I spent much of this morning with a client advising him on the implications of the Budget on an offshore structure set up some time ago. I had already given him a great deal of advice about the implications of the Pre-Budget report and we were ready to make wholesale changes which in the event did not have to be made.
I can't help feeling sorry for clients who have paid for advice that turned out to be useless to them, because it related to a hypothetical situation which never existed. The amelioration of what would have been draconian changes is welcome, but how much better would it have been if the Government had not gone around flying kites in the first place? I would love to know the amounts of time and money wasted because of the Government's dithering and equivocation. It's a stupid way to run a country.
