Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Financial Advice, Anyone?

Does anyone know a good tax haven? Not that I have a lot of money, but if I paid less tax I would have a little more. What is it people have against so-called ‘tax havens’? I don’t intend to pay any more tax than the government can sting me for, and neither does anybody else, whatever they say; even recognising that some things are better paid for out of a collective fund, I’m not going to contribute more than I have to when I have no control whatsoever over how it is spent and what my own personal return will be. And neither are you. Admit it.

It is easy to understand why politicians dislike places with low tax, of course- people take themselves, their companies and their money there, and confiscatory governments can’t get their hands on it, but to claim that there is anything morally wrong with taking less of people’s money than some other country is twisting reason a little too far. In theory nations set taxes at the rate necessary to cover their spending without depressing growth. In practice, politicians being what they are, it doesn’t work quite like that, but the fact is that some governments have discovered it is in their interests to keep taxes low, and they do so. I cannot see what is wrong with this, nor why we should not take advantage of it. But then, I’m not a socialist.

So, any advice?

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