[Dezzy]

Originally Posted by The_Laird

And that's what will divide this debate. Even on my (now ceased) relatively insignificant income, I paid my taxes through PAYE and donated and raised significant sums for many charities. If I were exceptionally wealthy, of course I would look after my family first, but this level of wealth and greed, IMHO, is a moral disgrace. So, no, I would not behave in a similar manner. Why would you want to cheat less fortunate people from basic health, education and a very basic standard of living in order to maximise a level of wealth that is very difficult to imagine (and difficult to spend!).

Originally Posted by The_Laird

A whole load of things used to be legal: slavery; raping your wife; burning so called witches; apartheid. Leagality is no guide to morality. These super-rich people are bleeding our civilisation and the rape of the working classes will, ultimately, lead to its decline.

you're better with words than I am Jim

Originally Posted by HPsauce

The thing is, above a certain threshold people are mostly very mobile so don't actually live, or earn, in any one country.

Thinking about Lewis Hamilton for example, he genuinely works all over the world and hasn't been a UK resident for many years. I would hope (and expect) that he pays his fair share of tax on income earned here (and in other countries he works in), but if he has a plane "registered" in the IOM so what, he's not a UK resident.

People/companies that are wholly or mainly based/trade in one jurisdiction are another matter entirely.

It's not the TAX that's an issue I'm sure he pays a lot of it. But it's the 100% of the VAT claimed back through the legal loophole even though he was planning to use it a 3rd of the time. That's wrong. No different that using a company car for private use and then making out it was all business use.