Ethical Consumer has a great article out on the world's newest, albeit temporary tax haven. That's Stratford, London, E15. As they say:
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.
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'.
Read the rest here.
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Echoes something I wrote some weeks back here:
http://daveboyle.net/analysis/a-tax-on-sport/
I didn’t think that there were any “winnings” in the Olympics other than the medals – though I daresay there are all sorts of advertising revenuies and similar to be earned and exempted from tax.