Oh the woes of those poor, hunted billionares...

[HoreTore]

Just read the newspaper, and I've got a delightful update!

The group famous for tax evasion, whining and questionable financial acrobatics in this country, are the shipping tycoons. Now one of them, Kristian Siem, the 16th wealthiest Norwegian(fortune: 6,5 billion), has decided to move all of his operations from Switzerland, among other countries, back to Norway. The reason? The tax and financial policies of the current socialist government!

HAH!

He moved out during the years of the conservative government, now that we've got a socialist government, he decides to move back. Take that!

Again, I say good riddance to Stein Erik Hagen. He moves his pitiful taxes out of the country while leaving all the jobs, and in return, the shipping tycoons moves all their jobs back to Norway.

[rory_20_uk]

Switzerland would not have many jobs in shipping...

[Vladimir]

Just read the newspaper, and I've got a delightful update!

The group famous for tax evasion, whining and questionable financial acrobatics in this country, are the shipping tycoons. Now one of them, Kristian Siem, the 16th wealthiest Norwegian(fortune: 6,5 billion), has decided to move all of his operations from Switzerland, among other countries, back to Norway. The reason? The tax and financial policies of the current socialist government!

HAH!

He moved out during the years of the conservative government, now that we've got a socialist government, he decides to move back. Take that!

Again, I say good riddance to Stein Erik Hagen. He moves his pitiful taxes out of the country while leaving all the jobs, and in return, the shipping tycoons moves all their jobs back to Norway.

Switzerland would not have many jobs in shipping...

Brilliant!

[Centurion1]

You said his income was 30 million a year. Therefore if he pays 10 million it is 33% percent repeating in taxes. His 8 billion fortune is NOT his income.

[HoreTore]

You said his income was 30 million a year. Therefore if he pays 10 million it is 33% percent repeating in taxes. His 8 billion fortune is NOT his income.

Try reading it again

I said that if 10 million was 28% of his income, then he couldn't have made more than 30 million in 2007, and we all know he made a lot more than that. His real income is likely a few hundred million, not 30 million.

[Husar]

You said his income was 30 million a year. Therefore if he pays 10 million it is 33% percent repeating in taxes. His 8 billion fortune is NOT his income.

What kind of clever investments did he make to arrive at 8 billion with 30 million a year? If he just had that income, it would have taken him 266 years to amass 8 billion, and that's without spending a cent or even paying the taxes.
I think HoreTore's point was that he must actually earn more than those 30 million with the 30 million being only the tax-deductible part his accountants left over or something like that.

But if 8 billion is your fortune, why exactly do you care about taxes again? It's not like he will have to switch to bread and water. From what he earns in a month I could live a pretty comfortable life...
Doesn't necessarily mean he would have to pay more taxes but why would he need tax cuts?

[Centurion1]

It was misunderstood, my apologies. I find it hard to believe that in a socialist country he did not pay higher taxes than that. Norway must either have a plateau taxing system (and the max is ten million), which i doubt or there is some shady accounting going on (but that is a little too shady...), or the information on the website is wrong (not that i am doubting your sources just brainstorming.) Because like it or not socialist countries are usually going to have pretty high taxes for the social spending, i mean that is unavoidable.

[HoreTore]

It was misunderstood, my apologies. I find it hard to believe that in a socialist country he did not pay higher taxes than that. Norway must either have a plateau taxing system (and the max is ten million), which i doubt or there is some shady accounting going on (but that is a little too shady...), or the information on the website is wrong (not that i am doubting your sources just brainstorming.) Because like it or not socialist countries are usually going to have pretty high taxes for the social spending, i mean that is unavoidable.

1. The "source" is definitely not wrong. The source is the official tax lists from the Norwegian government(Norway being the only country I know where such info is public), and they are accurate. Very accurate.
2. There is no maximum amount for taxes, this guy, for example, paid 150 million in taxes.
3. Rich people don't pay taxes, that's a well-known fact. The situation is the same in every country. Money is hidden away in shady countries, companies and hidden bank accounts, income is redefined as something else, every deduction is used to the max, etc etc. See his income for 2006, for example, it's "0". You think he was unemployed that year?

The ones paying the taxes keeping the country going are the regular people, meaning people from the working class to those making a couple of millions a year. Those making more than that hire an army of accountants to make their money disappear. But of course there are exceptions to that.

[HoreTore]

Switzerland would not have many jobs in shipping...

Uhm.....

Yes they would? Switzerland has a good financial industry, why isn't that a good location for the headquarters of any large company?

And Mongolia has quite a few ships registered to them, ya know....