Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Tax avoidance is sensible and not immoral. Income tax was introduced as a temporary measure to fund a war. There are plenty of people who do not agree with income tax at all. If you cen get away with paying less or no income tax then you should. The fuss about tax is big at present because we have been in a recession and people are earning less in real terms. It is the politics of envy again. If we were in a boom, tax would not be a story that anyone would be interested in.

Amazon, Starbucks, Google and other companies are just doing what all multinational companies have done for at least 100 years.

What intrigues me is many of the those little englanders who wish to be liberated from the EU, wish to Scotland to stay in the Union, because of the "strength" due to the union.

-------------------------------------

That is what it is about; "If you cen get away with paying less or no income tax then you should."

(I see a belief system is fixed in place, "Darwinian". But. perhaps, it would be wise to reread the theory.)
)

-------------

Is Cameron trying to play the Maggie Thatcher Falkland card.

Have a feeling it won't work this time and will increase the likelihood of his demise.

Manuel,

It is obvious you variation of morality is well established!

I think GF realises what he owes to society for his "position" now and is grateful, while there are others who think only of what society owes them and are fearful of what "they" may lose if a more egalitarian society evolves.

In general, I prefer GF's positioning, although the path he proposes would be different to mine.

GF on his own admission has avoided huge swathes of IHT, and why should he not indeed

he also sees nothing wrong at all with companies "immorally" but legally avoiding corporation tax

by the way, i am amazed you make the schoolboy howler ...... you cannot be different to but only only different from

Haystack,

Agreed.

I do thing GF is quite confused about this. I also question his approach to his 'loved ones' after his death.

IMHO, to disinherit loved ones, even in part, illustrates a certain, well, "je ne sais quoi?'. Each to their own, I suppose.

To reduce IHT (the goverment's tax take after death) using 'charitable giving' is most definitely tax mitigation and the mechanism of mitigation is by the use of charitable giving.

It most certainly means the rest of us have to pay more tax to the government. The instructions in the Will of the deceased, concerning the gift (in GF's case) of the majority of his estate to charity, quite definitely avoid the estate having to make payment of a large amount IHT to the government.

We therefore have to pay more. Using Goldfinger's Rule's, this is not fair on the rest of us!

Using the more 'normally considered to be OK approach to tax mitigation/avoidance' then it is OK.

Most of us are 'normal'. GF is not. :-)

there is of course also the valid argument, "i paid tax when i was alive so why should i have to pay it again when i'm dead?"

The argument that HMRC uses regarding death taxes is the dead person does not pay. The people receiving the money pays as it is revenue, income or a capital gain for them and therefore taxable.

We must never forget, that the government is the government.

They make the rules.
They have the power to make the rules.
They can make the rules apply retrospectively.
They can forcibly take everyone's pension pot for whatever reason.
They can forcibly take everyone's cash in whatever form and for whatever reason.

Our views on what the government does with its (our?) money often make us feel that they don't: spend it in the best way; spend it thriftily- getting best value; not waste it, etc, etc.

Need I go on?

Anyhow, we feel we can spend it more wisely and do better things with it than they can.

Perhaps GF should remember the government don't use their money in the same kinds of ways he uses his. Mostly, we all feel they piss lots of it up the wall.

Barclays to introduce finger scans instead of PINs

Customers will use a portable device that reads and verifies their vein patterns to access online banking and authorise payments



By Nicole Blackmore

6:02AM BST 05 Sep 2014



Barclays is introducing new finger scanning technology that will allow customers to access their online bank accounts and authorise payments without the need for PINs or passwords.


Customers will be given a portable device that can read and verify the unique vein patterns in their finger in an attempt to combat identity fraud.


The Barclays Biometric Reader will initially be available to Barclays Corporate Banking clients from 2015.


Barclays said the technology is recognised as one of the most secure biometrics in the market. Unlike fingerprints, vein patterns are extremely difficult to replicate. It said the scanned finger "must be attached to a live human body in order for the veins in the finger to be authenticated".


Barclays will not hold a copy of the user’s vein pattern and there will be no public record of it.



More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/bank-accounts/11076131/Barclays-to-introduce-finger-scans-instead-of-PINs.html

I bet it costs an arm and a leg .

No only a finger

I hope people only use their finger.

Cynic try try and try again I HAVE NOT AVOIDED knowingly paying any tax.

Stop being a silly little Runt.

When you have these silly little brain storms I often wonder if it is stress getting too you.

For instance where have you got this from......

cynic - 05 Sep 2014 12:49 - 45519 of 45528

GF on his own admission has avoided huge swathes of IHT...............ends

Its news to me. !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cynic, please explain how you have come up with that trash?????

Or are you just hell bent on an argument as per usual.

Manuel.

Why should you pay tax when you are dead?

Because you won't count any longer and perhaps, to repay society for tolerating you when you were alive.

LOL Fred. Tolerance yes. In fact thats an idea to put forward to Racheal R when I see her tomorrow. A Tolerance Tax.

On other issues,

Fred where does he get his thinking from?????

It maybe that Golf Club of his selling legal highs.

