could have closed all those loopholes. He’s not the worst certainly but given his public statements on the issues we could and should expect better from him.

 

BTW this property was an office not a residence and purchased as an asset of the company. It is used as the offices of Cheri Blair’s law firm and a women’s foundation. This Blair knocking pales into significance compared to what should be levelled at the likes of Mohamed Amersi, whose activities are criminal.

 

dont disagree with you but at the same time I don’t recall Amersi standing on an electoral platform ion closing these very loopholes or making speeches to that affect. Not was he in charge of our country with a mandate to do so for over a decade.

 

Nail on head.

 

I agree .
I’m not Blair’s biggest fan by a long way but this is just a red face decision they made not thing more .
It’s done by certain sections of the media to try and divert the real crimes that have allegedly taken place .
There’s some real deviousness among this story by some very rich individuals unfortunately it won’t be zealously investigated it’s too close to the government and the inner circle .

 

I said pretty much that at work today, these papers are riddled with Tory fraud so the media focus on Blair "for balance".

 

If you or I had £6 million to buy the house in the 1st place the stamp duty of £350,000 would be peanuts, people like us never see those amounts but what little we do have we pay our dues and demands unlike these greedy bugers, it's not a "holier than thou" attitude its what's fair in life some of us have to pay and some can get away with bending the rules and it seems to me the rule makes are the ones bending them by stashing their cash in offshore tax havens so as not to pay their fair share to the Taxman. They're all as bent as nine bob notes there's one kid here who will never suck up to them no matter who they are.

 

I don't disagree with the sentiments of your post, but at the risk of appearing patronising I think you are misreading the situation. The Blairs did not buy a 'house' as such. They bought a foreign company that had commercial premises (an office) in London. I appreciate that stamp duty applies to commercial premises like it does to domestic dwellings and as such is not germane to the discussion. This is the acquisition of a company that has property as an asset. When Clayton, Dubilier & Rice's acquisition of Asda goes through will they be paying stamp duty on the included assets ie. commercial premises and offices. I think not. Rather than 'blackguarding' the Blairs people should be questioning our tax laws, particularly whilst major companies registered abroad do not pay the appropriate tax on their trade in the UK, that is obscene. I'm sorry but this thread is declining into sophistry and it is futile to prolong it.

 

I think the point is that Blair had the opportunity (and majority) to change those tax laws. Him using loopholes isn't the same as you or I doing it just because our accountant has suggested it's a neat way to avoid a bit of tax - the loopholes were kept on the statute book on purpose during his whole time in power, and that purpose was to enrich that small group of people like Blair himself, who have the capital and knowledge to take advantage of them.

That said, I agree that there are far worse offenders in there, and it's infuriating (although completely unsurprising) that the media have focused on him so much.

 

Not so sure, but they all p155 in the same pot.
I think in this case it was ill-judged by Clan Blair and that this 'house' will now be forced to remain as a business premise for far longer than they intended. Yes, £350k might be peanuts to them, but people like this are wealthy precisely by avoiding paying sums like that. And she's a top lawyer too ...... look after the thousands, and the millions will look after themselves, so they saying goes ....... (or should go).
Fully expect it to become a 'house' again one day when bad news can get buried; I mean haven't they spent every day since he "retired" building a property portfolio of £40m (ish) to let this one slip through the net.
So my opinion, and mine only, is that they avoided stamp duty, accidentally on purpose.

 

If it was a ex tory pm doing this the same posters sticking up for Blair would be spitting feathers. Tony Blair is estimated to be worth around 60 million pounds he can afford £350k of stamp duty.

 

Recently an Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED) was introduced to catch tax avoidance schemes such as this. It only applies to residential properties but then it wouldn’t make sense for it to apply to commercial properties legitimately owned by overseas companies.

Not sure what you mean about major companies registered abroad not paying appropriate tax on their UK trade. Any company that has a permanent establishment in the UK is liable to UK corporation tax and subject to transfer pricing rules to ensure the level of tax payable is commensurate with the level of activity in the UK.

 

Got to agree wholeheartedly there Mr Kerr... way I see it personally, Blair lost a lot of respect over the "weapons of mass destruction " issue...
I've no trust in 95% of politicians which is a shame, as we rely on these people to look after us in the long run.
Ironically, from how I view it, and despite whatever faux pas' of Blair, I personally feel we were in a good position as a nation/politically . Just my take mind

 

[QUOTE="Wuz1964, post: 2823328, member: 122598" I personally feel we were in a good position as a nation/politically . Just my take mind[/QUOTE]

Wow!!
You must have mist Boris Johnson's saying "Britain must concentrate on wages, not cancer cases".

 

It’s quite funny really the difference between labour millionaires and Tory millionaires?

 

They have not even revealed 10% of Pandora yet and social media suddenly stops.

Hmmmmm