[toyg]

Offshore entities can own properties in most open economies. They don't typically get taxed where they own the property or good, but where a profit is realized or an action takes place.

For example, in TFA it's mentioned that the Blairs bought an offshore company that owned a building in London; they really bought the building, but doing it this way allowed them to avoid property taxes in the UK that relate to ownership transfers ("stamp duty"). They could then hire out offices, and if they do that through the offshore company that "taxable income" would similarly disappear. Her Majesty's Revenues & Customs might eventually object to the arrangement, but if the offshore owners are not known, what are they going to do, bulldoze a historical central London property? Obviously not.

[slavik81]

> what are they going to do, bulldoze a historical central London property?

Seize the property and auction it off to the highest bidder. The process would be quite similar to a foreclosure. The problem the UK has is more that the stamp duty has countless loopholes. If he doesn't actually owe tax, then legally that's the end of the discussion.

I have little faith that all the loopholes in a stamp tax can be closed. It would be much easier to enforce a property tax system. Events are abstract and ephemeral, but real property is tangible and immovable.

Survey the area to assess a property tax each year. Mail the assessment to the property's address, and include a unique account number for payment. You can audit that all land in the tax jurisdiction has been assessed, and that all assessments have been paid. The only thing you really need to be careful about is what criteria you use for the assessment. Market value is relatively safe for that.

[toyg]

That's effectively what Council Tax was originally meant to be, but after a while nobody could be bothered with the survey activity. They even closed the door to piecemeal re-classification, after enough people started challenging the band their property sat in, by passing legislation that basically states the band is fixed as it is until Parliament says otherwise (i.e. likely forever).

[Mvandenbergh]

Council tax was never meant to be anything like property tax and was structured specifically to act in a different way.

For example: councils don't actually set their council tax rates by band. They set one rate which is the Band D rate. The rates of the other bands are then set based on fixed %s from that rate and the highest English rate (H) is only 200% of the Band D rate.

The value of the lowest valued band H (based on the 1991 price levels) property relative to the highest band D is 3.6x. So right away we see that as a % of property value the typical household (D is the most common) in any given place pays more than the highest valued local properties. Of course it is also the case that band H is open-ended.

There is then the fact that these are set and collected exclusively locally. That means that some of the lowest council tax rates in the country are in some of the richest places. Westminster and Wandsworth have Band D council tax in the £800s, Blaenau Gwent is over £2000!

[toyg]

> Council tax was never meant to be anything like property tax

Well, it was meant to look like a property tax, while at the same time ensuring it would disproportionately affect the lower classes, for sure. It was a Conservative measure, after all (which Tony Blair was obviously "intensely relaxed about", since it directed money to local authorities Labour controlled, hence it was never repealed). As wikipedia reports: "the Valuation Tribunal Service [...] states that: "The tax is a mix of a property tax and a personal tax".

> They set one rate which is the Band D rate.

Yeah, and they can't even be arsed to figure out if a Band D property in 1991 is still a Band D today - the roof might have fallen off since then, but hey, who's got time to do periodic surveys? Local councils have better things to do, obviously.