Brown is either delusional or he's a liar. He says his tax would make crises less likely. The FTT that was present from 1914-1966 didn't do anything to stop the Crash of 1929 and the onset of the Depression.
Agree 100% on no boycott, that is unproductive, won't work, and it will alienate the people we are trying to influence. I do think we need to take action writing to the entertainment media about why a FTT is bad idea for Main Street and invite that media to see if celebs are being hypocritical and deflective on tax matters; avoiding and evading taxes, not paying them, moving to Monte Carlo and overall acting as if they are not super rich and are a member of the working class too. Plus that charities are good and celebs should give more money rather than just promotions, which also promote their profit-making activities too. The entertainment media have online publications with Comment sections that we can populate with our comments, just as we do with the financial media. This is easy to do and it will help. As soon as celebs see their personal tax affairs being discussed or their own cash charity mentioned, they will quiet down quickly in my view. No one likes the personal tax spotlight. The media has tarred celebs in Germany for living in Monte Carlo and ducking the German tax man. Google each celeb's name and taxes. I just googled Madonna and taxes and saw this http://www.ecorazzi.com/2008/03/28/...ays-people-should-avoid-mass-transportation/. Madonna said musicians should be exempt from taxes. Yet, investors should pay more? We can find lots of inconsistencies like this and we should point this out to the media. Are we taking tax advice from entertainers now?
"Public transport is rubbish - says Madonna, the chauffeur-driven pop diva" http://www.dail*****.co.uk/tvshowbi...--says-Madonna-chauffeur-driven-pop-diva.html "I would make it so that aspiring musicians wouldn't have to pay the congestion charge, or pay taxes" she (Madonna) told Q magazine. We can dig up tons of rebuttals to celebrities on taxes and have them ready to go when their new bomb hits soon. I Googled "celebrities talking about taxes" http://dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com/dont_mess_with_taxes/celebrity/ http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/celebrity_tax_lore/ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24129075/ Top 10 celebrities troubled by their taxes. Willie Nelson, Wesley Snipes and others who had problems with the IRS http://www.accountingweb.com/topic/tax/2009-recap-celebrities-tax-woes 2009 Recap of celebrities with tax woes http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/Financial_Literacy/Dec07_celebrities_talk_taxes_a1.asp http://weblogs.jomc.unc.edu/talkingbiznews/?p=12607 http://ronideutch.blogspot.com/2009/07/even-more-celebrity-tax-evasion.html http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/23238.html Film Tax Credits: Lower Taxes for Celebrities, Higher Taxes for You http://www.tribute.ca/news/index.php/brook-shields-owes-over-10k-in-taxes/2010/01/19/ I will think about this tactic more and consider preparing a blog on this new celebrity campaign for the FTT and start by emailing the above sites for help and exposure of this hypocracy.
Just ensure that you don't alert sites who aren't running stories about the upcoming media campaign (the size of which may be very small). Doing so may result in giving their campaign more press than they would have had otherwise. If they get into one or two news cycles, their media attempt won't cause us any harm. The vast majority of their campaign is centered on England anyway.
agree with you as always seaside and thanks. We don't want to open a can of worms on this and give the Hollywood trades a reason to tackle our plea and help the other side even more. Here is what I am working on and won't pull the trigger until we have more clarity and discussion. Plus I will get it all edited first too. http://www.aim.org/aim-column/the-secret-plan-to-pass-a-global-tax/ Accuracy in Media. The Secret Plan to Pass a Global Tax. The global tax is being called âthe Robin Hood tax,â in order to convince people that it is somehow designed to take money away from rich people in order to help the poor. I know this was posted by others before on this thread. I feel this threat is heightened now if in fact celebrity endorsers for FTT will start showing up on movie reels and other promos too all over the media. We can't wait for weeks afterwards; we need to reply ahead of the onslaught. Not that it will be much good anyway. Our reply: Please use this where needed over the next month. Title: Can Madonna be cast as Robin Hood? Hollywood and other celebrities in entertainment and sports should help restore Main Street and global aide, by no longer evading taxes, and moving to tax havens like Monte Carlo. The list of celebrity tax cheats is growing, as you can easily see by searching the Internet. "Public transport is rubbish - says Madonna, the chauffeur-driven pop diva" at http://www.dail*****.co.uk/tvshowbi...