world

British PM Cameron admits he profited from father's offshore fund

35 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© 2016 AFP

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

35 Comments
Login to comment

He insisted he had paid income tax on the dividends from the sale of the units, which he bought in 1997.

And that is a matter of public record.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Let's see the tax returns.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I don't see what all the hoopla is about this.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

I don't see what all the hoopla is about this.

The issue is a major issue and very straightforward. The role of British prime minister is the most senior role in the UK paid for by taxpayers money. There is no other role more senior and paid for by our taxes. Whether or not David Cameron had any choice over his fathers offshore tax avoidance income is irrelevant. David Cameron benefitted from a top level private education. This put him on a path through Eton College and then Oxford University which was a career path leading to his current pivotal role as prime minister. All courtesy of his fathers offshore tax avoiding income.

As a good example, my friends and old classmates attended working class city schools. We lived in upper working class neighborhoods. We did not benefit from the priveleges that David Cameron received courtesy of tax avoidance. And all the while our parents paid their taxes. And we stood little chance of becoming prime minister one day.

The current British government has been cutting the national health budget resulting in hospital waiting lists, hospital closures, and immense stress on national health doctors. They have also been cutting the budget for state education. Resulting in school closures and strains on class numbers. And these are just a couple of essential public services that rely on our taxes. The kind of taxes that the British prime ministers family avoided by keeping offshore.

Then try and understand what a joke this quote is:-

“It has been a difficult few days, reading criticisms of my father and his business practices—my dad, a man I love and admire and miss every day,”

10 ( +11 / -1 )

"I don't see what all the hoopla is about this."

Tax evasion and tax avoidance, particularly at a time when this government has been cutting funding to services in the name of austerity, is a very big deal. Cameron used the ridiculous expression "We're all in this together" when talking of the shared burden of austerity. You can forgive ordinary people for feeling a little aggrieved when they have been feeling the squeeze while the well-off are avoiding paying their share of taxes. If we are all in it together as Cameron stated, let's make sure everybody is pulling their weight.

Let's make sure everything is clear and stated in this case before judging him.

In the meantime, keep up the good fight against tax evasion and avoidance, Dave.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Cameron can do what he likes from his families offshore tax avoiding income. He can work for the family business. His father did what he did and I have little control over his offshore arrangement. However. Someone receiving that privilege should never be voted into the premier taxpaying job in the country. Never.

Because of the austerity cuts to the public purse people cannot get to see a doctor. There are queues of patients in hospital A&E wards. Children are not being educated properly. Schools are being closed down. Public transport is a joke. Workers get to work late. And then the prime ministers family avoided paying millions in taxes..??!!

3 ( +5 / -2 )

The Daily Mail has been covering this. I wonder how long it will take before they get back to exposing dole frauds who drain our money.

One estimate is that tax evasion and avoidance costs us 12 times more than dole fraud. I hope the Daily Mail keeps this in mind from now on.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

All that rhetoric about Britain not wanting to spend money on Syrian refugees, and how membership of the EU is costing the UK. Its a cover up. Britain's rich and political establishment are draining millions and millions more from the public purse than refugees or Europeans ever will.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

One honest person. Now let's see what Poor Little Putie and Xi have to say. Is it "Not me" again?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

One honest person

Not at all my friend. Cameron has been misleading up until yesterday when he realised he cannot avoid the evidence any longer. I dont call that honesty.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

I'm still waiting for more meaningful details before deciding to throw Mr. Cameron under a bus. Lots of conclusions being jumped to here when the full set of facts have yet to emerge.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Cameron thinks its ok that he paid tax on a windfall he cashed in from a tax avoidance scheme. Surely he should have paid 100% tax on that income.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

"One honest person."

You have to say days of silence and carefully rehearsed and evasive answers certainly don't give the impression of honesty. I can imagine plenty of coffee on the go in the meetings regarding damage limitation.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Look at the broad picture, MP's, their expense fiddling, 380 greedy noses in the trough.

I find it irritating, I pay my tax and I can live very well thank you, so our so called elite have a duty to promote social justice and follow suit.

