Philip Green

[Baileysforchristmas]

AIBU to think Philip Green should put his hand in his pocket to help his staff who will now loose their jobs? Especially when I have just read he gave his wife 1.2 billion, which she paid no tax on because she lives in Monaco

2005: Arcadia pays out a £1.3billion dividend, £1.2billion of which goes to Sir Philip's wife Tina, who lives in Monaco so does not have to pay UK tax.

He really is an odious man. Yes of course he has enough wealth to help people. He is so despised and vile that I often wonder how he can live with all the negative energy and hatred that must go his way. To be this corrupt, lacking in empathy and morals and so ostentatious with his wealth is truly horrible.
Surely he never meets people who aren't sycophants?

@Thepilotlightsgoneout

That was a bit garbled. I don’t think that this idea of people being expected to use their personal wealth to cover business losses is really acceptable

Well when the business is doing well people at the top of the food chain (like him) benefit massively. Surely he should feel some pain when it goes wrong, especially when it goes wrong after he's asset stripped the whole company and 'arranged' his business affairs so he pays barely any tax?

Swings and roundabouts.....

...and/or just as odious

It doesn’t need to be illegal for it to be reprehensible.

His wealth is in his wife’s name precisely to protect it.

Sadly the business world is full of hideous characters like him. Mike Ashley and Michael O’Leary for starters.

I agree that Arcadia have been in trouble for a long time but that doesn’t mean Green is deserving of any respect just because it hasn’t gone down before now. He won’t be affected at all, in fact he’ll probably slime his way back in somewhere and before long he will have been forgotten as the owner of Arcadia and go back to being sir Philip green.....

I think that some people don't have a basic understanding of what and why we have Limited companies

@BeenThereDoneThat3

It doesn’t need to be illegal for it to be reprehensible.

His wealth is in his wife’s name precisely to protect it.

Sadly the business world is full of hideous characters like him. Mike Ashley and Michael O’Leary for starters.

I agree that Arcadia have been in trouble for a long time but that doesn’t mean Green is deserving of any respect just because it hasn’t gone down before now. He won’t be affected at all, in fact he’ll probably slime his way back in somewhere and before long he will have been forgotten as the owner of Arcadia and go back to being sir Philip green.....

Would our economies be better without Mike Ashley and Michael O'Leary?

Is that what you are saying - you would happily remove these people from being able to trade?

@hamstersarse

Unfortunately we need entrepreneurs like Green in our economy.

They create jobs. In fact, it looks like 24,000 of them in Phillip Green's case.

Disincentivising innovation and the building of business is futile and harmful.

It's really childish also.

Bollocks did he create jobs - it certainly wasn't on his radar, just a byproduct of his aim to dominate a sector of fashion retail.

Most of the jobs he created were at below genuine living wage, leaving taxpayers to pick up the slack on childcare and rents.

Oh yes, tax. He put everything in his wife's name so he could avoid UK taxes - why HMRC didn't prosecute him at the time for that egregious tax evasion I don't know.

He's a splendid example of current capitalism - low paid jobs, tax avoidance as far as possible, blaming everything else for a failure to succeed having extracted as much cash and assets at every stage as possible (often leaving the business in unnecessary debt though further elaborate tax avoidance schemes), and then leaving the state to pick up the pieces in benefits and pensions.

And yet people will still bleat about the necessity of pandering to these 'wealth creators'

Fuck sake.

@hamstersarse not directed at me, but I think we would be a better society without them. No Ryanair would not stop people flying but perhaps less often is no bad thing. No Ryanair would mean less support for the cruel horse race that is the Grand National. No Sports Direct would mean none of the cruel working practices they have (I really hope the allegations about his Shirebrook warehouse are historic and not current).

Personal gain has been the goal for too long.
Conservative ethos and capitalist ambition celebrated.
He's just the poster boy.

Oh yes, tax. He put everything in his wife's name so he could avoid UK taxes - why HMRC didn't prosecute him at the time for that egregious tax evasion I don't know.

I do. Because you can’t create tax legislation for other countries?

If you’d like to prosecute the Greens, I assume that you are in favour of also prosecuting Paula Radcliffe and Lewis Hamilton, both of whom are Monaco resident for tax purposes? Although they both claim that they live there for the weather and privacy, of course.

How about the Spice Girls, who became non-resident in the nineties so that they didn’t have to do anything as crass as, you know, pay tax that might have paid for the education of the little girls spending their pocket money on Spice Girls merchandise?

What do you think? You can’t just single out the Greens.

@BeenThereDoneThat3

It doesn’t need to be illegal for it to be reprehensible.

His wealth is in his wife’s name precisely to protect it.

Sadly the business world is full of hideous characters like him. Mike Ashley and Michael O’Leary for starters.

I agree that Arcadia have been in trouble for a long time but that doesn’t mean Green is deserving of any respect just because it hasn’t gone down before now. He won’t be affected at all, in fact he’ll probably slime his way back in somewhere and before long he will have been forgotten as the owner of Arcadia and go back to being sir Philip green.....

