Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Isle of Man is not in the UK

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 211 posts

Re: The Isle of Man is not in the UK

#111

Post by mprev »

AndyMcConachie wrote: post #21

"And speaking of finance, the island has no capital gains tax, stamp duty or inheritance tax, making it an enticing prospect for many." This one sentence sums up why the Isle of Man exists the way it does. What a puff piece. Britain/UK/whatever are full of these little places to hide your money. That's all this is. Yet another crowny thing that allows the rich to avoid paying their due in an undemocratic society.

This isn’t how the IOM’s status came to be, though. Man has been an independent state for longer than the UK has existed. Now, the question is could it realistically exist without the support of the UK? We could ask the same question of San Marino and Italy or Andorra and France/Spain.

IOM as it is today, though, is unusually able to be influenced by its wealthy residents. I once heard a very wealth individual say he moved there not for the tax benefits but because he could have greater influence over the government in such a small nation.

Re: The Isle of Man is not in the UK

#112

Post by cookieswumchorr »

sgt101 wrote: post #108
nicoburns wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is my main reason for supporting the European Union. Individual countries aren't big enough to have serious power against tax-avoiding corporation/citizens. But the EU is.

like China!

It's about balance. Government and business need to fight and balance each other out

Re: The Isle of Man is not in the UK

#114

Post by ceejayoz »

simonh wrote: post #105
pavlov wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After living in the UK for a year and encountering this tax system firsthand, I'm convinced that one of the main reasons for Brexit is that rich people in England are worried that EU tax harmonization could one day take away their sweet loopholes and convenient neighborhood tax havens. I've personally benefitted from the system as a "resident non-domiciled" foreign citizen. But on the whole it's not fair to British t…

I hear this theory a lot, but the fact is most of the support for Brexit came from low income households, and people in low skilled or manual work. Generally the higher the household income, the lower the support for Brexit, even at the higher income levels. https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/brexit-vote-explained-poverty-...

That's why the super-wealthy fund propaganda campaigns aimed at those folks.

Re: The Isle of Man is not in the UK

#115

Post by frobozz »

simonh wrote: post #105
pavlov wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After living in the UK for a year and encountering this tax system firsthand, I'm convinced that one of the main reasons for Brexit is that rich people in England are worried that EU tax harmonization could one day take away their sweet loopholes and convenient neighborhood tax havens. I've personally benefitted from the system as a "resident non-domiciled" foreign citizen. But on the whole it's not fair to British t…

I hear this theory a lot, but the fact is most of the support for Brexit came from low income households, and people in low skilled or manual work. Generally the higher the household income, the lower the support for Brexit, even at the higher income levels. https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/brexit-vote-explained-poverty-...

> I'll tell you what's at the bottom of it. If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.

Re: The Isle of Man is not in the UK

#116

Post by Symbiote »

twic wrote: post #79
laurieg wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mornington Crescent is a station the you only stop at going one direction on the London underground. If you go in the other direction it disappears. Here it's being used as a short-hand for a complex situation/set of rules. The usage is probably drawn from the fact there was a comedy radio programme in the UK that played a ridiculous game involving many sets of convoluted rules upon rules and the name of the game was…

> Mornington Crescent is a station the you only stop at going one direction on the London underground. If you go in the other direction it disappears. I'm not sure if this is a valiant attempt to confuse Americans, but this isn't true. Trains stop in both directions. A reason it might not seem like that is that there are two branches of the Northern line running in parallel between Euston and Camden Town, and Morning…

Mornington Crescent used to have trains only stopping in one direction (prior to 1966, according to Wikipedia). Then for a long time, it was one of the less-used stations for somewhere relatively central, and wasn't open at weekends.

Nowadays, the next station (Camden Town) and that area's various alternative/subculture markets make the area very busy all the time, so all trains stop at Mornington Crescent at all times.

Re: The Isle of Man is not in the UK

#117

Post by gerdesj »

pavlov wrote: post #59
peteretep wrote: post #15

Isle of Man has zero percent corporate tax on (most) money earned outside the Isle of Man, which includes money earned in the UK. If you're a non-resident citizen of the UK, you can deposit your dividends from your Isle of Man company in your UK bank account, tax free. For the time being, IOM companies have GB VAT numbers, and a banking system that integrates seamlessly with the UK one, as well as a postal system (qu…

After living in the UK for a year and encountering this tax system firsthand, I'm convinced that one of the main reasons for Brexit is that rich people in England are worried that EU tax harmonization could one day take away their sweet loopholes and convenient neighborhood tax havens. I've personally benefitted from the system as a "resident non-domiciled" foreign citizen. But on the whole it's not fair to British t…

"I'm convinced that one of the main reasons for Brexit is that rich people in England"

Brexit (when it gets around to happening) is the result of a referendum. ~48% of the voting electorate are not all English and rich.

Re: The Isle of Man is not in the UK

#118

Post by NeedMoreTea »

laurieg wrote: post #6
sorokod wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am familiar with Camden and Mornington Crescent area, but "Shades of Mornington Crescent"?

Mornington Crescent is a station the you only stop at going one direction on the London underground. If you go in the other direction it disappears. Here it's being used as a short-hand for a complex situation/set of rules. The usage is probably drawn from the fact there was a comedy radio programme in the UK that played a ridiculous game involving many sets of convoluted rules upon rules and the name of the game was…

Was? "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue" is still going, running since the seventies I think. There was a series this year. Sadly no longer with Humph.

Re: The Isle of Man is not in the UK

#119

Post by marcus_holmes »

VBprogrammer wrote: post #91
nikanj wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes it feels like the taxman is very keen on targeting Joe Ordinary who saved fifty quid, and completely ignoring the billionaires who evaded tens of millions in taxes.

At a guess this might not be far from the truth. For sub a few hundred pound almost no one would bother fighting it. Above a few hundred thousand almost everyone will. At best they'd have to expend a lot of time and money to get a fraction of the original amount back.

My wealthy great aunt paid an accountant to minimise her tax bill. She said it worked out around even, the costs of the accountant were about what she saved on the taxes, but she preferred paying the accountant than the government.
Post reply on HN