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@RishiSunak @ClarkeMicah @pauldacre98 1) I asked Hitchins a simple question is tax avoidance & evasion socially, morally, ethically acceptable, he cannot answer! Rothermere Continuation Ltd is registered in Bermuda but run from Jersey, Rothermeres holds all the voting rights
2) plus the non-voting shares are dispersed except for the Rothermere holding of A shares. Rothermere & his family control 100% of the votes in DMGT Plc. The question that arises is at what cost to the UK exchequer?
3) The two classes of shares are equal in all respects, except that the A Ordinary Non-Voting Shares do not have voting rights & hence their holders are not entitled to vote at general meetings of the Company.
4) Less than half of the Board are Independent Non-Executive Directors, which is not in line with provision B.1.2 of the Code. DMGT CEO & Chairman r carried out by 2 different individuals, but doesn’t comply where Board of Directors should be independent non executive directors
5) OECD prevent "base erosion and profit shifting" (BEPS). BEPS project aims to combat the artificial shifting of profits of multinational groups to low tax jurisdictions offshore & the exploitation of mismatches between different tax systems, so that little or no tax is paid.
6) Anti avoidance CFC rules prevent diversion of a UK company's profits to subsidiaries/other corporate entities offshore to avoid UK corporation tax, exemptions apply though for CFCs resident in a jurisdiction with a rate of CT that is > 75% of the UK corporation tax rate of 20%
7) Therefore tax avoidance under such situation IS TAX EVASION as the taxation rules were not designed to cover such offshore holding companies & shareholding
8) DMGT Plc a UK is a media company which owns The Daily Mail + free newspaper Metro + a holding in Euromoney Institutional Plc & Zoopla. The hypocrasy of the Mail which described offshoring as a 'scourge' which 'deprives Britain of billions’ never ceases to amaze.
9) DMGT also now owns the I newspaper which gives it a 29% market share & a huge political influence
10) Rothermere non dom tax status concessions could be lost when the EU’s Anti Tax Avoidance Directive comes into force on January 1 but so long as UK cuts its ties with the EU before then, his lordshipwill be sitting pretty.
11) The billionaires that own the press set the agenda. Who owns the media shapes what stories are covered & how they are written about. UK has a very concentrated ownership structure, with 6 billionaires owning &/or having a majority of voting shares in most of national papers.
11) The truth is the press is not free & independant. 6 billionaires own or have a majority of voting shares in most of the national tabloids & their agenda is to increase wealth, power & remove threats to their interests like reduction in advertising & sales
12) the press & media will only be truly free & independant when more than 50% of the corporations board of directors are independant
13) another corporation tax avoidance technique used by offshore registered holding companies & multi national corporations alike is the practice of highly inflated “management & consultancy fees” & prices for goods & services provided invoiced via the offshore holding company
14) chancellor should also review another huge tax dodge used by PLC’s in UK where the owner “employs” his wife & children as directors paying them £12500 each & himself which is tax & NIC free & taking dividends instead of salary which is taxed at much lower rate than PAYE
