Maidstone property owners should pay UK taxes

With the ramifications of the Panama Papers starting to be felt around the world, Maidstone Greens have called on Maidstone property owners who are registered overseas to clarify how much tax they pay and to whom.

Data on property owners who are registered in known tax havens were published by Private Eye in 2015. According to Private Eye this includes Pavilion Property Trustees who own Fremlin Walk but are registered in Jersey, Speleto who own the Job Centre who are registered in the Isle of Man, and Gold Diamond D who own Tudor Park but are registered in the Virgin Islands.

Stuart Jeffery, coordinator for Maidstone Green Party “These companies are acting within the law but the law allows them to operate out of places where their tax burden is likely to be significantly less than the UK.

“While the UK government continues to cut support for the poorest and most vulnerable in society it is allowing companies to minimise the amount of tax they pay to the UK treasury.

“According to Private Eye, here in Maidstone the job centre building is owned by a company registered in the Isle of Man. How much better it would be for people if those taxes went into creating jobs for people in Maidstone? Also, Fremlin Walk is apparently owned by a company registered in Jersey, but shoppers there don’t benefit from duty free goods!

“We think this is morally wrong and we want to see all companies that own property or who operate in the UK to be registered here and to pay the full UK tax requirements to the government. We would like to know how much offshore tax these companies pay and to know how much the treasury could expect if they were in the UK. ”

Notes:
http://www.private-eye.co.uk/registry data collected from 2005 to 2014
https://panamapapers.icij.org/