Why Were So MANY Musicians Forced Into Tax Exile?
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- Picture this. You’re on tour promoting your latest album which is selling millions. After a grueling schedule, months away from home and family, you finally come home completely exhausted to learn that you owe millions in taxes which is more than you have after everything is paid. The heavy-handed tax policies leaving you with nothing to show for your hard work.
George Harrison wasn’t kidding when he sang ‘one for you, nineteen for me’.
Would you pay a 90% tax rate or would you take your hard earned money and find somewhere else to live with a more favorable tax code? That is the dilemma that many high profile musicians found themselves in, amid the 60s and 70s while rock music was exploding. During that time, the tax rate in the U.K. was a whopping 90 to 98% for high earners with super tax and surcharges. Pure insanity. Luckily someone eventually stepped in and made a change that helped alleviate the insanity..for a while.
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I fully believe in paying fair tax for the good of the country and services. 98% tax is obscene. It was wrong and simply an ideological 'punishment' on musicians. That is not socialism, that is unwarranted.
That's where Socialism goes. eventually ends in mass murder!
The same reason the Americans revolted.
It wasn’t taxes. It was the British murdering Americans, seizing assets, stealing property and their total disregard for basic human rights that caused the Americans to revolt. Do they teach anything correct in schools anymore?
They bat (or worst) example of the failures of socialism is the breakup of the Beatles. At that time in Britain anything over a certain income was taxed at 95%. There was no incentive for the Beatles to create a product that people wanted to buy if they themselves couldn’t make money. Their solution was to form their own multi media company to tax at a lower corporate rate. From day one it was intended to waste money so the taxman wouldn’t get it And they wasted their talent right along with it. Apple records quickly became a money pit and all around circus. It lead to tensions in the group and that was the end of the Beatles. If you go to the great welfare states of Scandinavia you don’t see all the homelessness and poverty that you see in America. The problem is there is no incentive for excellence when it brings everyone down to the same level. Why would someone like myself work their way through nursing school and take on that kind of responsibility if I can’t live a bit better than the guy who doesn’t? Why would anyone be a physician or open their own business? Socialism has been discredited. It is wasteful and inefficient and leads government into areas it was never meant to go. Unregulated capitalism has been discredited too. Left to it’s own devices it does what it is intended for do which is gobble up everything around it These economic models have been around a lot longer than the latest politicians swooping down to buy your vote
These 60's and 70's rock stars were very wealthy young men even after tax. They were earning money faster than they could spend it despite often getting into bad contracts. It begs the question, how much is enough for any person? Clearly for some enough is never enough.
I idolised these people, but having grown up, knowing what I know now it takes the shine off them a lot for me. They preached one thing, but scratch at the surface and they were just individualistic business men without any regard for a collective good.
I, me, mine.
No. Abolish tax on the individual. Tax the corporation.
Yes; What George Said. ☮🕉🌎
I had to laugh at the irony of this. All of the socialism that's espoused in the music (then and now) has to be funded some how -doesn't it? Feed the hungry, that are living in the streets. Shoe the children, with no shoes on their feet. It all sounds so noble. It's all fun till someone gets their financial eyeballs poked out. Imagine all the hypocrites -John. God only asks for ten percent. The amazing thing is this. If we hadn't heeded to the message of Rock and Roll, if we hadn't abandoned the divine principles that God espouses, our governments wouldn't need to tax us to the hilt to pay for all the disfunction that exists in the world as a result. Just how is Sweden making all of its revenue -I wonder? What's their secret?
Good points
It’s just too expensive for humans to help other humans who may be in need. So,we shouldn’t even try. Great advice,there,my guy. 🙄
I worked as a Rock Promoter - Steve Miller Band was at
40K a Night in the 80's But now I can see some of the reason
98%tax is crazy let everyone pay 20% no exeptions problem solved.
Yep Keep it simple.
@@freewheelingideas YEP FRANKLING
The first time I visited the UK in 1980, it felt like a country on the verge of 3rd world status. Germany, the country that lost WW II was in far better shape. Love her or hate her, after Margaret Thatcher, everything changed. Giving people incentives to be financially successful seems to have a better effect on a country overall than punishing success.
Take into consideration that Germany paid hardly any reparations after WW II putting that much more of a burden on recovery.
