The £500 million in avoided tax that Barclays will now have to pay could fund full-time jobs above the living wage for all the young people who have been working for free under a controversial government scheme, the Public and Commercial Services union says.
Divided between the 34,000 16 to 24-year-olds who have been put onto the government's work experience programme, the money could pay salaries of GBP 14,706 a year, or GBP 8.08 an hour for a 35-hour week.
The UK national living wage - paid by an increasing number of employers - is GBP 7.20 an hour, and GBP 8.30 in London.
A tax loophole that allowed Barclays to avoid paying GBP 500 million in corporation tax has been closed by HM Revenue and Customs.
The union points out that this is a "drop in the ocean" compared to more than GBP 120 billion in tax revenue that is avoided, evaded or uncollected every year.
I might add, the same £500 million would pay for 10,000 staff at HMRC targeted on closing the tax gap.
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off subject, but interesting
http://michael-hudson.com/2012/02/mmt-theory-as-an-ecb-alternative/
[…] tax could fund proper […]
She agrees that Greece has a “huge” tax evasion problem, but says the troika is missing the main tax evaders — the rich. “The people that have the money are the ones that don’t pay. The normal people pay their taxes. But the rich don’t pay — they have the money to avoid it. If I don’t pay my taxes I go to jail,” she said. “If I become rich I would find a way not to pay. At the moment it is the poorer that are paying for the rich, that’s the scandal.” Guardian
This is an effect of tax evasion, it undermines confidence in society
Precisely
She admits that the problem has got worse because Greece does not have the resources or expertise to tackle tax evasion and concedes that maybe experts from Germany could provide vital advice.
Does this ring a bell, with the UK Tax problems. Greece is the start, not a basket case.
The problem is those that get these “jobs” will be the ones who make the best applications, not those with zero on their CVs