Larry Elliot’s been writing about tax in the Guardian this evening. “Tax,” he says ” threatens to become to the 2010s what debt relief was to the 1990s: the focus of a global campaign for reform”. I thought it already was, but let’s not quibble; the interesting bit is what he goes on to say: In the
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Nick Cohen had a great article in the Observer this morning saying: If you want to understand any society, look at its tax system. If one man or a clique can tax at will, you can conclude the society is a dictatorship or oligarchy. If you have reasonably progressive and universal taxes, you can assume
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The Sunday Times reports this morning that: Barney Jones, 34, who worked for the internet search giant between 2002 and 2006, has lifted the lid on an elaborate structure which diverts British profits through Ireland to the Bermuda tax haven. Although Google’s London sales staff would negotiate and sign contracts with British customers, and cash
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The Observer has been even handed this morning. As well as reporting the efforts to stop global tax abuse it also gave a column to Eric Schmidt, Google’s global Chairman. I have to say he used it to spread misinformation which I feel duty bound to rebut. He opened saying: At a time when families are
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The Observer has featured on tax issues this morning it seems. In their special report on tax avoidance they set the scene, saying: The debate is now raging over whether these companies are the happy beneficiaries of a tax system knitted with loopholes, or the malicious purveyors of smoke-and-mirror accounting. HM Revenue and Customs claims
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I am quoted in the Sunday Mirror today: Tax expert Richard Murphy said: “By being cheated out of £183 each year the British people are being taken for a ride. “We need a big politician to stand up to these companies.” That reflected a blog I wrote yesterday morning. Well, it looks like we’ve now got one
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Ed Miliband has adopted the tax justice agenda. According to the Observer this morning: Ed Miliband has vowed to rip up the rule book as prime minister and go it alone if there is no international consensus to tackle multinationals engaging in massive tax avoidance. In an interview with the Observer, the Labour leader urged David Cameron to find agreement at the G8 summit
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The world of tax is in a mess. Google, Amazon and, according to Ernst & Young before the Public Accounts Committee, many more companies are persistently abusing the international tax system to make sure they do not pay tax where it is very obviously due. The person who can deny that tax justice, and the
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As the Guardian editorial notes this morning: Whether it’s Jimmy Carr or Starbucks, public anger over tax avoidance must be most evident in the UK. No wonder David Cameron has made a new deal on tax a key objective of this summer’s G8 summit. The economist Paul Collier, who is advising the government, has suggested
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