tax dodgers

hi all

I was watching Jaws on dvd (a childhood favourite)
and as usual, after watching the film i go onto imdb and check the trivia
and as reading the trivia i came across this bit which was interesting to me

Steven Spielberg wanted Sterling Hayden for the role of Quint. Hayden, however, was in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service for unpaid tax. All Hayden's income from acting was subject to a levy by the IRS, so there was an attempt to circumvent that: Hayden was also a writer, so one idea was to pay him union scale for his acting, and buy a story from him (his literary income wasn't subject to levy) for a large sum. It was concluded that the IRS would see through this scheme, so Robert Shaw was cast instead.

Robert shaw

Robert Shaw was also in trouble with the IRS and had to flee the country once his scenes were completed.

i then thought, hmmm this is a little interesting il do a search

Offshore Tax Havens: The World's 10 Best Tax Havens
1998......

10. Andorra
9.New Zealand
8. Switzerland
7. Hong Kong
5. Guernsey & 6. Jersey
4. Panama
3. The Isle of Man
2. The Bahamas
1. Monaco

ryankett.hubpages.com...

Tax Havens today

BEST TAX HAVEN COUNTRIES

Caribbean:

Offshore Tax Haven Anguilla (Anguilla IBC, Anguilla LLC, Anguilla Offshore Foundation)

Offshore Tax Haven BVI (BVI Business Company)

Offshore Tax Haven Dominica (Dominica IBC)

Offshore Tax Haven Nevis (Nevis IBC, Nevis LLC, Nevis Offshore Foundation)

Central America:

Tax Haven Belize (Belize IBC, Belize Offshore Foundation)

Tax Haven Panama (Panama Corporation, Panama Private Interest Foundation)

Europe:

Tax Haven Gibraltar (Gibraltar Company)

North America:

USA as an Offshore Haven (Delaware LLC, Oregon LLC)

Indian Ocean:

Offshore Tax Haven Seychelles (Seychelles IBC)
www.offshore-companies.co.uk...

TAX DODGERS (mainly uk)

Phil Collins

Extremely successful, and the first of three entries from the world of music, Phil Collins claims to have only left Britain because Labour won the 1997 election. However some people have speculated that he has done so simply to take advantage of Switzerland’s lower tax regime.

Tracy Emin
The only artist on our list, and the only woman, Tracy Emin gets an honourable mention even though she hasn’t left Britain yet. Tracy has said she is “very seriously considering leaving Britain...I’m simply not willing to pay tax at 50 percent”.

David Bowie
The Glam Rock legend has never been far from controversy. The second musician on our list, he is lauded as a musical genius by many. David moved to Switzerland in 1976 to avoid the then 83 percent income tax for highest rate earners. It has been estimated that his personal worth is over £500million.

Sir Sean
Connery he left Britain in the seventies, moving first to Spain, then to the Bahamas in 1999. Whilst he undoubtedly saved millions in tax, he states it is a political move: “Like a lot of Scots abroad I look forward to coming home to an independent Scotland”.

Jenson Button.
The current Formula 1 world champion, Jenson Button is a resident of Monaco where he takes advantage of zero income tax. He also has properties in the UK and Bahrain.

Lewis Hamilton

The youngest ever Formula 1 world champion in 2008, Lewis announced at the start of his record breaking season that he was following many British F1 drivers and moving to Switzerland. Although claims have been made that this was a privacy issue as well as a tax issue, he has since stated that although he is not happy living in Switzerland, he has no intention of returning home “for the moment”. It is thought that his career earnings could well exceed £1billion so he will continue to save tens of millions by remaining abroad.

Stelios Haji-Ioannou

The first of two businesspeople on the list, Stelios is the founder of Easyjet and has an estimated fortune of £1.29 billion. The popular entrepreneur stated “I have no UK income to be taxed in the UK”. Stelios has saved millions in income tax by residing in Monaco and registering his holding company, EasyGroup, in Jersey

Sir Michael Caine

Sir Michael left Britain in protest at the 83 percent top rate of income tax, but did return when taxes were lowered. He stated recently that: “I decided not to become a tax exile, so I stayed in Britain, but they kept putting the tax up, so I’d do any old thing every now and then to pay the tax, that was my tax exile money. I realised that’s not a socialist country, it’s a communist country without a dictator, so I left and I was never going to come back” He has also expressed dismay at the 50 percent top rate of tax.

Sir Philip Green
In a highly interesting manoeuvre, Sir Philip manages his various businesses through a holding company - Taveta Investments. This is registered in the name of his wife Christina, a South African who resides in Monaco. The family and company thus manage to avoid tens of millions in tax.

Sir Mick Jagger
he was the first to become a tax exile. In 1972, The Rolling Stones left Britain and moved to the south of France for tax purposes. The title of the bands seminal album ‘Exile on Main St.’ is a reference to this move.

www.whichoffshore.com...
(That site is their top ten, here is a few more that i remember)

some more tax dodgers i dug up

Ronnie Corbett
Noël Coward
Cat Stevens
Pink floyd
Rod Stewart
Tom Jones

To my way of thinking (after attempting to digest this)
is that
All that revenue lost, could it have made a difference to the u.k?
possibly not (gov swallows everything)

My reaction to these tax dodgers was:
WTH your born here your career started here and your fans are here
they are the people that paid to see you in your early days, and what do you do
stick your finger up to them and say "cheers for the money i will spend it in another country"

then i thought

i dont blame, you the tax was silly and better offerings were from abroad.

But imo
Dirty traitors
probably manipulated the gov with their over inflated bank accounts (and egos)
hardly anyone gets caught for tax evasion (them rich prince of belair people i mean lol)
seems to me the philosaphy is:
if you have the dough
you can go..

it honestly makes me mad what all that lost tax could have done to help the country
i hate paying tax we all do
but i will be happy wen its paid back into what we need

Emergency services
better education
care for the elderly etc..

i will close now for fear of ......going overboard lol
any way thanks for reading
i hope it might spark a few cells in some members
regards
dave