In the news

Snake chat.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/11/worlds-largest-snake-a-python-estimated-at-8m-long-caught-in-malaysia

God damn. I bet that think could eat some gators.

Well. He is a reptile. So ok.

Personally, I think they'd kill each other.

It would be epicly distressing to watch.

Its about Cameron's tax avoidance

Not really, unless I'm mistaken he hasn't avoided any tax (yet).

He sold some shares which just happened to be held offshore, but he brought the proceeds back into the UK and declared the capital gain on his tax return. It's just it was below the CGT threshold so no tax needed to be paid. This isn't tax avoidance.

He received a gift of 200k from his mum. This isn't tax avoidance either. No tax is due on that unless she dies within 7 years of making that gift (at which point IHT will be liable).

Far more important are:

• the way he has dealt with it (initially denying it, claiming it was a private matter, etc before being found out and forced to admit it)
  
• his lack of transparency whilst claiming to be open (publishing summary totals from tax returns is not what people were asking for, they want to see the details)
  
• whether he failed to declare such things (offshore holdings) on the relevant HoP register of interest back in 2009/2010
  
• and all of the above contributing to doubt as to whether he or SamCam (but not his parents) have a boatload of other stuff squirreled away elsewhere waiting to be found
  
  

[EDIT - gah, hit the button too early]

But the biggest one is that at some point he will inherit a huge chunk of money some of which seems to have been built up using various offshore tax avoidance schemes. He'll try and distance himself from this by claiming that he's not responsible for how his parents managed their affairs but if he tries to minimise the IHT impact he'll be pilloried. Then again, he probably won't be PM by then anyway, and no-one will care anywhere near as much.

just happened to be held offshore

As a shareholder of a fund held offshore, he would surely have had an input in where the fund was held.

the way he has dealt with it (initially denying it, claiming it was a private matter, etc before being found out and forced to admit it)
his lack of transparency whilst claiming to be open (publishing summary totals from tax returns is not what people were asking for, they want to see the details)
whether he failed to declare such things (offshore holdings) on the relevant HoP register of interest back in 2009/2010
and all of the above contributing to doubt as to whether he has a boatload of other stuff squirreled away elsewhere waiting to be found

Let's not forget his intervention in EU law which would have put trusts (like his dad made, like his was, and like his families presumably are) under more scrutiny.

Snakes. So optimistic.

As a shareholder of a fund held offshore, he would surely have had an input in where the fund was held.

True, but how much influence does a mere 30k holding in a fund have? I don't know the size of the fund but that must be a tiny percentage. Probably a lot less sway than just telling his father it probably isn't a good idea.

Given he sold up 4 months before becoming PM he was probably advised to get rid of any offshore holdings in order to look squeaky clean (ha!) from the start, although he managed to fuck the media aspect of this when it was eventually discovered.

"raison d'etre" (I find the use of French here troubling)

So do I, it should be «raison d'être», as in Ratty's post. :)

(It's actually a loan word and so, while it's derived from French, it's also technically an English word.)

Out of curiosity, are there labour MPs pledging to release their tax returns? I've seen that Corbyn is but are the shadow chancellor and so on also doing the same?

Jesus, you're becoming insufferable. #forsrs

The shadow chancellor published his full tax return in January and challenged Gideon to publish his:-

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jan/31/john-mcdonnell-publishes-tax-return-challenges-george-osborne

http://www.john-mcdonnell.net/john_mcdonnell_mp_tax_return_2015

Sadiq Khan to post his later this week.

Zac seems to have preempted all of this.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/feb/22/zac-goldsmith-10m-income-capital-gains-tax-returns

1) It's worth remembering that tax evasion doesn't generally show up on tax returns.
2) As @Greenbank pointed out above, it's not really about whether he paid what was due or not (although that's what the Tories want to make the conversation about).

(It's actually a loan word and so, while it's derived from French, it's also technically an English word.)

or is it a loan phrase..? I only ask as "raison", "de", "être", are 3 words forming a phrase, non?

don't go there

Mission accompli. :)

A thread cul-de-sac Schick... ;)

or is it a loan phrase..? I only ask as "raison", "de", "être", are 3 words forming a phrase, non?

You can certainly call it a loan phrase. I suppose it would be more precise to say 'loan concept composed of two or more words'. In English as in French, many combinations of words, like 'loan phrase', really count as one word (e.g., 'prime minister' or 'tax evasion', to pick two examples completely at random and out of thin air) even though they're composed of two or more words, if you know what I mean. :)

Of course, in German the component words of compound nouns are generally run together without spaces (and using a couple of rules), and there you can usually say that several words are turned into one new word without encountering the above problem. (There are exceptions even in German.) It just doesn't work in English spelling to spell words like that 'primeminister' or 'taxevasion', for various reasons. It also isn't really possible to settle on some other rule, e.g. more consistent hyphenation. I try to use hyphens more than most, but even with relatively low usage (e.g., 'web-site') it looks a bit old-fashioned and certainly can't be applied across the board.

Becoming?

Please make it stop...

this is fun

Probably the most interesting non-gator related comment anyone has made on this thread for several pages. Thank you for saving the thread.

Of course, we all assume in good faith that Cameron isn't hiding anything, and neither is his mother. Nor his wife. And her inheritance tax paying family.