Part-time Monaco resident Philip Green, the British retailing billionaire has recently been appointed by the British government to help identify ways for the public sector to become more efficient.  But this appointment is causing some stress in the UK coalition government, as Liberal Democrat MPs protest that Mr Green is using Monaco as a way to avoid paying tax to the UK.   Head of the Lib Dems, and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg recently made a speech in which he mentioned, “We are looking at the case for an anti-avoidance rule to ensure that wealthy individuals pay their fair share of tax.”  MPs are now asking for Mr Green’s situation to be reviewed.

Green’s wife, Cristina, lives in  Monaco. She is the nominal owner of Arcadia, Green’s conglomerate of retailing names. She is paid directly in dividends from the company. That includes £1.2bn paid in 2005, of which the UK Treasury saw nothing – an entirely legal tax arrangement. If Green has been a British resident, he would have had to pay £285m on the dividend.