David Cameron 'argued to water down transparency rules over trusts'

[suffragette]

Source: Belfast Telegraph

The Financial Times revealed that the Prime Minister successfully argued in 2013 for trusts to be treated differently to companies in anti-money laundering rules.

It comes after the PM came under intense pressure over his family's tax arrangements following the Panama Papers data leak, which reportedly included details about his late father Ian's tax affairs.

In a letter to then European Council president Herman van Rompuy, Mr Cameron said it was "clearly important we recognise the important differences between companies and trusts".

He wrote: "This means that the solution for addressing the potential misuse of companies, such as central public registries, may well not be appropriate generally."

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/panama-papers/david-cameron-argued-to-water-down-transparency-rules-over-trusts-34606445.html

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Quite the little tidbit on Cameron pushing for the offshore hideaways for the wealthy to remain hidden.

[yellowcanine]

1. Is it wicked of me to suggest that Cameron likely benefited from his father's

decision to use an off shore account in terms of inheritance tax, etc?

[suffragette]

2. Not at all. I wonder how many of his Bullingdon buds possibly benefited as well.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2629742

[Helen Borg]

3. Cameron put self-interest over public good?

Shocking! Nevertheless, he was caught, he should resign.

[suffragette]

4. Self interest and privacy and profit

Notice how many of those caught out are responding with some variation of 'but that's private'?

This even as they actively reduce or negate privacy rights for the rest of us.

They strip away basic privacy from us while also strip mining our economies by hiding away from paying their portion of rightful taxes. Then they impose austerity on top of that.

[suffragette]

5. Article from Guardian explains Cameron's push to shield trusts from tax better

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/07/david-cameron-offshore-trusts-eu-tax-crackdown-2013

David Cameron intervened personally to prevent offshore trusts from being dragged into an EU-wide crackdown on tax avoidance, it has emerged.

In a 2013 letter to the then president of the European council, Herman Van Rompuy, the prime minister said that trusts should not automatically be subject to the same transparency requirements as companies.

The EU planned to shine a light on the dealings of offshore bodies by publishing a central register of their ultimate owners but, in a letter unearthed by the Financial Times that remains publicly available on the government’s website, Cameron said: “It is clearly important we recognise the important differences between companies and trusts … This means that the solution for addressing the potential misuse of companies – such as central public registries – may well not be appropriate generally.”