Poor schooling, upbringing and lack of, or too narrow an education and being led astray Hays.

Mind I suppose with the material provided I suppose his school did the best they could!

8-)

Great news for the parents of Ashya:

Finally, family of little Ashya win the fight to fly him to Prague for proton beam therapy which could save his life

Brett and Naghmeh King were granted their wish by a High Court judge
Ashya will fly by private jet to specialist hospital in Prague, Czech Republic
He is expected to receive chemotherapy before proton beam therapy
His parents believe it will give him the best chance of survival
Mr Justice Baker made decision after receiving treatment plan from Kings
It outlined the treatment and evidence that the boys' parents can pay for it
He will cease to be a ward of the court when he reaches the Prague hospital

And what a great kick up the arse for the Southampton Hospital:

Now University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust has said it would have supported the transfer of Ashya’s care to the Proton Therapy Centre in Prague, although medics did not recommend it.

Hmmm?

A spokesperson for the trust said: ‘While Ashya was under our care, we discussed the option of treatment in this centre with the family and made contact with them at that point.

‘We were willing to support the family’s transfer to Prague for proton beam radiotherapy, although we did not recommend it.

Hmmm again?

But after their advice was thwarted they did report the matter to the police and recommend to the police that the Kings were being negligent in their care to the child. This got the parents arrested and slapped in jail.

Q. One has to ask what both the the police and the CPS were told by the Southampton Hospital senior staff?
A. An exaggerated cock and bull story, apprently almost verging on malicious persecution, about the Kings being criminally negligent parents.

It took 200,000 people with a petition, actions and words from the senior members of the government and the power of a very able and sensible judge so as to make good sound decisions and bring matters back into perspective and control.

Fingers crossed, that the proton beam therapy works and saves the little chap's life.

From CNBC

Market bears now scarcer than any time since 1987
Jeff Cox | @JeffCoxCNBCcom
Wednesday, 3 Sep 2014 | 1:39 PM ET
CNBC.com

Professional investors haven't had this little fear about stocks since Ronald Reagan was president.

It was the same year Michael Jackson told us in a song he was "Bad." The New York Giants won the Super Bowl.

And oh yeah ... by the way ... the stock market crashed.

As gauged by the weekly Investors Intelligence report, bearishness among market newsletter writers has fallen to 13.3 percent, a level it has not seen since 1987 as the market continues to set new highs despite a seemingly endless call for a long-overdue correction.

Billionaire and real estate magnate Sam Zell was the latest high-profile voice to warn about valuation, telling CNBC on Wednesday that "it's very likely something has to give" at a time when many companies are suffering from lack of demand even as the market surges to record levels.

Read MoreSam Zell: Stock market correction coming

Nonsense, say the bulls, who share skepticism that the market has been inflated through aggressive Federal Reserve monetary easing, yet see no signs that stocks are ready to tank.

"A great many investors and analysts are wasting their time trying to prove that stocks have formed a new bubble—which they claim must soon pop," David C. Jennett, who writes an eponymously named newsletter, said in remarks cited by Investors Intelligence in its report. "I think they are right about the bubble, but wrong about which market is in danger of a crash. It is much easier to make the case that the bond market is the real bubble these days."

Investors were concerned about valuation back in the 1987 as well, and for a day at least they were right.

In the infamous Black Monday on Oct. 19—forecast by Elaine Garzarelli and warned about by others—the Dow industrials plunged more than 22 percent in a day.

Read MoreBest and worst predictions of the past 25 years
The good news: The market recovered, and the year in total really wasn't that bad. The S&P 500 actually gained 5.2 percent when all was said and done and had only one negative year between then and the 2000 dot-com bubble pop.

Similarly, the scarcity of pessimism may not be as contrarian a bearish sign as it appears. (Sentiment survey analysis generally equates strong feelings in one direction to indicate that the market will swing the other way.)

Though the 42.8 percent spread between bears and bulls is considered "dangerous" under the baseline Investors Intelligence uses to gauge sentiment, it's been higher—45.4 percent in June—and the market has gone its merry way up regardless.

Despite warnings that September, historically the worst month for markets, is setting up for the correction, that argument has holes as well.

Read MoreWhy the markets keep chugging inside 'Fortress USA'
Though it indeed ranks last of the 12 months, September has been negative just twice in the last 10 years, according to Dan Greenhaus, chief strategist at BTIG. Art Cashin at UBS pointed out that the September swoon largely traces back to more agrarian days in the U.S., when urban business people used their money to buy up wheat and other materials to last through the winter.

Piper Jaffray strategists have been relentlessly bullish, correctly foreseeing the S&P 500 cracking 2,000 this year, and believe 2,100 is a realistic full-year goal for the large-cap market index.

"At this juncture, both the intermediate and longer-term technical picture of the market remain bullish. Additionally, several of our short-term measures of market breadth have now 'reset' to neutral after the recent pullback," Piper's Craig W. Johnson and others said in the firm's weekly outlook. "We believe the stage is set for the broader market to make another leg higher."

—By CNBC's Jeff Cox

Taken from: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101967860