There’s three different behaviours going on. Sadly the press report them as one.
- Spending money in a tax efficient way. Stand up Lewis. You paid tax on the money to buy the plane, and then went to the lowest cost place to buy it. So, the same as comparison site shopping, on a grander scale. Fodder for the gossip, but nothing to interest the tax man.
- Moving corporate money around to minimise (eliminate) taxes on profits. At one level, it’s the same as smart shopping, and that’s how the accountants pass it off. On the other hand, those profits arose in a number of different countries, and it’s not in the long term interest of each domestic economy to have money siphoned off. Something should be done to have some correlation between turnover, profit and tax, on a country by country basis.
- Don’t pay me, pay my company. It’s in [name an overseas country with a low tax policy]. & my company buys me things and lends me money (which I’ll never repay).
This is morally wrong, and should be stopped.
Will
