Why cant I have a bank where I am given exclusive treatment?
I later ran into another Natwest branch. The door is locked. You dont enter unless you are let in by someone inside. Natwest Private Banking. Only by appointment.
On a street in London one day, I ran into a magnificent building, mouth watering in its internal splendour. I so wanted to enter it.
What place is this? The place where the Queen banks, I was told.
Missing my way one day, I stumbled from the bustling shopping centre of Oxford Street in London into a quiet side street. The first shop I entered into was a Hermes shop, where in a relatively small room, men elegantly attired in grave suits were in position as one of them rushed to me with the utmost solicitousness, asking 'Sir, can we help you?'
Missing my way one day, I stumbled from the bustling shopping centre of Oxford Street in London into a quiet side street. The first shop I entered into was a Hermes shop, where in a relatively small room, men elegantly attired in grave suits were in position as one of them rushed to me with the utmost solicitousness, asking 'Sir, can we help you?'
I looked round. I would have loved to be economically at home in that elegant shop.
On leaving the shop, I stumbled on a car showroom.
A particular brand of the mechanical art forms was on display.
It was so exquisite, it remains the only car I have felt moved to enter for the sake of experiencing the vehicle.
What car is this, I asked?
On leaving there, I found myself in front of the famous Sothebys, the art auction house.
I also saw a parking lot the hourly cost of which made my eyes pop out.
As I left that place, I tried to estimate the quality of wealth it represented.
What place is this area, I asked?
I found my way back, actually 'staggered back', which is what best describes my mental state, to Oxford Street, which now looked common to me with all its plebeian riches, the satisfactions available to the average person.
'What does it take to manage a country with such wealth?' I was moved to ask myself.
Having looked up Bond Street on Wikipedia, and noted its unparalleled global rating, I am emboldened to add, without fear of looking like a unsophisticated country person, that the memory remains exquisite, like that of a child who found himself by chance in another world.
Money is good. Wealth brings you into a different world.
With wealth, that world I entered into for a short time in one day, you enter into permanently, coming and going at will.
toyin
On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 3:04 PM, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com> wrote:
It's still the bane of African nations that some of the rich people
( politicians in particular) prefer to stash their loot abroad, to the
detriment of the suffering masses in their various nations
I remember the wave of national disappointment about that botched
attempt to kidnap Shagari's runaway minster of transport and
communications Umaru Dikko (rumoured to have in excess of £5 billion)
and to bring him to justice. The popular cry was that he was going to
"vomit" the money, but as you may or may not know, " money talks,
bullshit walks..."
"The figure is equivalent to the size of the US and Japanese economies
combined."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18944097
Tax havens: Super-rich 'hiding' at least $21tn
Comments (1450)
James Henry says his $21tn figure is a conservative estimate
Continue reading the main story
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When is tax dodging illegal?
Tax avoiders 'cost basic rate 2p'
A global super-rich elite had at least $21 trillion (£13tn) hidden in
secret tax havens by the end of 2010, according to a major study.
The figure is equivalent to the size of the US and Japanese economies
combined.
The Price of Offshore Revisited was written by James Henry, a former
chief economist at the consultancy McKinsey, for the Tax Justice
Network.
Tax expert and UK government adviser John Whiting said he was
sceptical that the amount hidden was so large.
Mr Whiting, tax policy director at the Chartered Institute of
Taxation, said: "There clearly are some significant amounts hidden
away, but if it really is that size what is being done with it all?"
Mr Henry said his $21tn is actually a conservative figure and the true
scale could be $32tn. A trillion is 1,000 billion.
Mr Henry used data from the Bank of International Settlements,
International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and national governments.
His study deals only with financial wealth deposited in bank and
investment accounts, and not other assets such as property and yachts.
The report comes amid growing public and political concern about tax
avoidance and evasion. Some authorities, including in Germany, have
even paid for information on alleged tax evaders stolen from banks.
The group that commissioned the report, Tax Justice Network, campaigns
against tax havens.
Mr Henry said that the super-rich move money around the globe through
an "industrious bevy of professional enablers in private banking,
legal, accounting and investment industries.
"The lost tax revenues implied by our estimates is huge. It is large
enough to make a significant difference to the finances of many
countries.
"From another angle, this study is really good news. The world has
just located a huge pile of financial wealth that might be called upon
to contribute to the solution of our most pressing global problems,"
he said.
'Huge black hole'
James Henry says his $21tn figure is a conservative estimate
The report highlights the impact on the balance sheets of 139
developing countries of money held in tax havens that is put beyond
the reach of local tax authorities.
Mr Henry estimates that since the 1970s, the richest citizens of these
139 countries had amassed $7.3tn to $9.3tn of "unrecorded offshore
wealth" by 2010.
Private wealth held offshore represents "a huge black hole in the
world economy," Mr Henry said.
Mr Whiting, though, urged caution. "I cannot disprove the figures at
all, but they do seem staggering. If the suggestion is that such
amounts are actively hidden and never accessed, that seems odd - not
least in terms of what the tax authorities are doing. In fact, the US,
UK and German authorities are doing a lot."
He also pointed out that if tax havens were stuffed with such sizeable
amounts, "you would expect the havens to be more conspicuously wealthy
than they are".
Other findings in Mr Henry's report include:
At the end of 2010, the 50 leading private banks alone collectively
managed more than $12.1tn in cross-border invested assets for private
clients
The three private banks handling the most assets offshore are UBS,
Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs
Less than 100,000 people worldwide own about $9.8tn of the wealth held
offshore.
Mr Henry told the BBC that it was difficult to detail hidden assets in
some individual countries, including the UK, because of restrictions
on getting access to data.
A spokesman for the Treasury said great strides were being made in
cracking down on people hiding assets.
He said that in 2011-12 HM Revenue & Customs' High Net Worth Unit
secured £200m in additional tax through its compliance work with the
very wealthy.
He said that agreements reached with Liechtenstein and Switzerland
will bring in £3bn and between £4bn and £7bn respectively.
Your comments (1450)
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