Reader views (25)

 Add your view

Here's a sample of the latest views published.

Perhaps the Super Rich British Citizens are sick of the Inland Revenue Hypocrisy that allows non UK Citizens to live in the UK and be capped at around 300,000 quid whilst British Citizens who have built up their businesses paid corporation tax for many years, still have to pay around 58% Tax and NI contributions with no Cap on payments.

Why do you think the majority of the Top 20 Rich List are now Non-British Citizens with UK Residency?

- David Edwards, UK and Caymen Island of Course

If someone spends 3 months every year in 4 different countries one of which is the UK - why should they pay tax in the UK and not in the other 3? Why should they pay 4 lots of tax? Many countries in this situation agree that they should pay tax where their family is based - the UK does NOT have this policy. Most non-domiciles do pay tax in the UK even though they do not 'live' there. They do not pay tax on all of their income but on part of it. They may base their companies there and the companies do pay corporate tax. The english expression - shooting yourself in the foot seems appropriate here.

- Cat, Zurich, Switzerland

Its ok bringing this to the public's attention but whatever changes, the super rich will still get away with it, no wonder so many of them say they donate to charity, they can because the taxman isnt getting any of their cash.

- Kevin, London, England

This is a storm in a tea cup if ever I've seen one! Read the article, people, which states that 1 in 6 of the super wealthy have filed a tax return. It then gives you the number - 65 people. So that means 65 people are paying tax and the remaining 325 super wealthy are dodgers. How much money do you seriously think the treasury can raise from income tax on 325 people? Not a lot in the grand scheme of things. Most of the revenue generated will come from lower earners, simply because there are millions of them, an extra penny on basic rate tax generates far more revenue for the treasury, and that's the sad truth. We all pay too much tax, no matter how much we earn!

- Sean, London

Well Labour have successfully made a class-less society - now its poor, tax payer, rich and super rich.

- Fly, London

What a farce - we have the richest people getting away without paying tax. Yet we have the HMRC chasing the poor, for mistakes they make on their tax credit awards...I bet the poor wish they had a good accountant.

- Robert, Bristol England

If we abolish the Non-Domicile tax advantages for wealthy individuals they would simply move, with their money, to another jurisdiction like Singapore or Dubai. By giving them breaks at least a chunk of it reaches the UK. It is then far more likely to benefit us all.

- Dominic, Weybridge

It's a shame as a nation that we are so spineless. Let's all refuse to pay our taxes until this is resolved. They can hardly arrest us all, the prisons are full and the police are all leaving the job.

- Paul Humphreys, Essex

It's worth mentioning that the artificial requirement for these people to fly back to Monaco twice a week to pretend they are not dominciled here isn't exactly helping reduce unnecessary CO2 emissions.

In fact in this case you could say we are giving a very, very powerful tax incentive to jet about the world, purely to avoid tax.

- Tim, London

It is because of these super-rich tax dodgers that we less well-off have to pay the taxes that we do. The likes of Abramovic and Branson can well afford to pay tax. They work like the rest of us so why should they be exempt?

- Jan, Romford

So Nick, why should wanting your money to yourself rather than 'to fund the scroungers who cannot be bothered to get off their backsides to work hard' only apply to the super rich? I work really hard to earn my money, and I don't want my money to fund those people either! Of course we can't blame super rich individuals for exploiting the loopholes, but we can blame the government for not doing more to close them!

- Sez, London

Leaving aside the natural tendency to focus upon rich individuals who may, or may not, have taken advantage of loopholes in the tax regime, why is it that Clunking Fist Brown has taxed those with much more modest means in every way of which he can think, while leaving the rich easy ways out? This is the man who continually bleats about the plight of the poor and what he is going to do for them, yet in 10 years he seems to have left the rich better off than ever. He is more a clunking cowardly hypocrite who seems only prepared to be heavy on the least powerful.

- James Elliott, Eastbourne UK

The tax burden for everybody else in the country would be far less if everyone, and I mean everyone had to pay tax. Get rid of the tax lawyers and all of the tax avoidance schemes. Everyone that lives here, or earns money here, pays tax. A flat rate of around 15%, possibly lower, should suffice if everyone paid.

