UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown was hoisted on his grim petard in the European Parliament yesterday for his hypocrisy. Can you imagine such a bold and forthright statement being made in our little league assembly?
I believe that Gordon Brown’s whipping up the hounds over offshores is merely a cover to distract attention from his earlier mismanagement of the UK economy. All was rosy while momentum pulled the economy along, but now that the pinch is on, repeated and costly failures like his private finance intiatives (PFI) are coming home with a vengeance.
The attack on offshores is cheap populism – a convenient red herring. The politicians leading the chorus with complaints that companies “deprived the taxpayers of more than [insert crazy big number here] last year alone” are, to put it simply, full of shit.
- These same politicians have been champions of global free trade. There’s a contradiction in their current stance. Free trade is about “making things in the most competitive place”. Companies should also be able to choose the most competitive jurisdictions for their corporate structure.
- No-one is depriving taxpayers of anything. Governments are loosing out on tax revenue and that’s different. Those same Governments have been mournfully bad about improving efficiency and services in their own operations.
Put it this way: If an insurance company sets up in Bermuda, is it better that it pays X in taxes to a Government, or saves XX in the costs of procuring insurance to citizens and businesses in that same country?
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