I don't think you can cast O'Leary in this mould. For example I understand he quietly does quite a bit of good in his local community. His brash persona is mostly an act.

How do you propose to address this? Do you think that CEOs should be paid the same as people working in the shops?

We need a law limiting the multiple by which the salary of a company's highest paid staff member can exceed that of its lowest.

Oh yes, tax. He put everything in his wife's name so he could avoid UK taxes - why HMRC didn't prosecute him at the time for that egregious tax evasion I don't know.
HMRC don't bother with rich people or large corporations. Their lawyers are good and it might affect senior HMRC people's chance of lucrative job later on.
The UK is pretty corrupt.

[quote nosswith]@hamstersarse not directed at me, but I think we would be a better society without them. No Ryanair would not stop people flying but perhaps less often is no bad thing. No Ryanair would mean less support for the cruel horse race that is the Grand National. No Sports Direct would mean none of the cruel working practices they have (I really hope the allegations about his Shirebrook warehouse are historic and not current).[/quote]
Agreed

Unfortunately we need entrepreneurs like Green in our economy.

I'm not sure we do. We need successful entrepreneurs but I think it's a long time since Philip Green has been successful isn't it?

I think he's managed to do well in previous retail boom periods but I don't think I've heard anything positive or successful about his business dealings for at least a decade. I think he's been getting by, by the skin of his teeth for quite a while and generally leaving a bit of a mess in his path, but a fatter wallet for him each time.

@nosswith

No Ryanair would not stop people flying but perhaps less often is no bad thing. No Ryanair would mean less support for the cruel horse race that is the Grand National

You are hanging the Grand National on Ryan Air??? Really?

And saying that less people will fly is just really really backward.

I honestly don't get it. I guess you just think capitalism is evil and there is no moving on that point - despite it bringing more people out of poverty ever

We need a law limiting the multiple by which the salary of a company's highest paid staff member can exceed that of its lowest.

How is that going to address the original complaint:

The inequality between these people and those actually doing the work is unjust. ?

There would still be inequality. In any event, it would just push more of the remuneration into share-based rewards.

So ltd companies should only be ltd till shit hits the fan? The whole point in ltd companies is to protect the directors personal finances.

While you may or may not like the man he hasn’t done anything illegal and his personal finances are completely separate to the ltd company.

We need a law limiting the multiple by which the salary of a company's highest paid staff member can exceed that of its lowest.

Great idea! Then all the best people will leave the country faster than you can blink.

@Lindy2

I agree Green is past his sell by date. But the calls to change Corporation Law just because he's a bit odious is a little hysetrical.

The changes that people are calling for here to how a limited company works would disincentivise almost anyone from setting up a business

@Elai1978 “best paid” does not mean best.

@Elai1978

We need a law limiting the multiple by which the salary of a company's highest paid staff member can exceed that of its lowest.

Great idea! Then all the best people will leave the country faster than you can blink.

People like Philip Green, you mean?

Great, wish him a safe journey ...

@Iamthewombat

Oh yes, tax. He put everything in his wife's name so he could avoid UK taxes - why HMRC didn't prosecute him at the time for that egregious tax evasion I don't know.

I do. Because you can’t create tax legislation for other countries?

If you’d like to prosecute the Greens, I assume that you are in favour of also prosecuting Paula Radcliffe and Lewis Hamilton, both of whom are Monaco resident for tax purposes? Although they both claim that they live there for the weather and privacy, of course.

How about the Spice Girls, who became non-resident in the nineties so that they didn’t have to do anything as crass as, you know, pay tax that might have paid for the education of the little girls spending their pocket money on Spice Girls merchandise?

What do you think? You can’t just single out the Greens.

The Spice Girls haven't fucked up anyone's pensions as far as I know.

@Iamthewombat

Oh yes, tax. He put everything in his wife's name so he could avoid UK taxes - why HMRC didn't prosecute him at the time for that egregious tax evasion I don't know.

I do. Because you can’t create tax legislation for other countries?

If you’d like to prosecute the Greens, I assume that you are in favour of also prosecuting Paula Radcliffe and Lewis Hamilton, both of whom are Monaco resident for tax purposes? Although they both claim that they live there for the weather and privacy, of course.

How about the Spice Girls, who became non-resident in the nineties so that they didn’t have to do anything as crass as, you know, pay tax that might have paid for the education of the little girls spending their pocket money on Spice Girls merchandise?

What do you think? You can’t just single out the Greens.

Well of course I'd support that.

And passing ownership - pretending that a family member is the actual owner - is very much evasion and should have been prosecutable

@Elai1978

We need a law limiting the multiple by which the salary of a company's highest paid staff member can exceed that of its lowest.

Great idea! Then all the best people will leave the country faster than you can blink.

If he's an example of "the best people" then we can certainly do with out him and anyone similar. When are people going to stop worshiping these cunts who have just worked out the best way to screw other people?