J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Apparently he has taken 1.2 Billion quid from his Arcadia group for him and his family, I am all for private enterprise but, they must be one hell of a family needing that much cash !

Anyone else think he should spread it around a bit, personally in that position I would do a Brewsters Millions type scenario and get rid of the lot as to be honest I wouldnt want the public knowing I had that much cash, i.e. I would rather have nowt than my kids becoming a kidnap target. I would imagine that once you had every material thing you could want ( I am not a rich man but I am nearly there) and have done everything you could want (need a few more quid to get to this point) the pleasure of helping others less fortunate would be the main focus ? Not buying Marks and Spencers.

Dont know much about the man, does he do the phillanthopic type gesture like Bill gates ?

carl

I believe his wife owns most or all of the shares. And, of course, as a resident of Monaco she doesn't have to pay any tax on the dividends. If Gordon could get his hands on 25% of that lot then maybe he'd lay off the rest of us for a bit...

warrenm2

and whats wrong in avoiding tax? If the tax wasnt so stupid people wouldnt avoid it. Or are you just jealous?

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Hmm, whats wrong with avoiding tax, he lives here, makes billions yet cant see his way clear to paying tax here, I have to pay a third or so of my meagre earnings yet the hyper rich dont, fair, not really.

I am all for private enterprise and the guy deserves his success but it does seem a little cynical of him.

Maybe he is a philanthropist on the quiet ?

thundertiger

jacko, its also fair to say that he employs a few thousand people who "all" contribute to taxable deductions.

good luck to him, he's done nowt wrong, except for being rather clever.

BB

Flatcapdriver

Strewth, talk about jealousy breeding an ugly reaction. Apart from the fact that he is the UK's best retailer employing thousands of people and Arcadia pays millions in tax revenue why the hell should he pay tax if he can avoid it. He also gives millions away to various institutions and has set up a Retailing Academy to train the next crop of retailers, not forgetting he's based in Monaco which doesn't have the tax regime of the UK.

The simple reason he has such a large war chest is that Top Shop (amongst others) is so well run that it doesn't need large investment and given the current returns on equities and property he sees cash as a far safer bet.

Perhaps you'll feel better when he finally gets M&S and no longer has such a large cash pile and returns that institution to continual growth and innovation like it used to.

carl

Hey, I have no problem with him avoiding tax. I'm an IT contractor, and it galls me when HMRC accuse us of "tax evasion" and "not paying a fair amount of tax" by managing our affairs in the most tax-efficient fashion. For example, my wife is an employee and shareholder of my limited company but Gordon and his boys are trying to stamp that out with the S660a legislation. Meanwhile, Philip Green can get away with it no problem, despite the fact that the "avoided" tax in my case is insignificant compared to Phillip Green's.

Furthermore, there is legislation that allows HMRC to ignore any aritifical arrangement (e.g. offshore company formation) that is specifically designed to avoid tax. Then they go and sell a load of their old buildings to an offshore property management company, and lease them back! Of course HMRC get a better deal that way, because the offshore company doesn't pay any tax so can lease the buildings back cheaper than if it was paying tax.

Holy Ghost

his business. his money. his (very considerable) risk and responsibility as a very successful, major employer. end of. just as your money is yours to dispose of as you please.

good on him. and i hope he gets M&S and sorts it out.

as usual - whether it's a successful corporation or a smart individual - there's the inevitable and very british lefty whiff of envy and always the its-not-fair whining about excess that goes with it.

if you want to know if green's philanthropic, why not write and ask him J4CKO? you never know, might be surprised ...

i couldn't care less about what green does with the cash he has earned by working very hard over decades: and i care even less when compared to how our collective tax billions are being so incompetently deployed by civil servants and politicians who don't know their ringpieces from a muddy hole in the ground.