If the government can print money nobody should pay tax not even the squeezed middling sorts like me. It should proportional for all.
I feel so sorry for them only being able to afford one Rolls Royce and mansion. I'm off now to wait for eight hours in A& E.
If you had talent you would worry about it. Being talentless you dont ever have that problem. Lucky you.
Jealousy isn't any good my brother. Let me take what you worked for and see how much you like it? You wouldn't and you know that.
@@JohnGaltGurgi A fallacy monger, I see.
Man, it’s tough being a rockstar, a multimillionaire/Billionaire and then you come home to find out you have live like everybody else man that’s rough man.
Working class Brit’s weren’t paying the high tax rate.
Don't forget being robbed by your Record Label and Manager.
Earning a high income to only have most of it taken by the Taxman is Wrong.
Now Everyone pays 20% VAT instead
👍🤪
The UK tax burden in 2024 is now higher than it was in 1968 (ONS figures), despite the fact that our army navy and air force is smaller. The difference now is that the poor now pay more, and the rich pay less.
Strangly enough none of the members of the Beatles liked the tory party. Paul couldnt stand Maggie Thatcher. So even though she cut their taxes, she did so much other things that were really bad for Britain. She created mass unemployment, poverty, and made huge cuts in pensions, healthcare and other important benefits. I agree that she had to cut taxes. 98% tax rates are insane. But i don`t think she needed to cut benefits for the poor. That was cruel, and it created huge social problems.
Interesting
She fucking destroyed this country and we still live with her legacy to this day…
No more dentistry on the NHS
The majority of public services all privatised…try getting a train in this day and age…
Allowing people to buy their council houses…but then not building any more public housing after this…
Strangely….there are still people in this country who would tell you Thatcher was great…but they are all selfish pricks with a “I’m alright Jack” mindset.
Don’t listen to him. He’s been educated by woke left socialists
Maggie thatcher sold failing nationalized industries to the private sector. She said they can become efficient and competitive or die. She did this without offering retraining to the suddenly displaced workers. They could have been retrained for the modern economy in jobs that society actually needs. There’s a way to stimulate the private sector without being cruel
You guys have to pay for your Royals. Lol
Just half ass joking ...I was just watching something about the Royal family before I watched this . As an American I find that whole monarchy thing a bit outdated but if that's what they want over there ...have at it I guess .
The British Royal family bring far more IN to British coffers through tourism, &etc, than they cost to the British tax payer.
@@v1e1r1g1e1 - Your claim is literally unverifiable and if it were, it'd probably be outed as false. I've been to England many times. Never gave a shit about the royals, though I did enjoy touring old castles. I don't know anyone that is into the royals either. They're just high level welfare recipients to me.
@@MrCtsSteve You might get some defensive reactions from taking jabs at the royals but,if you REALLY want to get your ass lit,mention something about American-style football being the only REAL football being played in stadiums.
Its the opposite in America. The low income and middle classes pay the largest share of taxes. However the wealthy 1% and large corporations get tax cuts. One big reason why Americans dont have a universal health care system. Plus big buck$ donations from.the wealthy and corporations to politicians keep the status quo. Another reason why I left the usa. I can't afford to live there either.
Where did you end up?
2:36 Inspired an incredible Stones album in the south of France, Exile On Main Street. Thanks Inland Tax Revenue ❤🎉
lol that is a great album
especially if you consider that LP after Exile on main street were really not terrific!!!
@@malikba8048I loved Goats Head Soup. Their last one with Jimmy Miller at the helm.
@@johngore7744 Yes but compared with Sticky fingers or Exile it showed the beginning of the end. I mean they started the 70ies with two Extraordinary LPs, and then....But I agree with you about Jimmy Miller, great producer (like Glyn Johns) since Spencer Davis Group or Traffic. Take care !
I believe the British government seen how the country was creating musicians who could make millions and got the idea of yeah , we could raise taxes and milk them for all they have and later drop the tax when there was nothing to gain from it. I think the British government didn't expect the musicians to fight back in any way they could . Including leaving to lower tax countries. I would have done the same thing .
What some on this comment thread forget is one simple truth; it's not anyone else's money; not the government, not a politician, not a social justice warrior - it belongs to the person who earned it, whether YOU deem it too much or not; it's theirs. If you want to be rich, learn how to be rich and then DO it - don't envy others, don't cry fairness; go out and earn it and then you can make all the decisions these people make to keep what belongs to them.
