exile from wayne street

The Rolling Stones, apparently, left Britain in 1972 due to the oppressive taxes. Managers had ripped them off, the Government wanted taxes on money they no longer had.... crikey, sound familiar??.... bit like investors who made money in one tax year, re-invested, the markets took it the next year and you still have to pay tax from the former year....

Tax, tax, tax..... remember what a mess the UK was in in the 70's?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_the_United_Kingdom

In 1974 the top-rate of income tax increased to its highest rate since the war, 83%. This applied to incomes over ?20,000, and combined with a 15% surcharge on 'un-earned' income (investments and dividends) could add to a 98% marginal rate of personal income tax."

Maybe this time was responsible for the exodus of wealthy individuals to tax=havens in the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands.

I get really angry when I think of the investors paying NO tax operating out of tax-havens, but you have to consider whether an over-taxing Government drove them away.

I once heard the argument for lower taxes, that people with means will happily setlle on your shores, put in their capital, pay taxes.

However, IF a Government can't be trusted to keep the taxes down, to protect the assets of those throwing their lot in to the country, these people may go elsewhere.

I'm all for lower tax, free enterprise. I don't trust the Government to insulate us from the storm outside...... it doesn't work, it hasn't worked in the past, it won't work in the future..... those with capital will head off.

Playing the old egalitarian ethos card "our assets... for all Australians" reminds me of Mugabe shaking his fists at the "white invaders"..... maybe instead of burnt out farms (and a broke country) we may be going down the road to abandoned haul paks, dongas...(and a broke country).