Right Teaches The Centre-Left How To Hit The Rich
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by: Henri Boulanger
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Word Count: 1021
For decades left of centre political parties in Europe have been trying to tax the most affluent in society, but have been scared off from doing their worst by centre-right Conservative Parties and the majority of the media with threats of how it would irrevocably damage their economies with a flight of capital abroad.
And politicians from both the left and the right have seen globalisation and the free movement of capital and people as key to improving economic growth, allowing investors and entrepreneurs to engineer new companies and improve exisiting ones - often for the benefit of the consumer who has seen major commodities such as cars, televisions, foreign holidays and other luxuries fall in price in real terms.
The UK, and the City of London in particular, has benefitted from the free flow of capital introduced when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, and has seen the City rival New York as the world's most important financial centre.
But the British Government has announced it will be taxing 'nom-doms' - non British people working in the City - 30,000 Sterling a year (around US $60,000), with some considering moving from the UK to Switzerland.
And in a second attack on those who work in London but live elsewhere the number of days allowed into Britain is being reduced. 90 days are allowed in the UK, and up to now the day travelling to and from the UK didn't count, so Monday to Friday would count as three days - but now it will count as four, reducing the amount of time the nom-doms can work in the UK.
But the surprise perhaps is not that the British government - Labour for over ten years - has decided to squeeze extra taxes out of the affluent, but that it has taken them so long to do it - and the inspiration that gave them the courage to pursue the well off came from the Conservative Party.
It was David Cameron's Conservative Party who suggested the policy of taxing the nom-doms at their annual conference in the autumn, and with no opposition to their plans a week later Labour announced the new tax.
'It seems astonishing that it took Labour over ten years of government to hit the rich, comments Roger Munns who runs a company specialising in the European tax havens of Monaco and Andorra, 'But once the Conservatives announced the policy instead of facing opposition - they were given a green light and immediately took the chance to raise tax revenues by taxing the wealth creators - classic tax and spend policies from Labour in the seventies which New Labour had supposedly abandoned - but it was a gift from the Conservatives that made it politically acceptable.'
Meanwhile over in Germany, their first woman Chancellor and leader of the right of centre CDU since 2000 has also been showing Europe's socialists that there's no need to worry about hitting the rich, and not only has her government happily paid for stolen documents from a former Liechtenstein banker who illegally took the details of bank account holders, but shared the information with other governments.
'If another bank or commercial enterprise was caught paying for and handling stolen data there would be quite rightly a furore', comments Roger Munns, 'But it seems it's quite ok for national governments to do it, and to receive money from other governments interested in seeing which of their citizens had a Liechtenstein bank account.'
Not content with threatening Lichtenstein with reprisals if they don't play ball in the future, Merkle has her sights firmly fixed on the small and independent European countries of Andorra and Monaco, neither of whom are in the EU, but are both members of the UNited Nations and recognised as seperate independent countries.
Both Andorra and Monaco offer her citizens a tax friendly regime, with no income tax, and extend this to offer outsiders residency if they buy a property. Monaco real estate is more expensive with studio apartments over a million Euros, while Andorra real estate - necessary for residency in Andorra - has two bedroom apartments start at around 300,000 Euros.
'Germany likes to see herself as the central power in the EU, and the EU is all for the freedom of trade and the movement of people. But when two small countries adopt the same policy to newcomers the German government doesn't like it. They see German people moving to Monaco and the loss of tax revenue, and demand the countries change their tax policies and provide information on their citizens.
So far both Andorra and Monaco are resisting German demands and pressure, although both have and are putting in place mechanisms to stop fraud and illegal money entering their banking systems. But Germany is quite happy to turn a blind eye to the fraud and wastefulness in the EU that costs billions of Euros a year. It's easier to threaten and bully small countries who welcome entrepreneurs than sort out wasteful bureaucracy in the EU.' suggests Roger Munns.
'The irony is that for ten years a left of centre British government was happy to see entrepreneurs and business people move to London, and Germany wasn't worried about Monaco and Andorra. But at the Conservatives' suggestion Britain is now imposing extra taxes, and Germany is trying to dictate policy to two independent countries. The right-wing in Europe has shown the left there's no need to be afraid of taxing the rich, and have introduced a new concensus politics which will see successful businessmen and women being taxed more and more.'
With the British Conservative Party stating recently that they would not reduce taxes for at least four years if they beat Labour at the next election there is now a void in British politics of a Party that believes in reducing tax, and with Germany still a couple of years away from another election small independent countries like Andorra and Monaco will need to keep a careful eye on Germany's aggressive stance towards them.
About the Author
Tribune Properties are the only company who specialise in both Monaco and Andorra real estate and they offer a full service for Andorra property On their sites they carry advice and offer both Andorra residency information and Monaco property
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