Hypocrisy of Christine Lagarde and her ilk

[just john]

You might have little time for the euro, but who couldn't have a little (little I said) sympathy for what the Greeks now have to go through for past mismanagement; Lagarde said - ''It's payback time: don't expect sympathy ''

Take responsibility and stop trying to avoid taxes, International Monetary Fund chief tells Athens

and yet the IMF boss who caused international outrage when she suggested that Greeks should pay their taxes earns a tax-free salary!

As an official of an international institution, her salary of $467,940 (£298,675) a year plus $83,760 additional allowance a year is not subject to any taxes, her pay and benefits package is worth more than American president Barack Obama earns from the United States government, and he pays taxes on it.

Christine Lagarde-pays-no-tax

[idun]

Yes, well that is how it is AND she will have diplomatic passport too as did her predecessor.

qu'est-ce que vous voulez.......... as good friends used to regularly say to me when I found the world very unjust!

[andyh4]

[quote user="just john "]

You might have little time for the euro, but who couldn't have a little (little I said) sympathy for what the Greeks now have to go through for past mismanagement; Lagarde said - ''It's payback time: don't expect sympathy ''

Take responsibility and stop trying to avoid taxes, International Monetary Fund chief tells Athens

and yet the IMF boss who caused international outrage when she suggested that Greeks should pay their taxes earns a tax-free salary!

As an official of an international institution, her salary of $467,940 (£298,675) a year plus $83,760 additional allowance a year is not subject to any taxes, her pay and benefits package is worth more than American president Barack Obama earns from the United States government, and he pays taxes on it.

Christine Lagarde-pays-no-tax

[/quote]

Well JJ why shouldn't she earn more than BO.  She has the abilty to bankrupt every country in the world.  Bo can only bankrupt one.

Smacks a little of envy if you do not mind me saying so.

And yes a lot of rich Greeks do avoid paying (full) taxes.  Would it make a major difference to the deficit?  Personally I doubt that it would suddenly make the country solvent but it might make ordinary Greeks believe that they really are all in it together.

[idun]

I never thought that JJ sounded envious at all.

I'm not an envious person and I'm sure that a lot of other people aren't either.

 

So if I complain about anything it isn't because 'I' haven't got what they've got, it is simply because I think things are simply not right and unjust. And yes, if I was greek or english as I am, I would rather like to hear that the richest in society are paying their fair share too.

 

[NormanH]

What has this to do with the section 'French Finance'?

[just john]

Is she not living in Paris, and her income subject to the French tax regime?

[NormanH]

You may be right. I assumed she worked in Washington.

[andyh4]

[quote user="idun"]

I never thought that JJ sounded envious at all.

[/quote]

 

Sorry, I never meant to impune JJ, it was the article that I felt was feeding on envy.

 

Regarding her taxes, I assume they are treated as earned entirely outside of France and with the relveant DTT no tax is due in France.  The earnings are however to be taken into account if she does have any earnings in France and would push her into the highest tax bracket.  But I would hope a woman of her accumen would have legitimate instruments in place to minimise any liability.

 

Returning to the orginal article, if the inference is that Legrande cannot comment on tax payers contributions because she pays no tax, then by analogy no one can comment on war crimes unless they are a war criminal,  no one can comment on peadophilia unless they are themselves a peadophile and journalists cannot comment on........................................

 

............................ No from what we are finding out they are probably totally equipped to comment on just about everything.[:)]

[Gardian]

Frankly, the fact that she earns £300k+ p.a. and doesn't pay any tax doesn't bother me at all.  She's about as 'worldly' a person as you can get (whether you like her or what she does or not). Allocating her to a country for taxation purposes just seems slightly irrelevent. 

What interests me more is whether she proves to be effective in her role: she has an opportunity to take some leadership in all the misery that's around. Her predecessor wasn't exactly a shining light - & that's nothing to do with his philandering, simply his track record at the healm of the IMF at a time of difficulty.

She is of course paid peanuts compared to most CEO's of International Companies - more than heads of government though, but that's traditional.   

 

[Mr Ceour de Lion II]

She isn't doing anything illegal though. Her pay is tax free, for whatever reason.

How long has she been in this job? Not long I bet, a year or so.

I wonder how much she has paid in her past though, in other jobs she has had. I bet it's far more than any of us.

And she is spot on about the Greeks. Their selfishness and greed in not paying their own way is causing people who have nothing to do with them to lose even more. We were idiots bailing them out in the first place, and now it's likely they are going to welch on the deal, thus causing even more people grief and hardship. It's cost me a packet as it is.

[Clair]

[quote user="Mr Ceour de Lion II"]She isn't doing anything illegal though. Her pay is tax free, for whatever reason.

How long has she been in this job? Not long I bet, a year or so.