I live in the U.S. and all it really takes to gain financial success,here,is to buy (I mean,donate to their campaigns) a few powerful politicians,get yourself a couple sly lawyers and hire some crafty CPA’s to find those tax code loopholes.
It’s so simple. All it takes is investment money,lol. Poor people cry too much,don’t they?
I still blame UK taxes, ultimately, for the death of Bonzo and the breakup of Led Zeppelin:
Because they toured so much?
These days the mega rich pay no taxes at all! How the worm has turned 😅
Yeah that's a lie. Elon paid billions in taxes, still not enough for the Lefties to stop saying that he doesn't pay enough.
You might want to learn the facts before outing yourself as uneducated.
HMRC in the 1970s were tasked with going after the rich - whereas today their main focus appears to be white van men.
Nonetheless, despite being on the economic left, I do think some of the postwar taxes on the very rich were far too high.
“‘Cause I’m the Taxman, yeah, I’m the Taxman, & you’re working for no one but me”
Craziness what these guys paid
Yeah, and so many of these tax-dodgers spent a ton of the money they saved on cocaine. so is it better to be working for the murderous cartels of Colombia than the UK govt?
Cheap Trick does a song called "Taxman"...it's not the same song as the Beatles...but it's similar. It's a great song...on their first album I believe....
Read George Tremlett's book, "Rock Gold". It's old but valuable
Ill have to check that out
Nobody dreams of giving govt anything, but everybody expects govt to do everything.
Success must be punished.
Amazing level of economic ignorance in the comments.
Here’s a little pertinent information: The great majority of tax rates are applied to net profit not gross receipts.
Why businesses leave countries taking jobs with them.
And states
What of artists who did not leave? They include Paul McCartney, Elton, etc, not to mention high earners of the period like Sean Connery (until 1980), and the racing drivers Sterling Moss (active ~1952-62) and Jackie Stewart. I don't know UK personal income rules, but in the US it's common for a high earner to create companies that take in gross income and pay the artist, athlete, etc a salary. Much of what regular people have to pay for with taxed moey can be moved under the company as a deductible expense - transportation, some housing, entertainment, etc.
I think this was before they knew that.
But that is pretty shallow for one cause. As I've said, counterexamples are obvious in period. And for artists not wanting to trust the whole category of business managers - accountants after getting screwed.
Corporate fraud...
The Laffer Curve …
It was not just musicians who paid this stupid level of tax. Would anyone seeing this be happy with paying 90% income tax. Many moved to Switzerland where they can negotiate their level of tax.
The inheritance tax system is still outragous, if the estate is over £350,000 you lose 40% to the taxman, this money has already been taxed once!
Taxes are STILL high in England..... It's an island...with very little industry....no wonder why us Americans had to bail their asses out during WWII. Nothing personal...just saying.
06:55 About Ringo: Monte-Carlo is a district of Monaco (the country). So basically this is the same Tax haven, not a another tax haven!
Ah didn’t realize that. Thanks!
I always assumed that once a band was successful they incorporated & were somewhat protected by corporate tax laws/deductions. It seems unfair to go after individuals who worked for years making next to nothing (as most artists do) & then take 90% of their earnings once they hit it big. I don't blame them for leaving. Sad that they had to.
George Harrison bought the stately Friar Park for just 140,000 pounds just before the Beatles broke up.
I mean given a chance along with a reason to escape..
Why would anyone Stay in Great Briton as a whole; and especially England??
If I were a member of any of those bands?
I wouldn't have returned after the first tour. (This notion still applies to these days)
Ringo was always considered the lesser Beatle.. As it turns out he is smarter than the other 3 fools. and the first to figure out that "Lizzy and Phil" were bending them over with tax.
The only mistake they made was allowing them to leave the country. The rich should be forced to work for nothing, 100% tax for the rest of their lives.
So sad they worked there ass off.
Definitely
What nobody's saying: 10% of a million pounds is 100000 pounds. That's a lot in the 1960s. The real issue is that tax money gets misused, the bands had extravagant rockstar lifestyles, it was their managers who made BANK because the bands didn't understand contract law or corporate tax structure, their managers took as much as 25%, and their labels paid out only pennies per record. That's what's really going on there; Greedy businessmen and ignorant artists.
