You are now earning money so that the government can take most of it from you, spread some around to buy votes, blow a bit on their lavish lifestyle then piss the rest up the wall.
You work harder and do longer hours to make ends meet and with the hope that you can progress a bit further up the ladder. The harder you work, the more the government take from you.
You decide that you can do the job you are doing for yourself rather than working for someone else so you set up a small business.
It's very difficult at first, you are not making enough to cover costs and you are working a fourteen hour day for at least six days a week. It takes a couple of years of this before things start to work out and you start turning over a decent profit. The government is always there though, looking over your shoulder and ready to take their cut as soon as you make it.
Years pass and your business has grown into a very successful one, trading in more than one country, employing many people and turning over a very decent profit.
The rewards of all your years of hard work speak for themselves, but how does the government choose to reward you. Much, much higher taxes.
You see you need to be doing your bit to help those less fortunate than yourself. It doesn't matter that you have created many jobs for them or manufactured many products that they want, you're still a greedy capitalist and the government want your money to give to the lazy and feckless under the guise of a benevolent welfare state but in reality, keeping people dependent on the state so they will vote in the right way.
They also need your money to give to the EU and to invade sovereign foreign nations. The reasons why you must pay up are never ending and if you try to say no they will send armed agents to your house and throw you in prison.
What if there was a way to legally keep some more of your money from the state. A legal way to re-invest some more money in the company rather than hand it over to be wasted, to pay higher dividends to the shareholders who invested in your company, or just keep a bit extra for yourself, because damn it, you created the stuff.
What you need is a tax haven. A tax haven will allow to to keep extra money back from the wasteful grip of the state and it's completely legal.
Who could object to that?
Why the very people who benefit from your money of course. The people who the state hands your cash to, those who didn't earn it but still beleive they have a right to it.
Household names like British Business, BP, HSBC, Prudential and British American Tobacco all use tax havens according to the charity Action Aid which says ministers can no longer afford to "turn a blind eye" to the use of such arrangements.
Turning a blind eye? You turn a blind eye to something which is wrong but minor. With holding tax from the Government through the use of tax havens is not illegal and not wrong. I would say that not giving money to people who would waste it when you don't need to is the morally correct thing to do.
There is no suggestion that these companies are doing anything illegal.
That's because they aren't. What annoys charities like Action Aid is the fact that these companies are being sensible with their money and keeping it from grabbing hands. These charities rely on the grabbing hand of government to steal money from earners and hand it over to them. If government funding were to stop they would cease to exist as they would never pay their way with public donations.
Chris Jordan, tax justice expert at ActionAid, said: "ActionAid's research showing the use of tax havens by Britain's biggest companies raises serious questions they need to answer.
What, by God, is a 'Tax Justice' expert. Tax and Justice do not fit together unless you are talking about very low taxes for all, none of which is ever wasted. Anything other than that is no justice at all.
"Tax havens have a damaging impact on the UK exchequer, the stability of the international financial system, and vitally on the ability of developing countries to raise tax revenues which would lift them out of poverty and make them less dependent on aid."
That statement is so much bollocks in so many ways. The exchequer is not harmed by not receiving money that it was never due anyway. The most financial harm to the treasury comes from taking the tax you get at throwing bucket loads of it at the lazy and feckless. It's the waste that's harmful, not the lack of some income.
International financial systems depend on tax havens. Some countries with little or zero tax attract a lot of business to their shores for obvious reasons, and this does wonders for a healthy economy. The international financial system may be going tits up but that's more the result of rampant borrowing and printing money.
As for assisting countries that depend on aid?? Most countries that depend heavily on foreign aid have serious ecological conditions that prevent growing food, are constantly at war with others or themselves and have governments more greedy and powerful than our own. Others have nuclear and space programs and therefore have no business receiving foreign aid.
Countries that truly want to lift themselves out of poverty would be wise to attract foreign business and investment. Maybe by becoming a tax haven. People will have jobs and incomes, but won't have to give most of it to the state.
Mr Jordan added: "When multinationals use tax havens to avoid paying their fair share, ordinary people in both poor and rich countries are left to pick up the bill.
There is no bill. If I say I am not going to give you this one pound coin, how does it affect you? It doesn't.
"Spending on doctors, nurses and other essential services gets cut for those who need it most.
I know we like to pretend that all public sector spending goes on selfless nurses and doctors who work every hour God sends to keep on top of their duties because they are so few and far between.
The reality is much different. Only when we have sacked every person with Equality, Diversity, Coordinator, Officer, Environment, Warden, in their job title and found there is still not enough money for nurses can we complain.
The NHS itself is one big sink hole that looses billions in taxpayers cash. If we moved to an insurance based private healthcare system there would be plenty of nurses and doctors.
"Tax havens might provide the lure of financial secrecy and low tax rates for big companies, but at a time when all countries are desperate for revenues, the UK Government can't afford to turn a blind eye."
It turns a blind eye to the billions we give to Europe every year, to the three wars we are currently involved in and to the huge welfare state that gives free cash to anyone who has a baby and stays at home. Maybe it should look at these areas before trying to take more cash of those that create it.
If you hand over your money to those who would waste it without a fight, it only serves to encourage them. Long live the tax haven.
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