Their come-uppance

[Dorsetmike]

Somebody has finally ben clobbered for big time tax evasion, lets hope it's the start of worldwide action.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/19/dolce-gabbana-convicted-tax-evasion-italy-fashion

About time all tax loopholes were firmly closed. If money is earned in a country then ALL that country's taxes must be paid to the country it is earned in; I would have thought it should be possible to ensure funds don't find their way to an offshore account; sure a few tax havens would feel the draft, that's their problem for allowing it in the first place.

Similarly the practice of paying a "parent company" for "intellectual property" or other meaningless made up reasons needs stamping out.

The practice of making one's self a limited company to evade tax should also be stopped.

If these various methods of tax evasion had been outlawed before they became so prevalent this country (and much of the world) would probably not be in such a poor financial state.

 

[Dorsetmike]

I can also think of a few more "dodges"; UK hospitals employ a number of "agency" nurses and domestic staff, paying considerably more than they pay staff they employ, the "dodge" being the money comes from a "different budget" what a load of old cobblers, money is money. I once had the misfortune to work as a "contractor" to an electronics company working on a government defence project; we contractors were paid between £5 and £6 per hour by the agency which charged the company £17 per hour, and the hours were rounded up to the nearest 5 hours, so if we did 40H 15M, the agency collected for 45 hours yet only paid us the 40H 15M. Screw the government out of a few extra millions, screw the workers as well and laugh all the way to the bank.

It should be compulsory for a government agency like the National Health Service or for local authorities or for companies working on large government contracts to be able to prove they needed emergency cover when employing outside agency staff at rates higher than they pay their own staff.

I can understand a need for such agencies ONLY to cover genuine emergencies, not day to day working.

I've heard the excuse that to employ extra staff costs more than just their wages, for things like insurance, extra staff in payroll, more space for them to work in: if that was the case where do the agency staff work? who insures them? the agency must have somebody to do their payroll, who pays for that? The way I see it is it's all a big con, the only ones to benefit are the agency bosses - and probably somebody in a hospital or local government management taking a back hander.

 

[teddy]

We could also save billions of pounds if everyone stuck to the rules regarding eligibility for NHS care. It has been estimated that health tourism is now costing the country literally billions. We should be like the rest of the world and put British people first in the que and then treat only genuine emergencies for those from other countries. Any one else, don't come here if you can't pay. One woman alone has run up a bill of half a million pounds for treatment and benefits she was not entitled to.

teddy