CHANCELLOR Alistair Darling’s weekend announcement that he intends to nationalise Northern Rock leaves the government in an embarrassing position.
Despite its hostility to so many things offshore, it now owns a bank in what many of its MPs would regard as a tax haven.
That might be bad enough, but quite apart from the billions of pounds UK taxpayers have had to pour into the stricken UK institution, more is being used to guarantee the deposits placed through Guernsey.
In itself, that is not a problem. But given the usual and inaccurate rhetoric of the left, that means the public is propping up rich overseas tax-dodgers.
The local branch, which could perhaps be renamed The Bank of Gordon Brown (Guernsey) plc in honour of the prime minister, was yesterday extolling the virtues of placing funds other than in Britain:
‘Investing offshore is the perfect solution for expatriates, foreign nationals or UK residents wishing to take advantage of tax planning opportunities,’ its website said, an expression synonymous with tax avoidance for elements of his party.
The irony of the situation goes further and even beyond the pleasure islanders will take from knowing that the regulators here will have the task of ensuring that a state-owned bank is properly run - payback time, perhaps, for the hostile imposition of the Edwards Report in 1998.
The Rock’s problems have prompted the Guernsey Financial Services Commission to review the local deposit protection scheme, something that could see all institutions contributing to a fund to be used in the event of a future default, a further call on the UK taxpayer.
The point that is lost on offshore critics, of course, is that the business here is legitimate and properly regulated, as the UK will learn if it retains its Guernsey subsidiary.
With that lesson under way, all Guernsey needs now is for the Chancellor to take a stake in, say, HMV to rid himself of any false anxieties over VAT-free exports.
This article posted on February 19, 2008 at 9:00 am, filed under Comment, News.
The Bank of Gordon
CHANCELLOR Alistair Darling’s weekend announcement that he intends to nationalise Northern Rock leaves the government in an embarrassing position.
Despite its hostility to so many things offshore, it now owns a bank in what many of its MPs would regard as a tax haven.
That might be bad enough, but quite apart from the billions of pounds UK taxpayers have had to pour into the stricken UK institution, more is being used to guarantee the deposits placed through Guernsey.
In itself, that is not a problem. But given the usual and inaccurate rhetoric of the left, that means the public is propping up rich overseas tax-dodgers.
The local branch, which could perhaps be renamed The Bank of Gordon Brown (Guernsey) plc in honour of the prime minister, was yesterday extolling the virtues of placing funds other than in Britain:
‘Investing offshore is the perfect solution for expatriates, foreign nationals or UK residents wishing to take advantage of tax planning opportunities,’ its website said, an expression synonymous with tax avoidance for elements of his party.
The irony of the situation goes further and even beyond the pleasure islanders will take from knowing that the regulators here will have the task of ensuring that a state-owned bank is properly run - payback time, perhaps, for the hostile imposition of the Edwards Report in 1998.
The Rock’s problems have prompted the Guernsey Financial Services Commission to review the local deposit protection scheme, something that could see all institutions contributing to a fund to be used in the event of a future default, a further call on the UK taxpayer.
The point that is lost on offshore critics, of course, is that the business here is legitimate and properly regulated, as the UK will learn if it retains its Guernsey subsidiary.
With that lesson under way, all Guernsey needs now is for the Chancellor to take a stake in, say, HMV to rid himself of any false anxieties over VAT-free exports.
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