Hillary Clinton is right and wrong ...

... when she said "... make the rich pay more tax".  Although such a strident call will appeal to the radical political left.

It comes across better when she expanded her thoughts with "... there are rich people everywhere and yet they do not contribute to the growth of their own countries".  This type of rhetoric will stir the blood of societies poor.

She further elaborated during a glittering New York conference by saying "... one of the issues that I have been preaching about around the world is collecting taxes in an equitable manner, especially from the elites in every country".  People are becoming a little more comfortable with the notion.

With three sentences she appealed to probably 70% (my guess based on anecdotal evidence) of the population, but the most important offering is the third when she used the term "equitable manner", it is an expression that seems to be underpinned with fairness.

This is not socialism, that political concept is dead and buried, it is "Stakeholder Politics" where everyone contributes to everything, not equally .... but not disproportionately, where rewards are proportional in a country where people are able to do more than just survive, and a country where everyone has the opportunity to achieve their full potential.

Is she telling the electorate they are "stakeholders", interesting times for the peoples of the USA, interesting times for the Republican Party, can they ever win where the vast majority realize they will never have a stake in the USA when the Republican  Party is in the White House.


We have issues in the UK, a senior tax lawyer might tell you to "leave before we set the dogs on you", referring to a well-spoken band of undercover protesters known as "The Intruders" as "trespassing scum", all because you might not approve of people such as ...


... the former HMRC boss Dave Hartnett,   The Intruders presented Mr Hartnett with a spoof "Golden Handshake" gong, the group were ejected by a dinner guest who called them "trespassing scum". A video of their exploits went viral yesterday on YouTube. Under Mr Hartnett's watch, HMRC was accused of agreeing "sweetheart deals" with major corporations such as Goldman Sachs and Vodafone. A Public Accounts Committee report criticised Mr Hartnett for being "too cosy" with big business. He was accused of signing off on a deal that saved Goldman Sachs £20m in tax payments and another which cut Vodafone's tax bill from £8bn to £1.25bn.


What chance the little people of the UK when our taxman was Dave Hartnett, we need a Hillary in Downing Street, but more than Hillary we need UK businesses to pay their unavoidable taxes, is that wishful thinking ?

I guess Vodafone is amongst the robber ...

... baron companies of the world that steal taxes from countries in which they operate.

Nicholas Shaxson in his "Treasure Islands" (£8.99 from Amazon), subtitled "Tax Havens and the Men Who Stole the World", explains what is wrong with global finance  ...

... he write, while many might dismiss tax havens as offshore homes for spivs, money-launderers and the odd celebrity, in fact they help big companies and the super-rich to avoid paying tax, tax that totals "$1000 billion" each year.

... that's a trillion dollars, a trillion dollars unspent in the countries that the wealth is created, a trillion dollars that should be underpinning the health and welfare of the little people who have no voice in this unjust world.

Update on my entry for yesterday ...

The dispute has severely dented India’s reputation as a safe place for foreign companies to do business. Many are facing similar tax cases that could be affected by the judgment, including Cadbury, GE, Vedanta, AT&T, Sanofi-Aventis and SABMiller. The companies declined to comment on the decision, although one representative said: "Clearly, it does provide some encouragement."

... recognise the household names that are siphoning off the taxes from India through the use of offshore tax havens or countries that give advantage to business.

Time to create a level playing field that includes "justice" in the rules of the game.

The bullshit that is both India and Vodafone, and ...

... throughout the world.

The narrative, courtesy The Times 21 Jan 2012, there is more if you pay the tariff £ .....

It has taken four years of fighting but last night Vodafone was celebrating a landmark legal victory after the Indian Supreme Court ruled that it would not have to pay a £3.1 billion tax bill.

The ruling centred on Vodafone’s £7.1 billion acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa’s majority stake in Hutchison Essar in 2007 and was declared a “thumping judgment” by Harish Salve, the company’s lawyer. It is expected to open up the region to more foreign investment.

The Indian Government had claimed that it was owed tax because the assets bought had been bought in India. Vodafone argued that both the buyer and seller were based overseas and the deal had been conducted via offshore holding companies. It also said that, since it was the buyer of the asset, it should not be liable for a tax on the profits from the sale.

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that “Indian tax authorities had no jurisdiction to tax Vodafone”.

The Supreme Court of India is of course a Logical Ass.

My reasoning relates not to ownership, but to location, if a business is located in Delhi, then the business as an asset should be taxed in Delhi, without exception.

This type of nonsense occurs in the UK, an offshore company owns assets and pays little or no tax because of domicile.  If politicians were not spineless creatures, there would be an alternative Davos where such practices would be by common agreement outlawed throughout the world, there is no logic in failing to tax a process other than where the process happens.  If you sell it here you pay the taxes here ...... simple.

If companies are able to avoid paying taxes to the country it creates its wealth, then the politics of that country is probably corrupt, if the politics is suspect might not its Supreme Court be also suspect, there is an enormous smell wafting from the East.  But it is not just from the East that smells waft, our very own tax collectors let the very same Vodafone off the hook to the tune of a £6bn tax bill, we need to remember the efforts our very own HMRC are using to claw back taxes from the little people of Britain.