Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/572/7091
From The Socialist newspaper, 25 March 2009
Nom-dom jobs slasher
JOURNALISTS AND other media workers' jobs are at risk as 1,000 job cuts are planned at the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) national and local publications.
The shabby treatment of DMGT staff contrasts markedly with that of the Mail's proprietor Lord Rothermere. He saves himself several million pounds in tax each year by being officially 'non-domiciled'.
This 'non-dom' law lets some British residents claim that some other country is their 'real' domicile. Then they pay British rates of tax on their earnings in the rest of the world only if they admit to 'remitting' the money to the UK. But, according to Private Eye magazine, Rothermere lives in a £40 million house with a 220-acre estate (a domicile surely?) in Wiltshire! He clearly lives and is active in Britain.
The present Lord's father lived most of his life in tax exile in Paris - ironically for the xenophobic Daily Mail. This non-dom status passed to his son at his birth in 1967 despite his British residency.
The Private Eye story suggests that Rothermere and his legal and financial advisers have used these tax arrangements to live an extremely wealthy lifestyle without the nuisance of paying tax.
For all the whining of papers like the Mail, taking into account all forms of taxation, the lowest-paid workers pay a far higher proportion of their income in tax than the rich. Why are job-cutting, multi-millionaire employers like Rothermere still allowed to operate such incredible tax breaks?
Roger Shrives
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In The Socialist 25 March 2009:
Capitalist crisis: Make the bosses pay!
Map of Youth March for Jobs route
Socialist Party editorial
Tide of job losses must be fought
Socialist Party election campaign
Rail union launches euro election challenge
Socialist Party campaigns
Students need a mass fighting organisation
Campaign for a new workers' party
MPs - an honourable profession!
Socialist Party feature
Socialist Party marxist analysis
International socialist news and analysis
France: Three million take to the streets in national strike
Canada: "Fighting back makes a difference"
Mass demo in New York against budget cuts
Scotland: International Socialists conference a big step forward
Dundee Prisme occupation: Workers remain defiant
Stop the slaughter of Tamils: London campaign meeting
Socialist Party workplace news
New allegations hit Unison's right wing
Unison Four to face further hearings
Wales: United battle needed to stop college cuts
Fighting for justice for cleaners!
PCS Land Registry jobs and pay campaign
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