When mentioning former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, most people's first reaction was the "World War II" anti-fascist hero, who enjoyed a very high reputation in Britain and even the world. However, it is such a big person who evades taxes, not once or twice, but for 20 years, which is a big surprise.
Tax evasion professional households
As early as the end of 2003, the British National Archives declassified a number of top-secret archives, showing that Churchill spent his life thinking about how to evade taxes, even when Britain was fighting German fascism, he did not forget how to take advantage of legal loopholes to evade personal income tax.
Churchill's history of tax evasion and tax avoidance dates back to 1931. At that time, he was only a backstore member of the British House of Commons, and he was giving a lecture tour in the United States, and he had heard that if he continued to speak, his tax rate would increase by one notch, and as the tax rate increased, his after-tax income would fall. As soon as he listened, he decisively ended his speech tour in the United States.
Churchill's most famous tax evasion event was the "Defense of Contributions" in World War II.
By October 1942, Britain and the Allies were ready to launch a fierce counteroffensive against Nazi Germany.
At this time, the Battle of Stalingrad was in a white-hot stage, and the Soviets and Germans were engaged in fierce street battles. The Germans fought house by house, finding their way through the ruins above and below ground, also known as the "Rat War", and you can imagine how brutal the fighting between the two sides was at that time.
At the same time, in the Alamein region of Egypt, Montgomery commanded the British army against the German and Italian forces under Rommel's command, and the confrontation between the two sides was fierce and the fighting was fierce.
Of course, Churchill was not idle, and he delivered a passionate wartime mobilization speech to the British people. While the Blood of the British people was boiling, Churchill was also "arguing with reason", of course, not with the enemy on the battlefield, but with the tax commissioner about his taxation.
In addition to being a successful politician, Churchill was also a brilliant writer and a Nobel culturalist.
He had earlier written long serials for two newspapers and received a hefty fee. The UK's tax commissioner at the time argued that the part of the prime minister's personal income that exceeded £6,000 (equivalent to £175,000 in 2003) should be taxed.
Churchill used his eloquence to tell the tax inspector that the fees were randomly paid by newspapers, not regular income, and that they should not be taxed. Seeing that this did not make sense, he appealed to the tax commissioner of the Department of Taxation, saying that the money was a "capital payment" and not a "personal income" and that the tax rate should be reduced. In his eloquence, the tax commissioner insisted on approving the request to cut his tax rate.
Churchill's tax avoidance and tax evasion were not once or twice, but "habitual offenders". Documents from the Department of Taxation show that in order to avoid taxes, evade taxes, and avoid being detected, he used "AB" to represent himself in correspondence with financial advisers.
Churchill once quipped to himself, "Poor AB! If he had decided that he would have to take a risk anyway, he might have been involved in a big case against the king (referring to illegal tax evasion). ”
The British Revenue Department once received a whistleblower letter, saying that he heard that the big-name London publisher company was preparing to pay a £250,000 manuscript for Churchill's World War II memoirs, and in order to evade taxes, the huge amount was first paid to a state agency and then transferred to Churchill.
In order to evade taxes, Churchill set up a special family trust so that a lot of income could be donated as assets and avoid personal income tax.
According to the declassification of the archives, for 20 years from 1931 to 1951, Churchill had been working hard and racking his brains to evade taxes, and almost exhausted all legal means of tax avoidance.
Churchill has a civil servant salary and a high fee, or an aristocratic background, it is reasonable to say that he is not bad money, there is no need to take advantage of the legal loophole to evade taxes, after all, he is such a big person, these tax evasion scandals are not good to be exposed. Surprisingly, however, he remained tight on his hands until the publication of the History of the English Nation in the 1950s.
Why did Churchill spend so much money?
British historian Andrew. Robert unravels the mystery by saying, "Because of his birth in an aristocratic family, Churchill often struggled to make ends meet in order to maintain a life like an aristocrat in the 18th century. ”
The fallen nobles who were angry and strong
Churchill was born on 30 November 1874 to an aristocratic family at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire.
Churchill's father, Lord Randolph, was the third son of the seventh Duke of Marlborough, but the nobleman was already in decline, and his father was not the eldest son and had no inheritance rights to property and titles.
Churchill's mother, Jenny, was the daughter of an upstart in the United States, and in order to make her into high society, her father always wanted her to marry a nobleman, thereby promoting her social status.
The union of Churchill's parents has an element of love, but it is more about taking what they need. The father is "money" and the mother is "right". His father became a political celebrity, his mother was a famous socialite, neither husband nor wife was a family carer, and Churchill was raised by a nanny.
In 1895, Churchill's undesirable father died of illness, and his mother was still addicted to social circles. Their family looks beautiful on the surface, but in fact lives a tight life, to put it more ugly, at this time aristocratic status and wealth can not be equated. So, it's very important to make money.
It was also in this year that Churchill, 21, who had served in the Queen's 4th Private Hussar Regiment, was sent to Cuba as a correspondent for the Daily Pictorial to cover Cuba's war of independence from Spanish rule, and he began his writing journey. In the years that followed, he published his first book, The Story of the Maragund Field Troops, and began to write novels again, as well as for the Morning Post. At that time, he received a monthly salary of 250 pounds from the Morning Post, equivalent to more than 10,000 pounds today, and was a well-paid journalist of that era.
