How I wish I could sit down in
front of a microphone with one of HSBC's "ultra wealthy" Swiss
banking clients. How I'd love an opportunity to discuss with them the way they
look after their money -- and dodge paying taxes.
Perhaps you remember Leona
Helmsley, an American business tycoon who served 19 months in jail for tax
evasion. A former housekeeper testified at her trial that she had heard
Helmsley say: "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes."
She seems to have plenty of followers among the holders of Swiss HSBC bank
accounts.
"Unfair," will be their
response. "We do pay taxes. Lots and lots of taxes. We just don't pay more
than we have to." I'll leave it to the regulators, the police and the
courts to decide if any laws have been broken -- what I'd like to talk to them
about are questions of ethics, responsibility, and their place in society.
(I'll leave the smelly politics of it all for another day.)
But first, let's deal with a
description of these very rich people that seems to be gaining much currency
these days (pardon the pun). They are, apparently, no longer to be called
stinking rich: no, they are "wealth creators". The hedge fund
managers, the heirs to industrial fortunes -- exactly whose wealth do they claim
to be creating? I'd rather we call them "wealth preservers" -- their
own wealth, that is, not anyone else's.
Is this the politics of envy? Of
course it isn't. It's the politics of justice, of fairness, of -- dare I say it
-- "we're all in this together." It's the politics of wanting to live
in a society in which everyone has a stake, and everyone pays what they should
to make it function fairly and for the benefit of all.
So here's what I want to know.
Who do these people think pays for the roads their limousines glide along, the
bridges that take them across rivers, the flood defences that keep their
riverside homes dry, and the military forces that protect our shores? Of
course, the little people's taxes.
I'm assuming they don't send
their children to State-run schools, or make use of the NHS. But who do they
think educated the staff that they employ: their chauffeurs, gardeners, and housekeepers?
And who pays for the education of their children, and their medical treatment?
Ah yes, the little people's taxes.
And here's another thing I want
to know. What do they actually do with all their money? If they have £10
million to squirrel away, why not pay 40, 45, or even 50 per cent tax on it?
They'd still have plenty left, wouldn't they? Or would they really not manage
to make ends meet?
What they do, they insist, is
neither illegal nor immoral. It is merely "tax efficient". It is
exactly what the rest of us do when we buy an ISA, or if we're self-employed,
claim tax relief on legitimate business expenses.
Except it's not the same at all.
They hire expensive accountants to advise them how to pay as little tax as they
can get away. HSBC bent over backwards to make sure they were able to take
advantage of every last loophole to keep their cash out of sight of the taxman.
To them, tax is an unacceptable imposition, rather than an essential part of a
society in which all members pay into a common pot, depending on how much they
can afford.
So I'd really like to know how
HSBC's richest clients would describe their own personal responsibility to
those with whom they share this planet. "Oh, but we give a huge amount to
charity, we set up philanthropic foundations, we even donate to political
parties." So why on earth don't they pay their taxes at a rate that
reflects their true wealth, rather than what they can get away with?
When a retired accountant
withdrew £50,000 in cash from HSBC in a single year, did he have even a twinge
of conscience? When a perfume heiress with £15 million in Swiss accounts took
out a total of £60,000 in banknotes, did she stop even for a second to ask
herself if this was, well, proper?
I'd love to know. I'd also love
to know what Stephen Green, former chairman and chief executive of HSBC, and
also an ordained minister in the Church of England, makes of that famous line
in the Gospels: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's …"
As far as I'm aware, Christ did
not add the words: "Unless you can get away with not paying."
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