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Cameron family fortune made in tax havens

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    Cameron family fortune made in tax havens

    David Cameron's father set up offshore investment funds which explicitly boasted of their ability to remain outside UK tax jurisdiction.

    David Cameron's father ran a network of offshore investment funds to help build the family fortune that paid for the prime minister's inheritance, the Guardian can reveal.

    Though entirely legal, the funds were set up in tax havens such as Panama City and Geneva, and explicitly boasted of their ability to remain outside UK tax jurisdiction.

    At the time of his death in late 2010, Ian Cameron left a fortune of £2.74m in his will, from which David Cameron received the sum of £300,000. (AtW's comment: so that's just below threshold when inheritance tax would kick in - HM Revenue & Customs: )

    Cameron and other cabinet members have recently suggested that they would be willing to disclose their personal tax filings amid growing scrutiny following the budget, but this would only shed light on annual sources of income rather than accumulated wealth or inheritance.

    The structure employed by Cameron senior is now commonplace among modern hedge funds, which argue that offshore status can help attract international investors. UK residents would ordinarily have to pay tax on any profits they repatriated, and there is nothing to suggest the Camerons did not.

    Nevertheless, the dramatic growth of such offshore financial activity has raised concerns that national tax authorities are struggling to pin down the world's super-rich.

    Ian Cameron took advantage of a new climate of investment after all capital controls were abolished in 1979, making it legal to take any sum of money out of the country without it being taxed or controlled by the UK government.

    Not long after the change, brought in by Margaret Thatcher after her first month in power, Ian Cameron began setting up and directing investment funds in tax havens around the world.

    Leaving his full-time role as a City stockbroker, Ian Cameron went on to act as chairman of Close International Asset management, a multimillion-pound investment fund based in Jersey; as a senior director of Blairmore Holdings Inc, registered in Panama City and currently worth £25m; and he was also a shareholder in Blairmore Asset Management based in Geneva.

    Source: Cameron family fortune made in tax havens | Politics | The Guardian

    How lovely - no wonder he is relaxed about high tax rates!

    #2
    So what? The question should be is he a good prime minister. Alas he is rubbish.

    Comment


      #3
      Galloway made an interesting observation on QT the other night, which isn't the same thing as being true. He said some MPs are so rich (23 out of 29 of the new cabinet are multimillionaires) that they didn't know whether they were higher rate tax payers. All the little tax/income fiddles etc must make it quite hard to know.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by TimberWolf View Post
        they didn't know whether they were higher rate tax payers. All the little tax/income fiddles etc must make it quite hard to know.
        Plausible deniability - handling tax is outsauced to capable accountants who'd make sure "the right amount of tax is paid".

        That said surely they still need to sign tax returns so they'd know how much tax they pay?

        About time such tax returns were public - if they really earned their money they should not be ashamed to say how.

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          #5
          Originally posted by AtW View Post
          Plausible deniability - handling tax is outsauced to capable accountants
          And the revenue are always playing ketchup
          While you're waiting, read the free novel we sent you. It's a Spanish story about a guy named 'Manual.'

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by doodab View Post
            And the revenue are always playing ketchup
            WHS

            It's very hard to ketch up with those tax cheating

            Comment


              #7
              Are they multimillionaires in terms of assets, or in terms of income?
              Down with racism. Long live miscegenation!

              Comment


                #8
                WHS

                Most (although not all) of the cabinet millionaires are classified as millionaires because they have an expensive home.

                Hardly any of them earn over a million per year, or even close to it - even allowing for any income shifting.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by centurian View Post
                  Hardly any of them earn over a million per year, or even close to it - even allowing for any income shifting.
                  But they will earn a bob or two after leaving Govt and taking directorships in all sort of companies

                  Since they are MPs, ain't they supposed to declare all that in the register of interests?

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by AtW View Post
                    But they will earn a bob or two after leaving Govt and taking directorships in all sort of companies

                    Since they are MPs, ain't they supposed to declare all that in the register of interests?
                    Bob

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