Churchill, who was so desperate to earn money when he was young, had a realistic motivation: to make money and to be famous. In a letter to his mother, he wrote that he wanted to become more famous so that he could "return home.".
Churchill began politics at the age of 26 and was appointed Minister of Commerce by Prime Minister Asquis at the age of 34, officially entering the Cabinet. It was also at the age of 34 that he married the noble lady Clementina Hozier, but although his wife was a nobleman, her family was very poor.
There is no doubt that if Churchill wants his career to be smooth, his family will not be able to help much, only on their own.
In the book "The Profession of Mr. Churchill", the author is not shy about saying: "The politician is Churchill's second profession ... When he began his career in politics, politicians needed to have alternative means of earning a living, either in business or in inheritance. Churchill, the youngest son of a fallen aristocratic family, was short of money to spend, so he seized on writing. ”
In the early days, Churchill published a biography of his father, in which he commented on his father as a politician who did not do his job and had a bad reputation... Never fully realized the self-potential. In the 1930s, he wrote a biography of his ancestors, Marburg: His Life and Time, in four volumes detailing how his ancestor, John Churchill, the first Duke of Marburg, fought valiantly on the battlefields of 18th-century Europe. After the biographies of his fathers and ancestors were written, he wrote his autobiography, My Early Life.
Between 1929 and 1937, Churchill's average annual income was £12,883, 10 to 12 times higher than that of a high-income professional. As you can imagine, he earned an unknown amount of money by writing. The Sunday Times asserted: "Few people in the 20th century paid more than Churchill." ”
So rich and living a tight life, how luxurious was Churchill's aristocratic life?
Luxurious aristocrats
In the 1930s, Churchill was not ambitious in the political arena, and his psychology was very different, so he indulged in a hedonistic life of sound and color and luxury erosion.
For sunbathing, he can be seen on the beaches of the Bahamas and on luxury yachts in the Mediterranean. A good friend of his said, "He just wants the top stuff." "His family has countless fine French wines and champagnes, Cuban cigars, Swiss watches... He is a man with a head and a face, and he is also very particular about dressing, all of which are haute couture suits.
He had a lot of political vision and literary talent, but he was a little less successful in business investment, and the property he invested was not very successful.
Churchill's contributions were large, but it was difficult to maintain such a luxurious life. But he also has the status of a Member of parliament in the United Kingdom, and he has power in his hands, which means that there are many people who are begging him, and some merchants will give her credit or provide loans.
In order to maintain this luxurious life, to put it mildly, it is a little more advanced "exquisite poverty", churchill had to work hard to be a prolific "keyboard man". In 1930 alone, he published more than 40 articles and signed contracts for three books. In 1931, he had a car accident, and at this moment, he did not forget to write to make money, and contacted the publisher that he could write an article about the impermanence of life.
Some things can't be stopped, such as his desire to maintain a luxurious aristocratic life, such as his desire to shine in politics, both of which are money-burning. So Churchill had to keep writing, writing, writing.
However, no matter how much I write, the fee is still not enough to spend. By the end of the 1930s, Churchill was in huge debt, about $3.75 million in terms of its current purchasing power.
From 1938 onwards, Churchill was largely bankrupt. It was after this that a major turning point in life occurred.
In 1939, Britain finally declared war against Germany, and Churchill was appointed Secretary of the Navy by Chamberlain. In May of the following year, Chamberlain resigned, and Churchill became British Prime Minister, finally reaching the pinnacle of power.
This does not mean that Churchill's huge debts do not have to be repaid.
That is, when Churchill was prime minister, the French army was defeated by the German army, which made the British on the other side of the strait very panicked, not only busy with government affairs, but also anxious about one thing - the door to collect debts.
Tailors, watchmakers, wine shops, printing companies, all came to the new prime minister to ask for debts. Churchill took out all the cash, but it was still not enough to repay, so he signed a lot of loans, first slowed down, and then found a way to repay the money.
Writing this, it is clear why Churchill, when the Allies and fascists were at odds, "very facelessly" eloquently argued with the tax commissioner about whether the £6,000 should be taxed or not. For the whole of Britain, it was just a matter of taxes, but for Churchill, it was a "life-saving money", even if the amount was not very large, it had to be cut out.
Presumably, Churchill would say self-deprecatingly: I am not so idle, if I am not forced to be helpless, I will not hollow out my mind to evade taxes.
But, Prime Minister, isn't it you who is forcing you? You can choose to live a solid life above the middle class, but you are bent on maintaining a luxurious aristocratic life.
Churchill: Life is short, I still can't have my pursuits?
Right, right, you're extraordinary, and of course you can live the life you want to live. However, don't do such a reviled thing as tax evasion, which will damage your wisdom.
Churchill: No problem, I have left a lot of wealth for future generations.
After World War II, Churchill wrote the huge "Memoirs of the Second World War", which alone sold more than $20 million in the world, and he also wrote "History of the English Nation", and "The Unwanted War" written in 1953 and won the Nobel Prize in Literature, which are the precious treasures of the human world.
Churchill was a great man of the world. But in the end, he is still human, and there will be defects in people. However, we also have to pursue flaws!