Strivers and Scroungers

To Strive with ambition or to Scrounge with indolence?

Achieving success is fuelled by ambition to work hard and make the sacrifices necessary to have the lifestyle we dream.This seems to be now threatened, if not numbed, by the revelations of the recent "Panama Papers", which for one reason or other may  ordain and cripple enterprise.

Having talent means nothing, if you have no ambition to work at it for achievement, say those who have come up in life the hard way. Do you know how many people are out there and are wastes of ability and potential? 

Perhaps,there are a lot more than the ones who have talent who are actually successful.The vast majority of people who have attained wealth and rewards had ambition to make and work at it,regardless of all the obstacles in their way.To have the will,the dream and the courage to reach the top is more than talent. It is more than any skill one can possess. They love the determination, the passion,the triumph and the satisfaction that comes with enterprise.

Ambition separates the man on the subway from the man flying in a private jet. Humanity,perhaps, would not have thrived,in fact survived as a civilisation had it not been for our ambition to survive. Ambition is what gives us a purpose in life and allows us to fight for what we believe.

Thomas Jefferson said: "Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal;nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."

Why is wealth so bad? 

People over the world have rightly or wrongly come to conclude that enterprise is greed or an addiction to power. Society,perhaps,mistakes ambition for misappropriation,for wealth creation,and getting ahead is bad.Having the simple thought of being or becoming rich won't get you there!

To eradicate poverty, to accomplish your long term goals, you have to be successful and in fact want to be successful.To invest wealth to attain poverty alleviation is no way a wrong.  To invest wealth in medical research is to promote and develop healthy living. 

To escape mediocrity, is more than a noble precept.Within the journey of wealth creation lies the struggle of personal development,the suffering,the trials and tribulations, the fun and the growth and never to settle either for mediocrity or for indolence.

It is primal and fundamental to our being to succeed.If innovation and technology was not developed, there won't be progress. If there is no progress, we can hardly have the resource to get ahead. If we do not get ahead,we will lag behind.

Why stifle growth?

The growth and development of British Territories and Dependencies as tax havens were not by accident. They were planned development to sustain,in fact maintain these jurisdictions for their livelihood.

Financial secrecy paints an unflattering picture of Britain being at the heart of the global offshore system of leading tax havens and secret jurisdictions. 

The abuses of tax and transparency have been exposed,but what about its benefits?

Combating Poverty 

Combating poverty in self governing territories by attracting capital overseas because of little or low tax or no tax, has been a reputation risk. 

Tax havens tend to satisfy different types of taxes and for different categories of people and companies. Similarly,countries which modify their tax laws to attract foreign capital could also be considered as tax havens. 

The grey areas of tax evasion and avoidance

There is a big grey area in a host of tax avoidance schemes devised by accountants and marketed to the wealthy. An example is the Film investment funds as an investment vehicle.Besides,many ordinary people invest in offshore funds through their Pension Funds,without even knowing it. 

Companies like Starbucks  seem to use tax havens to reduce their taxable profits because of "transfer pricing." The brand value of their intellectual property rights are not taxable in the UK as the brand was not created in the UK. 

To stop tax avoidance Britain fosters low,flat taxes, with exploitable loopholes to encourage particular types of economic activity.An example is Patent Box, which gives favourable treatment to new innovations.

Capital is also taxed over several times,over various combinations of taxes. Corporation Tax,Income Tax,Capital Gains Tax,Inheritance Tax and Stamp Duty on transactions are all in force. It is a minefield to the layman,if not for tax accountants. Exemptions and relief can further be adjusted by the sophisticated, to avoid tax as critics complain of too many reliefs, which need abolishing.  

The problem is lack of funding for the NHS and the Welfare State,in general. It can't led the greed of the wealthy to cause the suffering of the common man,who simply would have to pay more, to make up for the lack of tax provided by the rich.

Tax evasion is illegal,tax avoidance is not. The Opposition accuses the Prime Minister because he benefited from tax avoidance,although there was full disclosure. 

Reasonable people can take different views depending on how they interpret the facts.

Scroungers will always want more

Ambition is what leads to success, but to scrounge will mean more mediocrity, more indolence, more lack of appetite for enterprise. Imagine the law making body,like the Parliament unable to attract the most able and talented,but stuffed with people who are complacent, who lack knowledge,skills and ambition,who have little to give or time to deal with responses or reactions of the public.

Scroungers will be satisfied with what is on offer,rather than achieve the best of all alternatives to deliver to the public..