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.