Ed Miliband To Call For UK Tax Havens Crackdown

Tax Havens

First Posted: 15/01/2012 14:20 Updated: 15/01/2012 14:20   PA

Labour leader Ed Miliband is to call for an end to UK tax havens as part of his drive for a fairer society, party sources said today.

Miliband will demand UK residents with money abroad are required to pay tax and are no longer allowed to stash large sums in foreign accounts where they can go unnoticed by the Revenue and Customs.

He is expected to demand the closure of loopholes within existing legislation which allow British resident taxpayers to hide money in offshore accounts based in places like the Channel Islands and Isle of Man.

Under current rules, incomes can remain hidden behind front companies and trusts which mean the tax man never has to know those really involved.

The Labour leader also wants to stop anyone from avoiding tax by investing in complex financial products, rather than in simple bank accounts, which allows them not declare certain information.

A party source said: "In these tough times, when unfair choices are being imposed on people - like cuts to tax credits, or changes to child benefit, everything needs to be done to ensure those that owe tax pay their fair share.

"This is part of what Ed Miliband meant when he said on Tuesday that Labour can still make Britain a fairer place, even when there is less money around."

Miliband wants the Government to clamp down on tax havens in the Channel Islands and also raise the issue at EU-level as part of an effort to save the Treasury billions of pounds a year.

The source added: "We would start with diplomacy, as that is what has worked in the past.

"And if they won't comply voluntarily the Government should repeat the tough stance the last Labour Government took with them - threatening to put them on the (OECD) blacklist if they remain uncooperative, which would discourage investors into these tax havens."

David Cameron has also pledged to crackdown on on big companies who use "fancy corporate lawyers" to get their tax bills down.

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Labour leader Ed Miliband is to call for an end to UK tax havens as part of his drive for a fairer society, party sources said today. Miliband will demand UK residents with money abroad are require...
Labour leader Ed Miliband is to call for an end to UK tax havens as part of his drive for a fairer society, party sources said today. Miliband will demand UK residents with money abroad are require...
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03:41 PM on 02/06/2012
I wish Ed Milliband would keep up, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands have been closed for tax havens for some time now.
04:23 PM on 01/17/2012
One problem, or benefit, depending on your point of view to such a policy would be that most of the cabinet, government advisers, and a lot of MPs would probably leave the country. It would be a bit like turkeys voting to keep Christmas.

And think of the expenses claims. How much is a yearly season ticket from Switzerland to Westminster these days?
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mokgee
Sabu.Satsang, Samsara, Solitude...
07:24 AM on 01/17/2012
This old Chestnut will never wash, it has been a pretentious vote catcher for years. Nobody is listening or believing anymore, a good joke is very funny at first, but then the frivolity begins to wane after a time. Politics in Britain, has stagnated, all 3 parties use the same old boring rhetoric, which intensifies as an election nears. They believe people are stupid and forget the old jokes, we don't, because we are reminded of them at all times. Tax Havens, have always been protected zones no matter who is elected. What about the greatest tax haven of them all, the EU, and itrs ruling junta, Notice how all the predictable 3 avoid talking about it like the plague, then when somebody bold, like Nigel Farage, has the decency to do so, the P3, all close ranks to shut him up. Now there is where our freedom of speech begins and ends. You wanna wake up the people, Multibland, talk about over population by immigration, talk about our wasted Billions going freely to the EU. Talk about Britain as a Nation, and not a state of Europe, then you will awaken the people, however, like a good comedian, you have to be totally convincing, and that will take some doing....
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Mickey Mouse 1
There are no lies or deceit on a chess board.
10:27 PM on 01/15/2012
Labour are just trying to deflect attention away from how financially incompetant they are by blaming someone else for the cuts in spending. If they hadn't run up the biggest government debt in history it might have been a different story. But they did. So get used to it. The truth of the matter is that their financial incompetance has put millions on the dole and out of their homes.Their financial incompetance means the ordinary working person who had nothing to do with the credit crunch was forced to bail out the bankers and Europe. Labour inherited a sound economy and screwed up. No one in their right mind will ever trust them again.

Labour flooded the country with immigrants in order to create a multicultural society for votes, but they forgot to check that there were enough houses to put them in and whether the support services like the NHS could handle the influx. They labeled anyone who objected to this policy a "racist", "homophobe" or "xenophobe" to shut them up. Now they have backed the findings of a "think tank" to put pensioners out of the houses that they have worked all their lives for, in order to allow youngsters to get on the property ladder.
04:05 PM on 01/15/2012
Clamp down on the Channel Islands and Isle of Man and the money will move elsewhere. More rhetoric and no action.
02:37 AM on 01/16/2012
Raldor - the Channel Islands and Isle of Man are self governing - so neither Mr Milliband or any other UK Prime Minister has powers to dictate their tax or disclosure policies - attempts have been made in the past to make Jersey Trusts appear on a public register but the Jersey Authorities have told the UK Government in the nicest possible way to mind their own business - Jersy Law is for Jersey people to decide - not outsiders .

And you are right - it would simply go elsewhere an Austrian or Lichtenstein Anstalt or Swiss Trust would provide the same legal privacy to a UK investor .

There is only one way to stop tax avoidence and that would be to implement Exchange Controls and abolish cash - that way money could not be moved without an electronic trail nor could a suitcase be filed with cash and taken out of the country no Government is going to do this - it is simply Milliband Balls as opposed to Ed Balls - either way its total balls
03:43 PM on 02/06/2012
Make MEPS pay taxes.