Tax Avoidance
I enjoyed the exclusive piece in The Mirror newspaper about Nigel Farage and his tax avoiding exploits in the Isle of Man - all perfectly legal, of course, just another case of someone doing their best to avoid paying an unnecessarily big bill.
Here's what The Mirror had to say about the taxing adventures of naughty Nige.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage admits mistake after setting up offshore fund to avoid tax
The UKIP leader paid a tax adviser to create a trust in the Isle of Man – which he intended to channel funds through
By Adam Gerrard
Nigel Farage opened an offshore trust fund in a plan to slash his tax bill, a Mirror investigation has revealed.
But he insisted he did not personally benefit from the trust fund he set up in a bid to save thousands of pounds in tax.
And the UKIP leader even claimed he ended up out of pocket after opening the scheme on the Isle of Man.
The 49-year-old paid a tax adviser to create the Farage Family Educational Trust 1654 in the tax haven – which he intended to channel funds through.
The outspoken anti-Europe politician confessed its existence during a string of meetings with our investigators.
But the former City trader said: “My financial advisers recommended I did it, to have a trust really for inheritance purposes and I took the advice and I set it up.
"It was a mistake. I was a completely unsuitable person for it. I am not blaming them it was my fault.
“It’s a vehicle that you chuck things in through your life that you don’t need and you build up a trust fund for your children or grandchildren.
“It was called an educational trust and could have been used for grandchildren’s schools fees, things like that.
“It was a mistake for three reasons. Firstly, I’m not rich enough to need one and I am never going to be.
“Secondly, frankly, the world has changed. Things that we thought were absolutely fair practice 10 years, 20 years ago, 30 years ago aren’t any more.
"Thirdly, it was a mistake because it cost me money. I sent a cheque off to set it up.”
Farage’s statements are even more extraordinary as he criticised offshore tax havens – naming the Isle of Man – in a speech in the European Parliament.
Tax expert Richard Murphy, who studied our dossier, said: “There are only two good reasons to set up an Isle of Man trust.
"One is secrecy, you don’t want someone to know what is in there. The other is tax avoidance.
"And sometimes, of course, they go together.
But you know the biggest laugh of all is that The Mirror completely ignored the tax avoiding antics of the Labour Party the other week.
When Labour leader Ed Miliband accepted a £1.65 million donation from the online shopping tycoon John Mills - which was paid over in shares to avoid the donor being hit with a big tax bill.
Now that's what I call double standards.
