F1's Global Obligation

[Willy]

It appears to me that the recent comments from Warren Buffet in the USA saying that the mega-rich should be taxed the same as the rest of us working stiffs, also applies to the deep pockets in F1.
I am not asking to see the tax records of those wealthy folks, but more so I am asking what they are doing outside of F1 for the rest of the world.

The super wealthy have an obligation to do some good with their cash and not just watch it grow so they can jump in it ala Scrooge McDuck.
What are these people doing with their money.

Bernie appears to be buying his offspring mega-houses that serve no purpose whatsoever.  As one of the most wealthy people in the UK he along with Flavio Briatori, Ron Dennis and the like must use their money and power to affect change.

[John S]

I think Warren Buffet's problem is that he is an investor rather than a true entrepreneur and as such has only added wealth rather than the employment for many and infrastructure that the F1 community have generated. He has also probably just woken up and realised that Bill Gates has the right idea, you can't take it with you so after providing well for your own use your vast wealth to improve life for others. There is nothing like old age, and thoughts of your own mortality, to make you reflect on how you will be remembered.

I subscribe to the view that excessive taxation causes the super rich to move their money beyond the countries that they have made it in. On the basis some tax is better than no tax reasonable charges (currently 50% on income for high earners in UK) have been credited with increasing the amount governments collect. I should hastily add that I am a basic rate taxpayer, so this is not a plea for special treatment.

Most of Bernie's money is in that family trust created some years ago, after his heart problems, to avoid huge inheritance tax if the money passed to his legal wife who was considered an alien at that time. Therefore the money is no longer under his control and any taxation on it falls under the fiduciary responsibility of the Trust.


 

   

[cosworth151]

We have a situation here in the States where the richest people and coperations pay no federal income taxes at all, and most even manage to profit from them. (Sorry, I forgot. Mitt Romney says corporations are people.)

Bank of America, GE, Chevron, Boeing, Citicorp, Exxon/Mobil, Google and many others got off scott free. Rubert's News Corp. even made millions in rebates.

[Jericoke]

It appears to me that the recent comments from Warren Buffet in the USA saying that the mega-rich should be taxed the same as the rest of us working stiffs, also applies to the deep pockets in F1.
I am not asking to see the tax records of those wealthy folks, but more so I am asking what they are doing outside of F1 for the rest of the world.

The super wealthy have an obligation to do some good with their cash and not just watch it grow so they can jump in it ala Scrooge McDuck.
What are these people doing with their money.

Bernie appears to be buying his offspring mega-houses that serve no purpose whatsoever.  As one of the most wealthy people in the UK he along with Flavio Briatori, Ron Dennis and the like must use their money and power to affect change.

I know many F1 drivers choose to live in Swizterland and Monaco because of the tax breaks 'anonymity' of living amongst other wealthy people.

It is tough to get people to pay their 'fair share', when it's such a nebulous term.  Many individuals/corportations who pay very little or no tax do so through creative accounting.  Most 'creative accounting' schemes involve investing money into ventures that do create spin-off tax benefits.  In the USA a shopping mall is a 'tax shelter'.  That is, the money used to purchase and operate the mall is not taxed.  A mall owner doesn't pay tax.  However, all the stores that are in the mall pay tax.  The 1000 employees in the mall pay tax.  All the shoppers in the mall pay consumption taxes.

The 'rich person' hasn't paid tax, and yet has generated millions in taxes. 

If you take away this incentive, who is going to open a mall that employs people?

Obviously the system will be abused, like any system, but there is a fundamental logic to it.  If the only thing a rich person can do with their money is pay tax, they'll start to wonder why they bother making money at all.

[lkjohnson1950]

Warren Buffet's deal is that his tax rate is actually lower, on a percentage basis, than his maid's tax rate. Examination of tax statistics shows over the last 50-60 years the government's income sources have moved steadily away from corporations and the wealthy and fallen more and more on the middle class. Which may help explain why the wealthy are getting wealthier and the rest of us are struggling.

Lonny