I wonder how much she has paid in her past though, in other jobs she has had. I bet it's far more than any of us.

And she is spot on about the Greeks. Their selfishness and greed in not paying their own way is causing people who have nothing to do with them to lose even more. We were idiots bailing them out in the first place, and now it's likely they are going to welch on the deal, thus causing even more people grief and hardship. It's cost me a packet as it is.

[/quote]

My thoughts exactly.

Unlike some Greek individuals and businesses, this is not a case of not declaring income or choosing not to pay taxes.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/nikhil-kumar-lagarde-isnt-a-tax-dodger-or-a-hypocrite-7804831.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/24/greece-tax-dodging-crackdown

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8770940/Greek-tax-evasion-There-is-just-such-little-incentive-to-be-honest..html

[powerdesal]

So her salary is tax-free, so what ? That's the terms and conditions of her employment. My last salary was also tax-free, not as big as hers but considerably more than the UK PM's salary - but that was the T & C's offered so did I feel guilty..............of course not. It certainly didn't stop me doing the job that I was employed to do.

[just john]

The thrust of my comment was not just CL (I believe when the IMF was set up in 1944 the tax free remuneration was objected to by the UK and dismissed by the US), but the Hypocrisy of the ilk of many Political and Civil servant positions where either their t&c or the method they choose to be paid escapes tax, (why not just pay them more and let them pay tax to maintain the principle of taxation?).
This is rife even in UK (witness Ken Livingstone); by allowing these loopholes, a bad precedent and example is set separating them from the common man who is expected to pay and encourages others to look to avoidance, why wouldn't they feel loopholes are justifiable?

 

[Mr Ceour de Lion II]

That's a good thought, to pay them a bit more, to maintain that payment of tax. Which country would get the tax though?

But I don't believe she is being a hypocrite, that's just how the job package is. I agree with the other poster that how she performs this critical job is far more of a concern.

[Chancer]

I can only dream that most politicians, French or otherwise would be of the "ilk" of Madame Lagarde.

I hope that one day she gets the presidency.

[NickP]

Andyh4 wrote:       Returning to the orginal article, if the inference is that Legrande cannot comment on tax payers contributions because she pays no tax, then by analogy no one can comment on war crimes unless they are a war criminal,  no one can comment on peadophilia unless they are themselves a peadophile and journalists cannot comment on  

  Norman says that unless you hang around coffee machines and bars you couldn't possibly comment on things that happen in France.

[just john]

I can't see that Madame Lagarde is likely to get the Greeks onside with her performance, and no matter how damaged they are or become, the eec needs them more, once they're gone the gates are open. I'm sure we'd like Obama and Cameron to perform too, but whatever, at least they pay their taxes[:P]

 

[Rabbie]

JJ, what is your problem with Christine Lagarde. She is not evading tax. As her salary is paid from money contributed by a number of countries why should one of them get the benefit of her tax?  There has been no suggestion that she has not paid her local taxes.

Hee salary though much larger, i suspect than everyone's on this forum, is probably a lot less than the after tax inome of many of the incompetent bankers who have got us into the current mess.

[just john]

Not a problem with CL (though I understand she has a house in Paris for which she is also relieved of any need to pay local taxes) but the gaff with Greece was a turning point for the build-up I've noticed with the number of politicians who receive this T&C clause avoiding tax, including many in the UK, LEA and other local authority employees seem to have negotiated this or found other means of 'invoicing' salaries; (Ken Livingstone, a high profile case in point previously mentioned) What with the tax rules applying to anyone domiciled in a country being inclusive of all who choose there? I believe it is sending the wrong message.

[Rabbie]

[quote user="just john "]Not a problem with CL (though I understand she has a house in Paris for which she is also relieved of any need to pay local taxes) but the gaff with Greece was a turning point for the build-up I've noticed with the number of politicians who receive this T&C clause avoiding tax, including many in the UK, LEA and other local authority employees seem to have negotiated this or found other means of 'invoicing' salaries; (Ken Livingstone, a high profile case in point previously mentioned) What with the tax rules applying to anyone domiciled in a country being inclusive of all who choose there? I believe it is sending the wrong message.[/quote]Having read an interview with CL in last weeks Guardian Magazine it seems you may have taken her remarks about Greece out of context. She merely said that her sympathies were with the poor children of NIger sitting 3 to a desk trying to get an education rather than with people in Greece who preferred working 'black' and expected others to bail yhem out.

I must admit I rather lost sympathy with the Greeks when I heard that it was becoming difficuly to use  a credit card there because they didn't want to pay tax on their earnings.

 

[allanb]

I've nothing in particular against Mme Lagarde, but it is remarkable how those who preach the need for austerity tend to be people who are comfortably protected from it.