Terry Ball is 79 years old, runs a snail farm in Lancashire, England, and has spent years helping landlords cheat local councils out of millions in business rates. His method: breed snails in empty office buildings and claim the property qualifies as a farm, which is exempt from taxes.

According to The Guardian, Ball discovered a loophole in HMRC guidance while reading tax documents at 2am. A 1980s parliamentary ruling clarified that "molluscs of any description" qualify as fish farms for agricultural purposes. Snails are molluscs. Snails are easy to breed. Ball ran with it.

He sets up, er, shell companies for £35 each, signs leases on empty office blocks, and drops off boxes of hibernating snails that breed and eat through their body fat without human supervision. When councils liquidat

See Full Page