Agreed!
Then how did, say, George Harrison become a millionaire and buy Friar Park, his extravagent home
If the SNP are in power much longer it will end up similar in Scotland.
Heath HATED rock and roll. How dare the proletariat become rich?
And what really happens is that when the tax rate is lowered, the economy booms so much that the total revenues to the government actually go up. But it’s really not about “fairness” is it?
slades noddy holder says they paid 90% tax in england in the early 70,s heydays
I remember at same time Lord Vesty who was financially savvy & used expensive lawyers paid £1 per year, absolutely disgusting. She was also putting pressure on Queen Elizabeth to Knight Saville.
Interesting maneuver
I don't hear about industrialists and old money leaving. It was aimed straight at poor people who had "made good" with a "windfall."
Typical British attitude.
Good point on the old money
very depressing
Years ago I had heard about the tax exile problem in the UK. This documentary explains it very well.
Thank you 🙏 it was interesting researching and finding out how many were affected.
Thanks for sharing.🎸
Thanks for listening
Good documentary. Great insight all these British stars were on the run through the highs of their era.
Thank you 🙏 yeah, it’s hard to believe what they had to deal with all this music was coming out.
Taxes? But I spent all my money on cocaine and Rolls Royces! So very expensive. You poors wouldn't understand. Time to move to monaco.
Nobody is forced into Tex exile. People decide to avoid Tax by moving into low tax jurisdictions
Curious to know what the tax brackets/rates in the UK were in the 60s and early 70s.
These ridiculous taxes should be given back.
What were Beatles total lifetime earnings, pre tax, I wonder… 💰
Hard to say but they’re still earning a lot to this day. Makes up for some of the early losses.
68 dollars.
They have a combined net worth of maybe 2 billion, Paul owning half of that. The Beatles sold over 600 million albums, 1.6 billion singles.
Might be better to ask how much did the executives at Parlophone make? We all know Apple Corps was a shambles, with Klein walking away with millions of what should have been Beatles' royalties.
93 or a 98% tax rate! That's absolute insanity. Get me on the next plane to Monaco! Morning coffee and croissant by the Mediterranean Sea thank you very much! Take my Ferrari to Nice for lunch in the old city. Now that's the life! Put out my next album on my newly created record label called Tax Free Baby!
Yea I wouldn’t stick around for that.
What a fantastic video have a wonderful day ❤❤❤❤❤❤😊😊😊😊😊😊
Thank you! You too!
the tax man 😢 not good when you're a rock star 🌟 even managers that do the dirty tricks 😂and take off 📴 with the money 💵
Yea seems like lots of people had their hand in the till
Of course it was Maggie Thather that was smart enough to fix that mess.
Yea definitely put a stop to a lot of it
But she created heaps of other problems. She favored consumption tax over income tax and while she lowered the income tax rates for high earners and a small marginal tax rate from 33% to 30%, she almost doubled the VAT from 8 per cent to 15 percent. Also, the childhood poverty rate in England doubled under her and in 1997, England had the highest childhood poverty rate in all of Europe. So the wealthy got their tax cuts, but the working class and middle income earners got the shaft.
Maggie famously said "Socialism works until you run out of other people's money."
In the case of the tax exiles she could have added "...or you have run off the people making the money."
@@BifMcAwesome I live in Norway which is a socialist country, and our top tax rate on income is 50%. It has NEVER been any higher than that. If you use the loopholes the tax rates goes down to 38%. We have no inheritance tax either. Regardless of that everything here is free. Education, and healthcare is absolutely free. If you can`t work the goverment pays you money for housing and living expences, and when you turn 67 the government provides you with a pension.
@@yellyman5483 Up to now Norway, with it's productive monoculture that values industry, order, honesty and fairness on an individual level, has so far allowed this rate of taxation with the expectation of a useful return. You did not mention the funds the Norway gov't takes in from North Sea oil, which provides a substantial benefit to the country.
In the future when the oil runs out and the productive are expected to continue the finance of everyone's life the corrupt will leverage the envious and the naive to gain positions of power. May the virtue of the Norwegian people put that day far into the future.
Throughout all of history the tax rate was around 10%….
OMG, ninety percent tax! That's simply obscene! I'm stunned.
Hard to imagine anyone would stay for that