In the UK, we need a new cry: No Representation Without Taxation. The people in the House of Lords (the upper chamber of Parliament) who have a say and a vote on laws affecting this country without ever facing the voters and therefore never giving us the chance to throw them out. This is a disgrace.
Even more disgracefully, some of these people get to vote on laws, including tax laws, while not paying tax. Amongst them are the Chancellor of The Hegemon (this university is suffering badly through funding cuts, and he's avoiding paying his fair share!), and Lord Ashcroft. This latter is living proof of Britain's disgraceful attitude to wealth and power. He has spent millions of pounds on Conservative Party campaigning, hugely distorting the election process, while avoiding paying tax: he claims he doesn't live in Britain, and is therefore non-domiciled. Except that for the past few years, he and his party refused to discuss the matter. Now, under pressure before an election and a change in the law, he's promised to change his status. Bully for him.
Lord Oakeshott, the Liberal Democrat peer, who has campaigned for a change in the law to prevent non-doms sitting in parliament, said: "Ashcroft has been sitting for the last 10 years in the British parliament, he has been voting on British laws and British public spending when he has not been paying full British tax like the other 60 million of us. That's a democratic disgrace. He has been pouring millions into conservative campaigning when he is not paying full British tax. So you have someone who keeps his assets offshore out of the British tax system and trying to buy a British election.
Once again: you're going to vote in a party which claims that the nation is broke, while being funded by the people who've beggared us: bankers and tax-avoiders. I despair, I really do.
4 comments:
In the interest of balance, I present Labour's non-dom donors, some of which sit in the Lords:
• Lord Paul – £69,250 in donations to Labour, including £45,000 to Gordon Brown's "leadership campaign". Admitted to being ‘non-dom’ & has since announced he's leaving the uk for tax reasons.
• Lakshmi Mittal - £4.125 million in donations to Labour.
• Sir Ronald Cohen - £2.55 million in donations to Labour. Cohen was appointed chair of the Social Investment Taskforce announced by then Chancellor, Gordon Brown.
• Sir Christopher Ondaatje - £1.7 million donations to Labour.
• Sir Gulam Noon - £532,826 donations to Labour.
• William Bollinger - £510,725 donations to Labour.
• Mahmoud Khayami - £985,000 donations to Labour, helped bankroll two flagship schools, one of which Gordon opened, and was personally thanked for a donation by Blair.
• Dr David Potter - £90,000 donation to Labour.
Good research. These people are all despicable and should be shamed out of public life. No doubt some of them are returning to the Tory fold as they see which way the wind is blowing too. Whether or not that's true, these people are anti-democratic scum.
Agreed.
In the interests of doing what is best for the country - based on such evidence who would you trust most with running the country - the Tories, Labour or the Lib Dems?
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