Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

If only Mrs. Phillip Green's wife would pay her taxes in the UK

242 replies

EggFriedRice · 09/12/2010 20:01

I have read about Mrs.Phillip Green's wife who lives in Monaco, she is also the owner of Topshop in the UK and has been paid the biggest ever dividend in UK history, over £1 billion pounds, now what I fail to understand is why does she not live in the UK where her businesse's are located? why does she choose to live as a tax exile? Does this not lead many people to believe that she is deliberately trying to avoid paying UK tax? Yes of course we are not stupid, I have destroyed my Topshop card & will never buy another item from Topshop again, I think that Mr. & Mrs. Green are hypocrites, end of Angry

OP posts:
CatIsSleepy · 09/12/2010 21:04

well i wonder why they live in the tax haven Monaco

hmm

as for 'doing their bit' well most normal people live and pay income tax where they work

it's only those with more money than the rest of us that get to dodge taxes like this

greedy buggers

lucky1979 · 09/12/2010 21:05

I'm not sure TBH, but not sure why it would matter to the tax authorities where his wife is resident as she is not in the UK and not a citizen. This means she doesn't need to submit any form of address details to the tax office, so the issue of two seperate addresses would not arise.

byrel · 09/12/2010 21:06

The politics of envy is well and truely out here. We want to tax people who are neither citizens nor residents in the country Hmm.

I hope all you people who are in uproar don't have an ISA

lucky1979 · 09/12/2010 21:08

According to wiki (I know, but I'm trying to post, watch Have I Got News For You and eat yoghurt so can't be bothered to look further)

"A UK resident, Green is based during the week at a London hotel, spending the weekends with his South African wife Cristina and their children Chloe and Brandon in an apartment in Monaco.[8]"

Maybe I'm making up that it is the Dorchester, but it does ring a bell :) He gets papped there a lot when with his celeb mates.

kerstina · 09/12/2010 21:09

Well said OP i am boycotting the arcadia group and Kraft (cadburys). Can anyone list the most ethically shops so we can all do our Christmas shopping there ?
If we all unite we might be able to get a message across to these billionaire cheaters and multinational companies. Am feeling very militant and angry !

edam · 09/12/2010 21:10

Of course it's immoral - they are taking money made in this country and getting away without paying tax on it. That means the rest of us - including their customers - have to make up the shortfall. Mr & Ms Average Joe on £25k a year are funding the Greens' lifestyle.

And the point about their employees paying tax and NI makes it worse not better - why should Green get off scott free when his cleaners have to pay as they earn? Yet another wealthy fucker who doesn't pay as much tax as the dogsbodies who clean his offices.

Green is a parasite and we'd be better off without his sort. If he doesn't want to pay tax here, he can fuck off out of the country.

TheCrackFox · 09/12/2010 21:11

YANBU

If you don't like it don't shop at any of their shops.

Pair of greedy fuckers.

EggFriedRice · 09/12/2010 21:12

Mrs.Green is making billions tax free from UK tax-payers so why should she treated as a special case, and receive tax free dividends earned from companies based in the UK, if every company in the UK operated the same way as the greedy Greens god help us.

OP posts:
Tolalola · 09/12/2010 21:13

There are some fairly unsavoury dealings with the Greens and BHS dividends/pensions.

Apparently there is a 148 million quid shortfall in the BHS pension fund, which will affect tens of thousands of employees.

Meanwhile, in 2003, Philip Green put BHS into debt and decided to pay his family a special dividend of 214 million pounds.

Apparently, over 10 years BHS has paid dividends of 423 million, almost all the the Green family, and has put 47 million into the pension fund.

Nice.

lucky1979 · 09/12/2010 21:14

Why is everyone getting cross about this now? It happened in 2005, have you all been boycotting Arcadia group when it happened?

Or is it only now everyone is feeling their own personal circumstances being reduced that it's not fair?

lucky1979 · 09/12/2010 21:14

when = since

byrel · 09/12/2010 21:15

edam- Capital moves freely between countries, our companies bring back profits from other countries without paying tax on it and pay tax on the divedends here.

GeruptaSingh · 09/12/2010 21:16

yes Green should fuck off and take his business empire with him plus all the pension pots invested in his companys should invest in things that do not make money
and all the workers that will become unemployed can sleep easy at night with the thought that the honest taxpaying public are paying there benefits

curlymama · 09/12/2010 21:16

You are only paying for their livestyle if you buy their products.

''If he doesn't want to pay tax here, he can fuck off out of the count
ry.'' - Really? Are you certain you wouldn't be on here complaining if they closed down their company after making all that profit here and left all those people unemployed? Hmm

bibbitybobbitysantahat · 09/12/2010 21:18

I love these threads.

Sorts out the wheat from the chaff.

nancydrewrockinaroundxmastree · 09/12/2010 21:19

Honestly I cannot understand the moral outrage.

She is not British and she doesn't live in Britain.

The company from which she earns her dividend pays taxes in the UK.

Tolalola · 09/12/2010 21:20
kerstina · 09/12/2010 21:21

So we are just to let them get on with their unbridled greed without questioning them. If they close down more fair trade shops may reap the rewards.

pallette · 09/12/2010 21:23

I don't see the problem here she is a south african citizen who lives in Monte Carlo, why is she morally obliged to pay taxes on her dividends to this country.

Quiltingmoomin · 09/12/2010 21:23

sethstarkaddersmum the single residency rule is for capital gains tax - you don't pay tax if you make a gain on the sale of your principle private residence. If you sell your second home at a profit you do. The tax mrs green is allegedly avoiding is probably income tax because tHe dividends are considered income rather than capital.

Top shop and the other businesses owned by the greens are probably UK resident and so subject to corporation tax. They also employee thousands who each pay income tax. While i agree that it sticks in the throat to see the super rich avoid tax, the reason they are so rich is because they generate even more value here in the UK. I think it is the price we pay for having the benefits of business based here. There's no such thing as a free lunch ( it would be a benefit in kind - sad very sad tax joke)

EggFriedRice · 09/12/2010 21:25

I could'nt give a shit if Topshop or BHS closed down, rather give my hard earned UK tax paying money to a more honourable, honest group of companies, rather than fund the lavish tax avoiding lifestyle of families like the Greens. I do wonder why he is so popular with our new coalition government though Hmm

OP posts:
pallette · 09/12/2010 21:27

He's popular because he runs one of the most successful companies in the country that employes thousands of people. The Government is trying to kickstart a private sector led recovery and companies like Arcadia are what we need as a country to fuel growth.

bibbitybobbitysantahat · 09/12/2010 21:29

You are wheat Tola Wink. My earlier post on this thread sets my stall out fairly succintly, I feel.

huddspur · 09/12/2010 21:30

I hope the people who are against Arcadia don't have any ISAa or make pension contributions because they're forms of tax avoidance

PressureDrop · 09/12/2010 21:33

Shall we just let all successful business people behave how they like, then, pallette?

Swipe left for the next trending thread