David Cameron has to resign.

[PirateSmile]

If there is any evidence he has had even one penny of benefit from his father's dodgy tax arrangement, surely Cameron has to go?
He's saying 'it's a private matter' whilst presumably working on his notes for next month's conference on cracking down on such tax scams. You really couldn't make it up. He will no doubt plead ignorance but that's no defence. He is the PM. He should know he's benefiting from is essentially large scale fraud.
Are we really going to let him get away with this?

Fair enough candykane it's not compulsory

It was also revealed how Blairmore –which had been launched by Ian Cameron in 1982 – had mysteriously transferred the scheme from Panama to Ireland in 2012 amid a global clampdown on tax-avoidance.

While obviously not wishing to let facts get in the way - by the time this fund moved to Panama Ian Cameron was two years dead.

If DC can as nautica suggested planned an investment £12K and 15 years later sell the shares just before they reached the Capital Gains threshold at just the time he needed to because he entered parliament that shows a level of forward planning that is godlike.

People are complaining about his faffing about but can you remember what you were doing with your bank accounts 10 years ago?

And it's v notable that the story has already gone down the running order on tonight's news bulletins because people have realised the only thing they can really beat DC with is the leaving it for x days to come out with the whole story. Political opponents are not leaping up and down because they know there is v little potltical capital to make and they are too busy on the phones to their accountants quietly liquidating offshore assets *

*disclaimer- I made that bit up

The "mysterious" move to Ireland (by the now dead Cameron senior - good point!) is actually not that mysterious at all! Or exciting.

In July 2011, all European countries adopted a new Directive which made it a lot harder for funds based outside the EU to market to EU investors, so many many funds moved onshore to the EU - usually to Ireland. Most of them did this in 2012....when Blairmore moved.

... Panama might I perhaps know you?

No it's not kess tax to HMRC from the company because the company would never have been set up in the UK in the first place!

And I think that the vast majority of politicians through the ages have been "other" to the vast majority of the people. The bald fact is that most people don't have the intellectual capacity or personal skills to enable them to serve in politics. Would you prefer some kind of lack of wealth test for prospective MP's? That would count out Mr Corbyn then......

Doesn't it strike you as being an unusual coincidence that the amount shares in the offshore vehicle Cameron bought was exactly the right amount so that when he sold them just before becoming PM, the gain happened to fall just within the CGT limit?

I think there are a couple of notable coincidences. The more interesting one is why the bequest from his father came in just under the inheritance tax limit - and what happened to the rest of the money.

None of it changes my view of the prime minister anyway

And there we have the crux of it. If this had been Corbyn the people on here berating Cameron would be saying "Look Jeremy isn't an idiot - he can be trusted with the economy".

I agree that not a lot of people set up investment funds, just like not a lot of people become surgeons or chefs or window cleaners. It's a business model tried and tested over many decades and is far more prevalent than most realise- this story has I think at least taught us that.

I also agree that MP's should be drawn from a far wider social spectrum. But Parliament has never been socially representative and I'm not sure how you would make it an attractive career prospect for most.

howmany my point was that there is a certain combination of skills required to be an MP including intellectual capacity which will only be possessed by a small minority of people. As I've just said parliament has never been socially representative- it has always been full of people "other" than the vast majority of the populus.

The fund was registered with HMRC from the beginning, and all the income and gains were declared to HMRC every year. Filing a tax return each year and waiting for HMRC to audit the fund's tax return and issue a certificate would be a funny thing to do if you're avoiding tax!

mistigri inheritance tax planning will absolutely be organised so that the amount given to each of Ian Cameron's DC's would have fallen just under the threshold, that's the point, to distribute as much as possible to heirs without them having to pay tax. The remainder would I guess have gone tax free to his wife. This isn't dodgy dealing, it's what most people would do.

godlike indeed cdtaylornats. Looking at the past week I think we can discount Cameron having a godlike grip on this matter and common sense would suggest Cameron sold some Blairmore shares in 2010 and disposed of any remainder later on.

I'm not saying Cameron has done anything illegal. I'm not even saying he's lying. But I am saying that for all of his statements, the result is still a patchy reveal only.

sleep I very much doubt the Cameron family wealth will be with Mrs C. Any family likely to hit the IHT limits will have family trusts set up to manage the distribution of wealth through the generations in the most tax efficient method possible.

Anyone with financial investments outside of ISA / pension wrappers manages their CGT and IHT positions as a matter of course. When you don't need the income for day to day living and can time when you crystallise it that is the sensible approach. The ability to do this is one of the many advantages of financial investments over BTL.

I am assuming DC's continuing obfuscation and prevarication on the fairly minor offshore issue is because he is hoping if he drags his heels enough he will never have to come good on his long standing pledge to publish his tax return and offer full transparency on his financial affairs. I think this is a fair requirement for any public official with the power to structure their country's financial and tax environment. (Suggestions that ordinary citizens would then have to be subject to the same level of scrutiny are ludicrous because they are not the rule makers).

I feel like setting a go fund account after hearing his 'that's all I have' speech.
He really is out of touch

I've just heard someone on radio4 describe the fund as "the Cameron family trust". It's this type of ill informed language which perpetuates the myth that this was some sort of personal piggy bank to hide money from the authorities. It's so frustrating that this kind of thing is not lucked up on and corrected.

Well, howabout DC is publishing his tax returns in the next few days

nauticant you confuse "common sense" with "fact"

I agree howabout but my point was that the cash benefit to DC would of course been exactly just under the IHT limit, I don't think it is some kind of coincidence to be looked at suspiciously.

A point was made earlier on about setting up trusts to avoid nursing home fees. I remember when my gran died and I had to sign some papers at the bank as her executor. My gran only left about £5k as her retirement flat had had to be sold to pay for her nursing home. The bank manager told me that they offered a scheme whereby they could have protected her flat so she wouldn't have had to sell it and it was a pity we hadn't come to see him before. The flat was only worth about £60k so not huge amount and this was a high street bank. So a scheme available to pretty much everyone, not just the wealthy.

Another thing I find quite interesting that a number of the journalists reporting on this will be selling their services via a service company, which is a means of avoiding tax!