It the blatant double standards, Cameron, Osborne are infuriating, the way they treat the electorate like something they've trodden in. Close the loopholes, there are prefectly just ways to fill out a tax return and come away pretty flush.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I'm still waiting for more meaningful details before deciding to throw Mr. Cameron under a bus. Lots of conclusions being jumped to here when the full set of facts have yet to emerge.

Disco, even if the revelations that Cameron earned from his families offshore trust hadnt come out yesterday. The fact that Cameron received a privileged private education and upbringing putting him on fast track for prime minister, and courtesy of an offshore tax avoidance trust. Makes it a disgrace that he now sits in the premier taxpaid role in the country. Plus his recent preaching about austerity on the public purse, the cost of EU membership, and the cost of helping refugees, make him a prize hypocrite. Cameron's government wouldnt be shutting hospitals and schools if the millions upon millions of tax avoided by the rich establishment were recovered.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

He is the same PM who want to lower the benefits of disabled people. Scameron ought to resign.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

From time to time Cameron has said that he would clamp down on tax havens and introduce measures to force companies to reveal their beneficial owners etc. But other than making such statements he has done nothing at all. Crooks and villains from around the world are able to buy property in London using offshore companies, making a mockery of money laundering legislation. I think one reason Cameron refuses to act is that he himself benefits from these schemes. Certainly many of his friends, fellow MPs and other party donors do.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

The problem remains the same. Tax evasion is illegal, tax avoidance is not.

It needs to made illegal, and the creative accountants need 150 year sentences like Bernice Madhof to keep them in check.

Like most of you I pay a mountain of tax, and give enough to my own thieving accountant. It's an outrage, Tory/Eaton Boy must go. But who could replace him?

Certainly not the bearded terrorist hugger currently destroying the Labour party...

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

Tory/Eaton Boy must go. But who could replace him?

Certainly not the bearded terrorist hugger currently destroying the Labour party...

Madverts, now hear me out first before you shoot me down. Part of the problem is that the electorate are all fooled into reading the mass media spin created by Camerons and Osbornes mates in the press. The term for Corbyn as you described him as a bearded terrorist hugger came from the Tory press. But what exactly would be so wrong with Jeremy Corbyn? He has always stood by his political point of view. He is not affected by a political image. Whether you agree with his view or not you would know exactly what his manifesto is.

And what is so wrong with saving GBP20 billion from a nuclear missile programme and using that money for public services instead. Corbyn's beard has nothing to do with whether he would do a good job or not.

Remember the famous insult from Cameron to Corbyn. "My parents would have said do your tie up and sing the national anthem". Interesting. Camerons parents would have done their ties up, sung the national anthem, and then cheated the public purse out of millions of tax money.

Dont be fooled by the establishment media spin putting down their opponents. Milliband's father was insulted in the press as a communist threat to the nation. Funny now that we learn that Camerons father was a far greater threat to the nation...

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Tiger,

The term came from me I thought actually. A pale attempt at humour, some people take posting on JT too seriously (and others not enough...)

Corbyn is a principled man, and that should be respected. It's just that he's wrong on nearly everything. And he's weak, the last thing we need in a world going mad.

Both he and Mkliband aren't the victims of a biased media, they're victims of their own unelectability. Ed was so bad he got Tory Boy reelected in a shocker if the you remember. They're all world leaders in ineptitude, there isn't one politician I'd vote for in the UK right now...

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Im no great fan of either the Tories or Labour. The system is dated. Milli-Bland was a wet paper towel and as you say succeeded in getting the Eton Rifles back into power.

But Im not convinced that Corbyn is a bad choice and that he is so wrong. Replace a billion pound nuclear programme with public money - check. Stop the immediate bombing of supposed terrorists and find out exactly what they want - check. Keep the peace with Northern Irish terrorists in order to keep the peace process - check.

Corbyn recently visited Bristol and infuriated the media press pack by going off course to speak with the locals instead of the plotted photo opportunity. When the Tata Steel closure was announced Corbyn demanded a recall of parliament. Cameron went on holiday.

As for weak, well why do we always need some machavellian power addict? Trump is the reality for those who want 'strong' leadership.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

"My parents would have said do your tie up and sing the national anthem".

