culturalmarxist:

In July and August this year Stratford, East London, will become a temporary tax haven.

Millions of pounds will be channelled through foreign subsidiary companies operating in the area before it leaves these shores for the pockets of shareholders and CEOs the world over.

How is this possible in a country like the UK you might ask?

The sad fact is that enacting tax avoidance legislation has now become a criteria for hosting international competitions such as the Olympics.

Big name athletes such as Usain Bolt (along with the organisers) have applied pressure to potential host nations to ensure that winnings (and profits) are not taxed. (8)

Zero tax

Without these tax sweeteners the IOC would simply take their corporate circus elsewhere and so begins a race to the bottom in a bidding process that echoes the offshore system. New tax rules ushered in as part of the winning Team GB bid include ‘a temporary exemption from UK Corporation Tax and UK Income Tax for certain non-resident companies’. (1)

The legislation is written to include ‘partner’ organisations such as McDonald’s and Visa. Both, along with other ‘partners’, look set to make a tax-free fortune. The former will have a near monopoly on food vending and the latter a total monopoly on venue and ticket payment methods.

The HMRC says “For the purpose of this exemption a London 2012 Partner is an organisation (known as a Commercial Delivery Partner) that is supplying services to LOCOG in return for the right to market and advertise themselves or their products for commercial purposes by reference to their association with the Games. It includes a company connected with the Commercial Delivery Partner.” (1)

The new legislation also exempts all foreign nationals working on the games in the UK from paying income tax on any earnings. Thousands will be exempt from taxation from competitors to media workers (including journalists, technicians and producers) to representatives of official Games bodies and technical officials (including judges, referees and classifiers) along with the athletes themselves.

Familiar story

Many of the corporate sponsors are no stranger to the more traditional tax havens. The table below shows the 18 partner companies and the subsidiaries they have in tax havens. The long list contains all the usual suspects such as the Cayman Islands, Jersey and the British Virgin Islands. General Electric’s list of subsidiaries was most interesting. It included 71 subsidiaries listed in just one building in Ireland! Only one of the partner organisations, British Airways, appeared not to have subsidiaries registered in any tax havens.

It is also worth mentioning that several of the companies, including Visa, Coca-Cola and Dow, have subsidiaries incorporated in Delaware, and two – Samsung and Acer – are now using export processing zones in China. The new legislation also exempts all foreign nationals working on the games.

(Source: jrantisexleague)