Super-rich dodging stamp duty

wymondham

I don't agree with tax loopholes, but on the other hand if no law is broken then nothing wrong has been done. Its the fault of the tax system that allows this to continue.....

vivatifosi

chewmylegoff wrote: »

there is no saving on council tax - council tax is paid by the occupant not the owner. non-payment remains a criminal offence, and putting the ownership of your house into an offshore company and then not paying council tax whilst hoping that the council won't be able to find out who you are is a pretty high risk strategy, especially if the house has previously been in your name, you have previously paid council tax at that address, and you are on the electoral roll!

Presumably the council would be able to put a lien on the property that forces the non-payer to pay back upon sale of the property (with compound interest hopefully).

Mr_Mumble

The government should be setting the tax rate at a low enough level that the super-rich find it preferable to pay the tax than employ the lawyer and accountant. The loss of 'tax' is not the only issue here, for me the larger problem is a serious misuse of professional peoples' time. If we only had lawyers for the important stuff, i.e. property rights and contract law, we'd have far more architects, engineers and physicians.

chewmylegoff

vivatifosi wrote: »

Presumably the council would be able to put a lien on the property that forces the non-payer to pay back upon sale of the property (with compound interest hopefully).

But the whole point is that the property never gets sold, only the company that owns the property changes hands. They just prosecute non-payers, but you can't prosecute someone unless you know their identity.