If you ask me, we should do away with all "tax havens". Even out the playing field - and rich people should also pay tax.

From Swissinfo.org:
Tax haven grey list makes Switzerland sweat
http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/front/T...70488000&ty=st

luckily noone asked you then.......

Indeed. Let's even out the playing field; everyone pays the same amount of money towards taxes.

Or did you mean the same percentage?

Or were you referring to everyone getting the same benefits from those taxes?

In fact, we should be paid by the state what whatever work we do because all work should be valued the same. That way, it's more equal than equal can be.

Oh! you mean they tried that and it failed?

Tax havens keep spendthrift governments in check or they'd be buying votes for every election.

I hope this tax haven witch hunt back fires and send the most productive and the richest to move their businesses to Switzerland and completely sidestep the need to move capital out of these high tax states' jurisdiction. As long as national sovereignty stands, there's no amount of international regulation that can force the Swiss to up their local tax rates.

Stand your ground, Switzerland!

Funny, everybody else just seems to be pushing for more transparency.

You can understand why Brown has got himself all worked up though. He feels deprived of tax revenues he urgently needs to fund the lavish expenses needed to maintain the lifestyles of his ministers and MPs.

I personally believe that the right question to ask is: If tax havens are so bad, why does Brown not start with the Channel Islands/Commonwealth countries as the Bahamas or Obama with the US territories that have "funny laws"?

I guess that would be unpopular with some of the gentlemen who fund the campaigns? So Switzerland or Luxembourg are much less controversial... lets make a publicity stunt.

I think thats a really interesting question. You would never get it of course but logically speaking tax should be a fixed amount shouldnt it ? Not a percentage. so someone earning 50,000chf and someone earning 5 million CHF would pay the same fixed amount because they each use the state services on average a fixed amount. if its percentage based it already inherently unfair because the person earning 5 million isnt going to use their percentage that is taxed in state services.

But i know thats not the idea before all the lefties shred me into the ground...

I dare say that the tax haven issue has less to do with taxes and more to do with banking competition.

Yeah like who will bank with you if you don't have good tight tax laws.

Arguably (and almost certainly demonstrably, but I can't be bothered doing any research ), the rich would - by far - use "state services" less than the poor.

Exactly.

It is everyone's patriotic duty to do everything in their power to pay as little tax as possible. No Governement should ever feel that it should be doing anything less than crawling on its knees to its citizens for tax revenue.

The problem is that so many of "the rich" aren't rich because they're "productive", they're rich because they're crooks.

Dont confuse "tax haven" with "low taxation"

The former is a place that colludes with wealthy foreigners to avoid tax in their home nation. Nothing against governments enforcing tax laws on their own residents, although Im not sure how Id feel if I were american and was taxed regardless where I lived.

The latter a place that has a different fiscal policy as regards govmt bureacracy and service levels. Governments are being totally hypocrytical here, by building massive deficits to keep the structurally unemployed in fags and wide screen TVs, then being surprised that others chose to vote with their feet and leave.

D

You already said exactly what I was trying to...

CH banks should compile a list of clients whom they suspect are 'evading' tax and figure out how many are politicians or their close family members or the companies they represent, and then suggest that they make public THAT list! lets see how quickly the interest in CH as a tax haven dies down then ....

On average, the rich use the society, be it government provided services or other indirect benefits - disproportionately more than those having less. Easy to prove by contradiction - few rich persons could gain their wealth on an empty island.

Really ? You seriously think "the rich" receive more welfare, legal aid and misceallaenous other government handouts than "the poor" ? You think they're all standing in line waiting for Medicare/NHS/whatever rather than just paying at a private clinic ? You think they are more likely to have the police come through their neighbourhood breaking up fights, dispersing hooligans, or arresting drug dealers ?

Exactly which state services do you think "the rich" are using more than "the poor" ? Be specific.

Er, no. That's called a non-sequitur.

GORDON BROWN has today been accused of the “height of hypocrisy” for allowing the state-owned Northern Rock to run a £1.1bn offshore bank in the Channel Islands while he is leading a global campaign against tax havens.

Marton

Many tax evaders are hiding behind a trust registered in the Channel islands. The banks are possibly ignorant about the real beneficiary. If Mr.Brown were serious, he should stop pretending that the Channel Islands are not British.