The idea the city would flounder outside of the EU is the inverse of the truth.
The UK is a tax haven albeit one for the very rich and multinational companies. For the wealthiest 1% tax rates in the UK over recent decades have fallen. The highest rate of income tax in the UK was 60% in 1980 and soon it will be 45%. Corporation tax rates were more than 50% in 1980 and soon they will be 22%. National Insurance rates have gone up. The base on which income taxes are charged for those on lower earnings has been expanded, considerably. VAT was 12 1/2% in 1980 and now it is 20%.
That means the poorest have been paying more and more tax (and I want to see an end to that, the least able are paying for this haven). Conversely Non Domiciled Individuals can live the high-life in the UK drawing from their off-shore stash for a one-off annual fee to HMRC of £50,000 that allows these UK non-domiciled individuals to keep unlimited sums of money offshore and tax free or make tax-free remittances (including making tax-free investments into UK based companies).
Combined with other UK tax loopholes, non-doms and their families can hold large overseas bank deposits, share and property portfolios including holiday homes and pay very little or no UK tax.
This is the target at which the EU is aimed and this is the meat on which the City of London thrives. There is NO FUTURE for the City of London without this favourable tax environment, for the worlds wealthy, remaining open for business.
The EU will chip away at the tax-haven that is the UK - along with the efficient network of trustworthy tax-havens that operate in tandem with and under the UK's auspices (Channel Isles, Isle of Mann, Cayman Isles, Barbados, etc).
Remaining in the soviet that is the EU the City of London will, sooner than later, be left dead. The European nations want to hammer a wooden stake into the heart of this remaining and vital vestige of the Great Britain that once ruled a global empire.
And the reason why this one element of empire remains is because it is the complete and utter core mechanism that funded and profited from that empire. The mechanism however can still strive to profit without directly controlling an empire but it needs the right 'culture' on which to grow.
The UK is a tax haven albeit one for the very rich and multinational companies. For the wealthiest 1% tax rates in the UK over recent decades have fallen. The highest rate of income tax in the UK was 60% in 1980 and soon it will be 45%. Corporation tax rates were more than 50% in 1980 and soon they will be 22%. National Insurance rates have gone up. The base on which income taxes are charged for those on lower earnings has been expanded, considerably. VAT was 12 1/2% in 1980 and now it is 20%.
That means the poorest have been paying more and more tax (and I want to see an end to that, the least able are paying for this haven). Conversely Non Domiciled Individuals can live the high-life in the UK drawing from their off-shore stash for a one-off annual fee to HMRC of £50,000 that allows these UK non-domiciled individuals to keep unlimited sums of money offshore and tax free or make tax-free remittances (including making tax-free investments into UK based companies).
Combined with other UK tax loopholes, non-doms and their families can hold large overseas bank deposits, share and property portfolios including holiday homes and pay very little or no UK tax.
This is the target at which the EU is aimed and this is the meat on which the City of London thrives. There is NO FUTURE for the City of London without this favourable tax environment, for the worlds wealthy, remaining open for business.
The EU will chip away at the tax-haven that is the UK - along with the efficient network of trustworthy tax-havens that operate in tandem with and under the UK's auspices (Channel Isles, Isle of Mann, Cayman Isles, Barbados, etc).
Remaining in the soviet that is the EU the City of London will, sooner than later, be left dead. The European nations want to hammer a wooden stake into the heart of this remaining and vital vestige of the Great Britain that once ruled a global empire.
And the reason why this one element of empire remains is because it is the complete and utter core mechanism that funded and profited from that empire. The mechanism however can still strive to profit without directly controlling an empire but it needs the right 'culture' on which to grow.
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