I’ve just posted David Cameron’s letter to the G8. I did so because there is a fundamental problem at the core of this letter. Much a I agree with its sentiments and goals, he says: Dealing with tax evasion is not just about exchanging information. It is also about improving the quality and accuracy of that information.
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As some know, I do occasionally do guest blogs here. So as a special treat here is one from the Prime Minister: _____________ As part of the Government’s efforts to agree concrete action to tackle tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance during the G8, the Prime Minister has today written to the leaders of crown dependencies and overseas
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Please accept my apologies if the blog has not worked properly today. Without any warning from my internet service supplier (1&1) I filled the database for this blog at about 7.30 this morning, after which neither I or anyone else could post to it. My great WordPress support man – Andy Moyle – got to work and by tonight the blog has been shifted to
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Labour has now published its new corporation tax policy, in four parts, each of which I consider in  turn: 1. HMRC Both the administration and enforcement of the tax rules have been impacted by cuts to HMRC resources, with the Chancellor pushing through over £2 billion of deep cuts. The Government plans to cut a further 10,000 HMRC staff, which
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The FT reported late yesterday: Britain’s employees are feeling more insecure and under pressure at work than at any time in the past 20 years, a large-scale study of the workforce has found. For the first time, public sector workers are more worried than those in the private sector about losing their jobs. They are also
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The Guardian  late yesterday: Marks & Spencer has become the latest in a string of UK companies to face criticism from tax campaigners over the way it structures its online sales to Europe – with one describing the its sales operation as similar to that of the internet retail giant Amazon. I suspect that was not the name
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Owen Jones’ column in theIndependent this morning contains an interesting idea: Perhaps we should take [Google's Eric] Schmidt’s “aspiration” to do the right thing at face value. But if Mr Schmidt is anything like me, he might need a bit of outside assistance to achieve his aspirations. So, how about we legislate to crack down
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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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