-says-Madonna-chauffeur-driven-pop-diva.html. "I would make it so that aspiring musicians wouldn't have to pay the congestion charge, or pay taxes" she (Madonna) told Q magazine. Why are celebrities like Madonna now calling on middle-class investors and retirement accounts to pay higher taxes (financial-transaction taxes), when these celebrities ask not to pay higher taxes themselves, and they can certainly afford doing so? Several celebrities are pushing a new âRobin Hood Taxâ on investors, deflecting the taxman once again to the little guy from their palaces in Monte Carlo. Whatâs Madonnaâs global tax structure living large in London as an American citizen abroad? Non-domiciled residents in the UK could shield offshore investments for decades. Itâs great that celebrities perform for free on live-aide concerts helping to raise money where needed, as in Haiti recently. But, canât they do much more? Some celebrities benefit from the incredible-free promotions on live aide telecasts reaching hundreds of millions of new customers. Shouldnât these celebrities also donate the profits on all sales of their products for a reasonable period of time after their live aide appearances? Successful celebrities are âfat catsâ â to use President Obamaâs phrase - just like super bankers. But like most struggling entertainers, most middle-class investors are struggling with decimated investments in their retirement plans and a financial-transaction tax will really hurt their retirement and means to pay their families bills during this recession. If anything, only the true fat cat entertainers and bankers should pay more, not the little guy. President Obama has suggested a bank fee and new regulations on bankers to have Wall Street help Main Street. The President has also contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to Haiti and other global aide from all American taxpayers. President Obama and his team discredit the idea of a financial-transaction tax because it would hurt the middle-class investor and retirement plan. Letâs listen to our President and Congress and not take tax advice from Madonna and celebrities, known more for tax evasion than tax contributions. UK Prime Minister Brown has also taken tax-action against bankers with a new UK one-off 50 percent tax on bankersâ bonuses. France said it will follow the UK lead here too. UK, US, IMF and G-20 officials are working on this problem further with a new insurance-type levy on banks too. The financial-transaction tax is viewed as a shotgun-approach which mostly falls on middle-class investors, and banks deflect that approach. Look at UKâs stamp duty tax, most banks are exempt. Why punish the little guy â with a financial-transaction tax - when you can target bankers more directly? Please leave this important action to our government officials who are experts on taxation. Celebrities are not tax experts! Oxfam http://www.oxfam.org/ is conducting a secret campaign to push a financial-transaction tax and they have recruited celebrities to sell it to the public. Learn more at http://www.aim.org/aim-column/the-secret-plan-to-pass-a-global-tax/. Oxfam was the producer of the recent Haiti Live Aide Telecast. We applaud Oxfam and other international aide organizations for raising money for these needed causes, and we contribute to them as much as possible too. But, itâs very dangerous to allow foreign aide companies to set tax policies overriding Presidents, which can have tremendous unintended consequences. These organizations are desperate for money during this recession and we canât allow them to tax industries and our middle-class into worse shape. Celebrity pitchmen usually demand millions and they are getting paid here too with free promotion and more. Itâs wise to take celebrity pitches with a grain of salt.
Did Madonna host the Oxfam live aide telecast? Wasn't she mentioned as being part of the FTT push for Oxfam? Clooney's Haiti Relief Telethon Adds Madonna, Beyonce http://www.thewrap.com/article/clooneys-haiti-relief-telethon-adds-madonna-beyonce-13327 Madonna is the one living in the UK as an American citizen (I think) abroad. We can prick at her US UK tax structure too. Qualifying American citizens living in the UK (not permanently) could file as non-domiciled residents and skip UK taxes on offshore investments until this past year. US citizens owe taxes on worldwide income. But non-domiciled UK residents could skip UK taxes, which are higher than US tax rates. With the new UK flat-tax regime, non-domiciled residents must pay (for Madonna a paltry) 30,000 pounds per year to keep skipping UK taxes on offshore investments. Madonna straddles the UK and US so is ideal for the FTT focus here. Google Madonna and taxes and see tons of links. Here are the main ones. She certainly has some tax weakens to prod at and frame her as a tax-hypocrite. # Madonna Goes Crazy And Says People Should Avoid Mass ... Mar 28, 2008 ... Madonna has gone on a bat-shit crazy rant criticizing the Mayor of ... As a result of the tax, the overall amount of traffic in London fell ... www.ecorazzi.com/.../madonna-goes-crazy-and-says-people-should-avoid-mass-transportation/ - Cached - Similar # Bulgarian tax authorities chase Madonna - Bulgaria - The Sofia Echo Dec 30, 2009 ... Tax on Madonna's fee for her 2009 show in Sofia is still due. By Petar Kostadinov, published 30/12/2009 10:50:00. sofiaecho.com/.../836555_bulgarian-tax-authorities-chase-madonna - Cached # Bulgarian tax authorities chase Madonna - Silobreaker Dec 30, 2009 ... Bulgaria Set to Tax Madonna's Sofia Concert Fee. Bulgarias National Revenue Agency has initiated inspections of 13 Bulgarian companies ... www.silobreaker.com/bulgarian-tax-authorities-chase-madonna-5_2262843983858237447 - Cached # Madonna bids for Most Stupid crown | Word Magazine Mar 28, 2008 ... It'd be interesting to see where Madonna pays tax it could that the few quid from the C-Charge and parking meters is the only cash we get ... www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/madonna-bids-most-stupid-crown - Cached # [PDF] Politically Uncorrected by G. Terry Madonna & Michael L. Young ... File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View There are only two broad based taxes with the capacity to raise enough ... Dr. G. Terry Madonna is Professor of Public Affairs at Franklin ... www.goodschoolspa.org/pdf/.../050307 Politically Uncorrected.pdf # Maybe the Madonna can save me $2000 a year! « DaTechguy's Blog Aug 16, 2009 ... I get the feeling the Madonna might not take kindly to this whole idea ... Rahm didn't want them paying taxes that he wasn't paying himself. ... datechguy.wordpress.com/.../maybe-the-madonna-can-save-me-2000-a-year/ - Cached # A Peek Inside Madonna's $40 Million Townhouse - CBS MoneyWatch.com Tell us, what does Madonna's new $40 million townhouse look like? A: It's a triple-wide, ... $120000 in real estate taxes? That's a nice stimulus package. ... moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/...madonnas.../292/ - Cached - Similar # Madonna, Metallica gig promoters in tax trouble A group of 13 promoters were said to be under investigation by the National Revenue Agency (NRA). According to the Sofia Echo, they did not pay a 10 per ... topics.treehugger.com/.../0bfdaV0bjxe9b?...taxes...tax...tax%22...%22tax...%22tax...%22tax...tax%22+ - Cached # Madonna « LA Tax Service Madonna's getting divorced. Guy Ritchie found out that she was cheating on him. Because in her new act, she started singing,'Like a Yankeee. ... www.tournytech2.com/tag/madonna/ - Cached
Deutsche Boerse Gentz: Opposed To Fincl Mkt Transaction Tax http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100125-710407.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--The supervisory board chairman of German exchange operator Deutsche Boerse AG (DB1.XE) warned Monday against new and planned regulation to cap bonuses or create a special tax for financial transactions. A financial transaction tax would be "a gift for the unregulated exchanges," said Deutsche Boerse Supervisory Board Chairman Manfred Gentz. Gentz was referring to a slew of so-called alternative trading platforms which have emerged as a threat to listed exchanges like Deutsche Boerse by picking up some of their trading volume in recent earnings quarters. Gentz's warning comes as regulators and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic propose new regulation to limit bankers' pay and further tax banks and other firms deemed responsible for causing the financial crisis.
FTT <b><u>not</b></u> discussed at today's summit meeting: "At last year's G7 summit in St Andrews, Gordon Brown suggested the introduction of a transaction tax, <b>although Lord Myners said that this was not discussed at Monday's meeting.</b> " http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8478227.stm
FTT is not on fire with government officials in my view and they are choosing the more targeted solutions on banks, either following Obama/Geithner's plan, or a new IMF bank insurance premium/levy approach. The leading-exchange countries know full well a FTT will decimate business on their exchanges and hurt their economies, as transactions move to unregulated and other non-taxed exchanges. I am more concerned about the celebrity/Oxfam campaign. Is it really coming soon or not? I am just reacting to this board so far. Madonna stoked populism can become attractive to PM Brown to talk FTT again to win more support for his re-election. Please give us all a heads-up if anyone sees this celebrity FTT campaign launched anywhere. No sense us firing (back) until it's launched.
This Reuter's piece says a FTT was on the agenda at today's meeting: "A global transactions tax, floated by Brown at a meeting of the Group of 20 nations in Scotland in November, was on the agenda when Treasury Minister Paul Myners hosted officials from G7 finance ministries, the IMF, World Bank and the Financial Stability Board in London on Monday." But the above piece says a FTT was not discussed at the meeting today. So I guess it was on the agenda but never got discussed Thats gotta be a slap in Brown's face. Also Minister Myners (who hosted the meeting) said this regarding a FTT: "There are some things like transaction taxes which simply wouldn't work unless they are implemented across the board," Myners, a former fund manager, told BBC Radio 4. -Guru