Fair Tax Town
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The Fair Tax Town movement (FTT; also called the Powys tax rebellion) is a movement established by several shop owners in
Crickhowell Crickhowell (; , non-standard spelling ') is a town and community (Wales), community in southeastern Powys, Wales, near Abergavenny, and is in the historic counties of Wales, historic county of Brecknockshire. Location The town lies on th ...
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Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...
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Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
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Documentary

During the establishment of the movement, a documentary was made by the BBC along with it. This documentary, narrated by Heydon Prowse is called ''"The Town that went Offshore"'' or ''"The Town That Took on the Taxman"'' and was first shown in January 2016. The movie follows the business owners as they decide to establish an untaxed Manx company which designs and owns a brand (''Crickhowell Fair Tax''), use the brand in their advertising and pay royalties for using this brand, as big companies do with their own brands. Their Manx company sets up a Dutch subsidiary which receives the royalties and sends them to the Isle of Man, since Britain would tax royalties sent directly to a tax haven, but charges no tax on royalty payments to the Netherlands, and the Netherlands charges no tax on royalties sent to tax havens. Thus their money accumulates tax-free in the Isle of Man, and the movie suggests ways to use it for expenses in Wales, such as borrowing it. The movie also discusses customer relationship managers which tax authorities assign to big businesses to ensure their tax arrangements are valid.


Spreading the movement

The movement's aim is to persuade governments to change their tax regulation so that small businesses get the same level of tax as multinationals and other large businesses. To help achieve this, FTT has started to share their expertise on how to make businesses engage in
tax avoidance Tax avoidance is the legal usage of the tax regime in a single territory to one's own advantage to reduce the amount of tax that is payable. A tax shelter is one type of tax avoidance, and tax havens are jurisdictions that facilitate reduced taxe ...
. Since then, many other towns have adopted the scheme.


Legacy

After spending two years developing and publicizing the project, the Crickhowell businesses decided not to proceed. Prowse, the documentarian, said he hoped another group of people would take the idea another step, "If you want to put your money through a scheme like that, you’ve got to expect that the taxman’s going to contact you and you’re going to have to defend yourself, possibly in court."


References


External links

* {{usurped,
Fair Tax Town
} website
Heydon Prowse
website Tax avoidance Political organisations based in Wales Economy of the Isle of Man