Tax the Poor and give Bonuses to the Rich!
- Feb 16, 2015
- 3 min read
Goooooood Afternoon/Evening everybody!
I hope you all had a lovely weekend - anybody feeling guilty about scoffing too many chocolates on valentines day? No? I'm pretty sure I was not the only one doing this...
You know something? The weather is actually getting much better! An average of 7-8 degrees celsius for this week is not bad at all!
This morning I decided to blog about something different other than the status quo of events.
If you guys have been reading the news lately then you will know that there has been a lot of talk of taxes and the big scandal involving HSBC. For those of you who do not know about this, I decided to update you guys with a lil summary of this!
Why?
Commercial Awareness that is why! Also the majority of you are doing an LLB Law degree, and although there are the two traditional paths of becoming either a solicitor or a barrister, there are still alternative paths, for example government services such as HR, or working in the finance sector etc. the news is not just relevant for you to know but it should also encourage you to put on your law thinking caps and engage in the habit of taking the news apart, scrutinising it, and often question who is really accountable in such matters? (*cough* the banks *cough*)
Okay so you all know the large banking giant, HSBC - (Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation - I bet you didn't know it stood for that! and if you did well extra brownie points for you!)
Well the main news story is that they helped lots of wealthy clients across the world evade, avoid, dodge (insert alternative synonyms here) hundreds of millions of pounds worth in taxes.
In fact Panorama actually did a pretty interesting documentary on it;
if you have 30mins to spare, rather than scrolling through facebook, then check it out;
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC - the department responsible for taxes) was given leaked data in 2010 and had identified 1,100 people from a list of 7,00 people who had not paid their taxes and 5 years later only 1 tax evader was prosecuted.... IMAGINE JUST ONE! it seems pretty clear that the tax authorities are too lenient and evidence seems to suggest that have not taken strong action against tax offenders.
Evidence also seems to suggest that HSBC actually broke the law by actively helping its clients.
Okay, I really recommend watching the documentary link I posted earlier to understand this concept of breaking the law. Technically there are loopholes in the system which lawyers were able to use to help their clients and even wrote them letters of help to avoid paying taxes.
Of course HSBC denies this and so does Lord Green for that matter. Have a little look into how he became a Lord in the first place. It seems that he bought his respectable position as a Lord but I'll let you future lawyers figure this one out! ;)
Of course I have no idea what you bright and talented students will become in the future but if you're going to become a lawyer who will help clients avoid taxes, well... just make sure you stay within the law. [Disclaimer - I am in no way endorsing or encouraging or promoting tax evasion, tax evasion is an awful practise and I strongly believe there ought to be tighter regulations in place!]
Remember it's not money that makes the world go around! It's you guys!
Author: Asha Mistry (Magazine Editor of the Bar Society - LLB Law, Second Year)
Comments