Reply to: How tax heavens fund their public services ?

[tim123]

Yeah, and Norway has a population of 4.5 million, the oil money goes a bit farther. As ours would if it had gone only to Scotland .

Yep, Norway's got so much money it can afford to build 5 mile long undersea tunnels to islands that get about a dozen cars a a day using it.

No-one else in the world can afford to do such things

tim

[expat]

A lot of these Tax Haven countries manage their own countries finances better, the government will be involved in business and will have very large amounts of money in sovereign investment funds.
Its not only the tax haven countries which do this
Norway has $74,500 of investment per capita, Of course the UK squandered all the northsea and gas revenues

Yeah, and Norway has a population of 4.5 million, the oil money goes a bit farther. As ours would if it had gone only to Scotland (as pointed out in government economist McCrone's report in the 1970s, which the government immediately classified as too dangerous for the people to know). spread over 60 million it doesn't go so far.

That's even before you start seeing it as a winning lottery ticket to be squandered on pretending you're still a great power.

[expat]

there's the rub: it doesn't scale. there's nothing remarkable or magic about small communities of very highly paid people making sure that they're comfortable. apply it to a normally distributed large population and i doubt it works so well.

True, but it is not so much that they are all highly-paid, it is that the economy outside of average personal wealth and income is so large compared to the population, that the tax burden on the economy as a whole can be low even without any personal taxation.

Conversely, most large countries do not have a vast economy for the size of the population, so need to tax ordinary people.

And finally, countries that make less and less, without accepting that they are becoming poorer, have to ramp up taxes and borrowing.

[Spacecadet]

A lot of these Tax Haven countries manage their own countries finances better, the government will be involved in business and will have very large amounts of money in sovereign investment funds.
Its not only the tax haven countries which do this
Norway has $74,500 of investment per capita, Of course the UK squandered all the northsea and gas revenues

[DimPrawn]

The No.1 tax haven is the UK. Tax free on your worldwide income and totally free public services.

If you are non-domiciled here.

[lambrini_socialist]

What the tax haven status does is attract so much wealth that even a small dip into it in passing will produce a large public income relative to the population size.

there's the rub: it doesn't scale. there's nothing remarkable or magic about small communities of very highly paid people making sure that they're comfortable. apply it to a normally distributed large population and i doubt it works so well.

[expat]

Spanking duties on all imports, stamp duty on transactions, work permit fees for ex-pats, license fee’s for businesses, etc.

Free of income tax and corporation tax maybe. Get stung on everything else.

Also, most parts of the world don’t have the burden of publicly funded healthcare and education. That’s why they want to come to the UK and work for low wages; the other benefits compensate.

That's third world non-tax-haven countries you're talking about.

Most tax havens have high wages and high standards of living, especially public services. Generally public funding is obtained from sources which are also available to other countries but in vastly reduced amounts to most countries. What the tax haven status does is attract so much wealth that even a small dip into it in passing will produce a large public income relative to the population size.

[lambrini_socialist]

most parts of the world don’t have the burden of publicly funded healthcare and education.

lol, never heard it put like that before. most sane people would consider illiteracy and rampant tuberculosis to be a "burden" on a nation. the mind boggles!

That’s why they want to come to the UK and work for low wages; the other benefits compensate.

the number one reason lower paid foreign workers come here is that, relatively speaking, they will earn an absolute packet compared to what's available at home. of course i'm sure that healthcare is a plus but, like most things, it surely pales in comparison to Cold Hard Cash as an effective motivator. welcome to the global free market, suck it up!

[HairyArsedBloke]

How tax heavens fund their public services ? I.E How they do it without businesses/citizens having to pay tax ?

Spanking duties on all imports, stamp duty on transactions, work permit fees for ex-pats, license fee’s for businesses, etc.

Free of income tax and corporation tax maybe. Get stung on everything else.

Also, most parts of the world don’t have the burden of publicly funded healthcare and education. That’s why they want to come to the UK and work for low wages; the other benefits compensate.

[expat]

How tax heavens fund their public services ? I.E How they do it without businesses/citizens having to pay tax ?

Typo of the week.

[Likely]

I was in tax heaven once, then Hector took it all back one day.

What happened there ?

[smiff]

I was in tax heaven once, then Hector took it all back one day.

[dang65]

Do citizens in IOM and/or channel islands pay any uk income tax? Reason I ask is don't they come under the UK from a defence point of view? If France invaded them, wouldn't the UK step in? Do they have any military of their own?

The Isle of Man is a UK Crown Protectorate, and presumably pays some kind of fee for this. But they aren't part of the UK, or the EU/EEC, and they have their own Post Office and Telecoms etc.

I know they have a Cadet Force which joins in with activities in the UK, so presumably their residents just join the British Army if they fancy it. But they don't have their own regiment or navy or air force.

[dang65]

Tax Havens aren't completely devoid of tax though are they? Residents of places like the Isle of Man do pay Income Tax and National Insurance, just that it's at a lower rate than we do.

The banks presumably make huge profits from investing the enormous amounts of money that are deposited with them, and that means they can expand and employ loads of people, who then pay taxes on their incomes, and buy property and do a lot of shopping, which keeps other industries going... etc etc.

These places are also a lot smaller geographically, have a smaller population relying on state support, and aren't members of the EU or other organisations which they have to fork out billions to every year. So they can manage very well on much smaller tax revenues.

I don't know about anywhere else, but the Isle of Man certainly has very good public services, good schools, good hospitals and health care etc.

Doesn't stop people moaning about them all the time though, just like everywhere else.

[BrilloPad]

Do citizens in IOM and/or channel islands pay any uk income tax? Reason I ask is don't they come under the UK from a defence point of view? If France invaded them, wouldn't the UK step in? Do they have any military of their own?