Cameron would have done up his bow tie and smashed up a restaurant. I wonder if his father ever had to foot a Bullingdon lout bill with his questionable earnings.

Talking about patriotism, isn't it patriotic to pay your taxes for the good of your nation?

Anyway, when is the conversation going to switch back to layabouts with SKY TV ripping the dole off? This distraction has been going on for days now.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Tiger,

I meant weak on the world stage not just at home. The Russian gangster needs to be contained, the madBeards need eradicating.

One thing Corbyn probably would try to tackle honestly is tax evasion. But since he's unelectable, and since any revenues recuperated would be spent and more on insane social programmes in an already insane handout culture, it would seem to be a moot point.

Power in the West is handed down through generations of the same elitists. It's better than Putin's thugocracy or China, but we're still slaves to the system with our illusion of democracy. It makes us more productive I guess, so the ruling elite can better ream our nether portals. This leak point in question!

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Cameron also admitted he did not know whether the £300,000 he inherited from his father had benefited from tax haven status due to part of his estate being based in a unit trust in Jersey.

I am sure many connected politicians and upper society have these tax free trusts all over.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If the English people knew, just how far removed Cameron's lifestyles from their own that his is, then there would be a revolt........

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@Wipeout

This shower of overprivileged crap is more than an elite public school clique - it's a nest of unpleasant Bullingdon louts including Cameron, Gideon Osborne and the ridiculous Boris Johnson.

I don't share your optimism about Boris Johnson not becoming leader. This scheming cannibal wows many of the Tory faithful and his Euroscepticism won't do him any harm. Gideon is a squealing wet fart of a politician and the other possibilities look a bit dull.

Johnson is a terrifying prospect.

@

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I don't see what all the hoopla is about this.

You would be whining and ranting and moaning about it for years if it involved a Democrat.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

"If the English people knew, just how far removed Cameron's lifestyles from their own that his is, then there would be a revolt........"

The peasants revolted in 1381 and it ended up with executions.

Do they celebrate that at Eton?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I dont see any serious effect on Cameron,nothing will happen.It will pass safely,everything thing will be fine,its just the effect of leaking Panama papers,more than Cameron problem.I wont even call it Hard times to Cameron,I kept betting on Cameron winning elections last summer,while lots of British opposed me,even polls showed i am mistaken,but it proved later on,i was right.Again i can assure this wont affect Cameron a clue,will see soon.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

"@Madverts "The Russian gangster needs to be contained, the madBeards need eradicating"."

"excuse me but you sound pathetic and your opinion holds no weight. You may criticize Xi, Putin or Cameron but that's all you're able to do ever. Better try to make a career of Politics."

Trying to defend the KGB thug with a Napoleon complex and the corrupt, hypocritical CCP bully boys is about as pathetic as it gets. I've got no time for Cameron but I've got the perspective to admit he's not as revolting as these people.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

,I kept betting on Cameron winning elections last summer...

If you're betting on him still being prime minister at the end of the year I advise against putting any money on it.

while lots of British opposed me,even polls showed i am mistaken,but it proved later on,i was right

That's nice for you. Well, given how uninspiring the Labour challenge was it wasn't really too hard to call that last election result correctly.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Because of the austerity cuts to the public purse people cannot get to see a doctor. There are queues of patients in hospital A&E wards. Children are not being educated properly. Schools are being closed down. Public transport is a joke. Workers get to work late. And then the prime ministers family avoided paying millions in taxes..??!!

We all seem to have questions and also providing the answers. Now. But did all of the above happen simultaneously? If anyone suggests the problems in the UK stem from Cameron's family actions they may have to try again.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

"We all seem to have questions and also providing the answers. Now. But did all of the above happen simultaneously? If anyone suggests the problems in the UK stem from Cameron's family actions they may have to try again"

If all UK citizens who are taught the values of working hard and playing by the rules had and took the opportunity to avoid paying taxes like the elites, like Cameron's family, the country would be in an awful mess.

It's a case of setting examples and not spouting stomach-churning hypocrisy.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites