The Paradise Paper's prove how much the rich are screwing us over

It should come as no surprise that the most venerated in our society are also the most corrupt. When you really think about it, how could a family built on aristocratic heritage and inherited wealth be anything other than bent on accumulating and preserving their own fortune at the expense of the most vulnerable in society?

That’s right folks, thanks to the ‘Paradise Papers’, the nickname given to a massive leak of personal accounting and financial information from offshore legal firm Appleby’s, we now know that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is invested in BrightHouse. You know, BrightHouse, that rent-to-buy retailer that has recently been fined £15million for irresponsible lending. Infamous for its extortionate interest rates and its targeting of benefits claimants and the low-income working classes, BrightHouse is not exactly the virtuous, pious investment most would expect of Liz. She, however, is but one in a larger cesspool of individuals determined to squirm free of their moral and economic responsibilities while the rest of us suffer under austerity.

For most people, tax is simply an obligation. You don’t have a choice, you either pay it or face the consequences. Many of us couldn’t avoid it even if we wanted to, it comes out as a chunk of your pay cheque at the end of every month, and then at the end of the year HMRC send you a letter with a nice little graph showing exactly how your contribution has been spent. While seeing a few hundred quid disappear every month is painful, the tax man’s annual greetings card gives you the sense that you’re a solid, upstanding citizen, contributing to the greater good. Funding the NHS, alongside many other vital public services, is an admirable pursuit, and it’s something that many are happy to be a little worse off for. One can see it as a moral duty to society. So, why is it that the rich, famous, and powerful can slither away from their responsibility? I’ll tell you why: Because tax is a poor man’s game, and the rich don’t want to play.

Alarming as it is, we have now been subjected to austerity for the best part of seven years. Austerity was the response of the Conservative Party to what they called ‘irresponsible public spending’, which they claim contributed to the Great Recession in the latter years of the Noughties. Ignorant to the fact that the financial crisis was actually caused by fat-cat capitalist bankers, the brunt of the austerity program has been bore by the average and poorest in our society. So, while NHS waiting times increase, tens of thousands of deaths have been caused, thousands of disabled and poor working-class people pay tax on their extra bedroom, public sector pay has been frozen, and food bank usage has risen 19% year-on-year, those very same fat-cat bankers, their political co-conspirators, and their equally as rich celebrity chums are dipping out on their opportunity to help remedy the situation. And the government doesn’t even bat an eye. Lewis Hamilton, the multi-millionaire F1 driver, for example, has benefited from a VAT avoidance scheme on his private jet. And he’s not the only one. Since 2011, the scheme, based in the Isle of Man, which essentially involves wealthy individuals leasing their own private jet back to themselves through a network of companies, has resulted in the Isle of Man shelling out £790million in VAT refunds – all so rich folk and their pals don’t have to pay it here in the UK.

Theresa May, everyone’s favourite castrated charisma vacuum of a Prime Minister, has even refused to release the names of those wealthy individuals who benefit from such offshore schemes as those that have been exposed by the Paradise Papers - and why would she? The Tory Party are for, and funded by, the rich and powerful. Amongst those implicated in the Paradise Papers are: Michael Ashcroft, the scumbag Tory peer and millionaire tax exile, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Tory MP and millionaire, George Magan, Tory peer and millionaire, and James Sasson, Tory peer and - you’ve guessed it - millionaire! I can’t imagine the leader of that very party will be volunteering more names anytime soon, can you? And while this is a given, it’s still an almighty disappointment. We often assume that those in power or positions of influence operate in the general interest, yet time and time again they fail us. Mrs May’s reluctance to act on this information is yet another blatant reminder of her, and her party’s, total complicity in the shafting of Joe Public for the benefit of the gentry classes.

Worse than our politicians, though, are our precious ‘celebrities’. These are people who, for the most part, aren’t necessarily born into wealth. They’ve been ‘normal’, they’ve experienced the hardships, the trials, and the tribulations of everyday life – yet, somehow, they’ve forgotten. They’ve become so preoccupied with fame and wealth accumulation that, whether consciously or not, they’ve forgotten about everybody else. Moreover, we have the likes of saintly Bono, philanthropist and all around nice guy (or so he’d like you to think), avoiding tens of thousands in tax while promoting the cause of economic transparency and equality – hypocrisy at its finest. And it’s this hypocrisy which fuels my cynicism. How are we to believe any of these upper-class money grabbers when they tell us they have our best interests at heart, when they can’t even meet their most basic civic responsibilities?

While these acts of tax avoidance aren’t illegal, that’s the very problem. Theresa May speaks a big game about cracking down on tax avoidance, but her government has failed to implement any anti-avoidance legislation, and actively voted against it when it counts. The reality is, while this kind of large scale, shameless tax avoidance remains legal, it will continue. Companies such as Apple, Amazon, Nike, and Google will continue to deprive this country of the millions of pounds they owe it. Nobles such as Lord Ashcroft will continue to be revered while pursuing nothing beside self-interest. Politicians and celebrities will continue to lie through their teeth while insisting they’re one of the people. It’s harrowing, really. And it’s time for things to change.

Perhaps this, the so-called ‘Paradise Papers’, will be the catalyst.