Many years ago I realised that I had no real idea how to become rich. I had great ideas but no earthly understanding of how to turn those into money making schemes. Like many I wondered what it was like to be rich but very quickly reality came knocking at the door and I settled down to my lot in life, which, to most people I guess, would be comfortable enough.
One of the things I could never understand about the rich is the reluctance to pay taxes on their earnings. There seems to be something that enters the heart, perhaps this is what drives someone to be rich or stay rich, which assumes that taxes are for other people, people less well off than themselves. They seem to collectively argue that as they now pay a large proportion of the income tax bill they have a right to reduce their taxes accordingly. After all, they no doubt point out to each other in the secret clubs that the rich are members of, many builders happily diddle the VAT man with ‘cash in hand jobs’. They also point out that many of the less well off take advantage of ISAs and other such schemes so what is wrong with the they, the rich, making use of all the exotic tax advantages that their highly paid accountants and financial advisors come up with?
What is wrong indeed? Nothing if they are legal but it does leave the Conservative party, the one political party who clearly support the rich with a bit of a problem. You see they have an election to win and the way that they have come up with is to rerun the election of 1992 where the then Conservative government came from behind in no small part by rubbishing the then Labour party leader and screaming about tax hikes should Labour win. All well and good unless suddenly the great unwashed are reminded that the Conservative party also see nothing wrong with pimping Her Majesties’ Home Secretary out for a bit of shoe shopping to the aforementioned rich people. At the same time it would seem that during their watch the tax authorities have taken an awful long time to start to look into the tax anomalies of the rich provided by the HSBC private bank in Switzerland. This allows snotty nosed bloggers like myself to point out the hypocrisy of the Conservatives’ claim that we are all in this together.
I believe in the right of rich people to stay rich what I don’t believe in is the rich not paying their way, after all they do seem to have significant other advantages like sending their children to the best schools who then just seem to be able to get into the best universities etc. I know that there isn’t a level playing field and given the nature of the beast within all of us there never will be. What I don’t believe in is a world that we seem to inhabit where the poor are demonised as thieves and criminals whilst the rich are allowed to steal, yes steal, millions from the government in the way of unpaid taxes yet get only a slap on the wrist when they are caught out. Worst of all the accountants who come up with these wizard tax avoidance plans aren’t effected at all and indeed go onto advice the government on tax matters themselves then use this insider knowledge to help the rich to avoid paying taxes.
I know this is a crass over simplification of a much more complicated and nuanced world with far more than 50 shades of grey but given our current Prime Minister, a millionaire who see’s nothing wrong in saying that the decaying building that is the Palace of Westminster reminds him of school he really does have a problem trying to pretend that he has the interest of the country at heart rather than the narrower sectional interests of the rich. If more of this stuff comes out and it starts to stick then no amount of scaremongering about Ed Miliband will help and suddenly the 1992 plan will come unstuck faster than you can say Neil Kinnock .
Events dear boy events.
Simon Marchini
http://www.simonmarchini.co.uk
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