- Paul Bradford, Monflanquin, France

This is political rubbish and ignores several key facts. Firstly the international super rich can live elsewhere and still not pay tax. They are liable to income remitted to the UK and given their lifestyles thats is a substantial amount of tax paid. These people also employ a lot of people who also pay tax, and we aren't just talking about gardners, nannies and chaffeurs! Be rest assured if greedy Gordon could suck more money out them he would.

The private equity story is one of gross ignorance on the part of the non-financially literate public. If this business is destroyed in London then we hand over one of the City's global success stories to some other financial centre for free, utterly brilliant, so very British to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory!

The wealth divide merely reflects that the old patterns of wealth creation are being overtaken by the fast moving knowledge based economy. Of course given the appalling UK State education system its no wonder there is a growing group of disillusioned people, their numbers will surely grow!

The fact is Gordon Brown has ripped 5% of UK GDP out our private pockets to fund his "client state" of state workers who produce exactly the square root of diddly squat of GDP, thats why we are all feeling the pinch.

- James, London

Reduce the tax levels fairly for everyone.

- Jay, London

The reason why the 'super rich' try to get out of paying tax is because for all of us the tax rates are just too high. At 20K a year, 22% is too high. At 100+K a year 40-50% is too high. Then there's the issue of "value-for-money" and accountability. Most high earners don't make any claim on the state for services. While MPs give themselves inflation busting pay increases and huge pensions at the same time limiting public sector pay increases it does make you feel that there's one rule for them and another for the rest of us.

Tax should be set at a level that removes those on low incomes from tax regime altogether. National Insurance, which is just another tax, council tax etc should all be amalgamated into a single tax at a single rate.

It should always be cheaper to pay the tax than to pay an accountant to set up a scheme that allows you to avoid paying the tax.

- Marc, Harrow, UK

I don't see the problem here, these guys have slogged for many years to build up fantastic business which in itself pays huge amounts of taxes! Why should they pay masses of tax if they can get away with it, I am sure that 99% of the population would not pay tax if they could get away with it. If it were me and I had spent a lifetime building a business then I would want my money to myself not to fund the scroungers who cannot be bothered to get off their backsides to work hard

- Nick, London, UK

Its funny how everybody thinks that everybody else should be the one that should bear the tax burden.

Everyone feels that they are a special case, whether they be Non-Domiciliaries or bar workers in Bromley. Or even MPs.

- Brian, Telford

I'm a Capital Gains Tax specialist and spend my days making rich people richer by helping them avoid paying tax.

The joke's on them though, I'm uttely, utterly rubbish at it and got an E for my Maths GCSE.

Stitch THAT the rich.

- Dave, Dalston, London

I pay 22 per cent on my second income (a bar job at 6 quid an hour). I have to do this to make ends meet. With both jobs combined I don’t make 20k a year. Is this right?

Anyone on less than 20k a year shouldn't have to pay income tax... period.

- Paul, Bromley

One of the biggest insults to the hard working, tax paying Britons are tax breaks for the non-domiciled. British subjects born overseas can choose to be non-domiciled. Many pay themselves a peppercorn salary in the UK to avoid tax drawing their real money from offshore accounts. My boss is worth in excess of £60 million, lives permanently in the UK, has non domiciled himself and pays less tax than our office cleaner, yet he still demands his £200 winter fuel allowance, free treatment on the NHS, etc. and contributes nothing to this country.

- Jane, London

I think the only people rioting will be the rich, angry at the amount of money that Golden Gordon, Red Ken and local councils are stealing via tax, council tax, the Olympics, sky high duties and other stealth taxes.

- Nobby Clark, London,

Low paid workers used to pay around 10% tax as well, until this year when the Chancellor got rid of this rate to squeeze even more money out of those least able to pay.
If you're worried about wealth inequity - make life easier for those who work but don't earn much. High profile pursuit of the super-rich makes absolutely no difference to the poor.
No matter how much taxation is levied on the very rich, unless the tax burden is eased for those lower down the ladder, there is absolutely no benefit to "Ordinary, well-to- do, decent British citizens who pay their way, who meet in the aisles of Tesco or Sainsbury".

- Sarah N., London

Having worked for a company where several individuals benefited from this type of tax avoidance, I would say that some of the chief beneficiaries are the large firms of chartered accountants who charge hefty fees so that their clients can stay one step ahead of the taxman.

- Michael, London

The rich not paying their taxes and getting away with it, what a surprise. What will New Labour and Gordon Brown do about it? Nothing.

- Mick, London, England

Add your comment