Read the full report here.
Then ask the question - why is the UK such an easy ride for multinational corporations?
More from me in the Mail on this tomorrow.
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Interesting report but the statistic I wanted was not the £5 billion less collected CT per annum currently than 10 years ago, it would be the cumulative impact of 10 years worth of tax on declared profits at the 2001 rate. That would easily have added £50 billion to our national debt. Add in the suppressed profits and you could easily double that.
Whoever at HMRC suggested that large corporates don’t evade tax by suppressing profits clearly has a blinkered and naive view of what suppression means. I’m sure Barlow is not that naive but no doubt he shares the neocon view that large corporates should be allowed to pay as little tax as possible.
In this advisers recollection the largest raid I can remember on a big business in connection with tax avoidance was in around 2006 on the then Britannia Building Society and their auditors PWC. Don’t think any prosecution resulted although the the scheme in question went to the House of Lords with Prudential and was overturned.
Has there ever been a combined EU tax raid on a large non EU multinational? I suppose Luxembourg and Ireland would be less than co-operative and I can’t see the current government being pro such a move either. It would clear up a few questions on the likes of Amazon, Starbucks, Google et al and hopefully lead to a better general understanding of what suppression really means.