This Issue’s Issue: Tax Shelters – For & Against

FOR:
It’s my money, god damn it. A lot of people worked hard to get that money into my bank account. And they probably already paid taxes on it. Why should I be punished for being rich? Because that’s what taxes are, you know. Punishment for being too successful.

I come from humble beginnings. Like most people, I started life with just a few million in family money to back me up. Times were tough, and there were moments when I wondered if I’d ever make it. But I managed to pull myself up by the bootstraps, keep a stiff upper lip, put my nose to the grindstone and a lot of other metaphors for hard work. That hard work paid off for me, as it would for anyone else willing to give their all and not accept any hand-outs.

Why, then, do I keep seeing all these people making such a big deal about the British Virgin Islands? Typical of a small-country mentality, these are people just looking to bully a country even smaller than they are. And what makes money so special, anyway? I don’t hear anyone complaining about the sunglasses I left behind in the Seychelles. But if it happens to be half a billion ISK, suddenly everyone gets their knickers in a twist.

Look, I can’t help it if people are jealous of my success. But I shouldn’t be punished for being a hard-working, successful capitalist who is smart about avoiding financial persecution. It’s just common sense.

AGAINST:
Why are we even having this discussion? Our Prime Minister kept telling us how awesome the króna is. He’s the one who insisted we stick to capital controls. He’s the one who called bank claimants “vultures.” Yes, he is a great hypocrite for the whole Wintris thing, but the media are missing the bigger story here: why don’t we all have tax shelters?

Here’s the thing. I only make about a quarter million a month. That’s not a lot of money. After paying my bills I have like maybe 50k to play around with for the rest of the month. I can blow that in a single weekend downtown.

Now, if my salary went into a bank account in the British Virgin Islands, I wouldn’t have to worry about this kind of thing. If it’s good enough for like half of the government, why isn’t it good enough for the rest of us?

This is just another example of the poshies keeping all the best stuff for themselves. We need to shift our focus onto the real story here. Rather than cutting off our noses to spite our collective faces by trying to deny the PM his tax shelter, if we had any spine at all we would march down to Parliament, kick in the doors, and demand that we all get tax shelters of our own. It’s just common sense.