As the Government puts up our taxes and cuts public services, one group is laughing all the way to their offshore banks. These are large international companies that pay�pathetically little to no tax in the UK because�our corrupt�politicians let them get away with blatant tax avoidance schemes.
The consultancy Accenture earns about �2bn in the UK (much of this from British taxpayers), but only pays �3m in tax. Apple – UK earnings �6bn, tax just �10m. Google – UK earnings �2.6bn, tax �6m. Amazon – UK earnings �7bn, tax �0. Several of our water, power and rail companies are supposedly based in Jersey and the Cayman Islands. Result -�little to no tax. Many large multinationals play similar games to avoid tax. But because many politicians and peers are highly-paid “consultants” to these companies, no action is ever taken against them.
Any tax only has a limited shelf-life. At first it raises money, but people and organisations soon find ways of avoiding it. In the past we’ve had hat taxes, beard taxes, window taxes, wig taxes and many others.��When companies were based in one country, Corporation Tax was an effective way of raising revenue. But with international companies using tax havens,�Corporation Tax has become increasingly ineffective. Our corrupt politicians know this, but �as�many of them�are on the payroll of�tax avoiding companies, nothing is done.
Here is a link to an article I wrote for MoneyWeek explaining why Corporation Tax should be abolished and replaced by a tax on all a company’s activities in the UK whether they claim to be based in Jersey, the Cayman Islands or on the Moon. http://www.moneyweek.com/news-and-charts/economics/uk/david-craig-scrap-the-modern-day-beard-tax-57636
It’s time for our corrupt politicians to stop the Corporation Tax avoidance farce.