Tax Research UK

A couple of weeks ago Bob Diamond of Barclays said:

Our aim is clear - it’s to be the premier global investment bank over the next couple of years

He wants that for personal advantage.

He can only do it with our cash.

And as Vince Cable has said:

it is madness for the British taxpayer to be a last-resort guarantor for this kind of business.

And yet that is exactly what we are doing.

This is madness. We have to regulate. Barclays cannot free-ride on the back of the UK taxpayer. It is. It mustn’t. And it really is time the government realised this. Or, and I’m quite convinced of this, the next crisis may arrive much sooner than anyone is predicting because there is no substance to current increases in bank activity, and another crash could in that case happen sooner rather than later.

It’s not a pretty prospect. Curtailing Barclays’ ambitions will be a small price to pay for preventing it.

Richard Murphy Banking, Barclays, Economics

I drafted the Tax Justice Network / Association for Accountancy and Business Affairs code of conduct for tax in 2007 ( summary here). It attracted some attention at the time at selected addresses in Paris and London SW1, but there was not a lot of strong positive feedback right then. Being nice to banks was in vogue.

Not ant more.

In another indication that the world is moving (albeit not as fast, and not as far as I’d like, but moving nonetheless) in the direction of tax justice the Guardian has noted:

Banks which help their customers to avoid paying tax will be targeted by intensive surveillance from HM Revenue & Customs under a new "name and shame" regime to be announced by Alistair Darling next week.

The chancellor is understood to have a hit list of UK and international banks which he will invite to sign his new code of conduct on tax which is designed to save the taxpayer billions of pounds lost through legal and complex avoidance schemes.

Banks that refuse to sign the code of conduct or act against the "spirit" of the current tax laws will be subjected to heavier scrutiny from the tax authorities. Darling will also make it clear that chief executives of non-compliant banks will be forced to appear before MPs sitting on the Treasury select committee. Banks are under no obligation to sign up but will be expected to answer requests from the public about whether they have signed up.

Excellent. Quite right too. make them justify their anti-social behaviour.

Predictably the tax profession is not happy:

Ever since Darling announced his intention to publish the code, there has been criticism from some tax experts about how the "spirit" of the law should be interpreted. However, a Treasury source disputed this: "It is quite clear to market professionals what the spirit of the law actually means".

I agree, wholeheartedly. The person who cannot spot that should not be in practice.

And as indication of where this will go:

The Treasury source said: "We will start with the big banks and work through the system."

"We have some confidence that Barclays will sign up to it," the source added.

The source said: "There will a lot of embarrassment and public pressure and trips to the Treasury select committee to be humiliated by a lot of MPs. This is a name and shame policy".

Just what I wanted.

And excellent news for the ordinary taxpayers of the UK, because this is going to swing the pendulum of obligation to pay back towards the banks. And that’s the right thing for our economy. They have abused for far too long. And now the game is up.

Richard Murphy Banking, Barclays, Code of Conduct, Ethics, Tax avoidance

FT.com / Companies / Banks - BarCap told to disclose Lehman information.

If you will brag about making £2 billion of profit by buying assets at undervalue then you might expect someone to complain.

And maybe even seek retribution.

Richard Murphy Banking, Barclays

FT.com / Companies / Banks - Barclays to scrap final salary pensions .

Jenkins and Diamond:    40

Barclay’s staff:                    Love

Don’t doubt it: that’s what this is about; shifting wealth to thsoe who already have it at cost to those who don’t.

Richard Murphy Banking, Barclays

I admit this is probably not news to those who read this blog, but the Observer reports today:

Barclays bank is playing a lead role in the establishment of a tax haven in Ghana, in a move that could see huge mineral wealth in west Africa vanish into it from poverty-stricken countries’ coffers, the Observer can reveal.

The controversial British lender has for the last four years worked closely with the Ghanian government to start an International Financial Services Centre offering low taxes and minimal financial disclosure.

Development charities fear that the establishment of a fully operating tax haven so close to oil- and mineral-rich countries such as Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea will encourage a rapid increase in tax and capital flight.

We have proven time and again that tax havens cost lives. It is beyond doubt that they facilitate corruption, crime and tax evasion thought the secrecy they supply.

And yet here is Barclays trying to develop another one.

Goes Barclays have any moral compass of any sort at all?

And if not, shouldn’t one be imposed upon it?

Richard Murphy Banking, Barclays, Development, Ethics, Tax Havens

Two Early Day Motions now before Parliament:

EDM 1169

WIKILEAK AND BARCLAYS BANK

24.03.2009

Mitchell, Austin

That this House congratulates Wikileak for publishing documents relating to alleged tax avoidance schemes used by Barclays Bank; and urges the Government to place copies of those documents on the HM Treasury website.

and

EDM 1168

BARCLAYS BANK AND TAX AVOIDANCE

24.03.2009

Mitchell, Austin

That this House condemns Barclays Bank for indulging in alleged tax avoidance schemes which may have reduced the Treasury’s tax revenues by over £1 billion; and urges the Government not to provide any loans, guarantees and financial support to Barclays and suspend its deposit-taking licence until it cleans up its affairs and withdraws from manufacturing, marketing, sale and implementation of all tax avoidance schemes.

Richard Murphy Barclays, Ethics, Tax avoidance