In a further sign that all the rhetoric on tax fraud and the need to tackle it is just just rhetoric without a plan for substantial change David Cameron has, according to the FT urged European leaders to:
debate about whether companies should be encouraged to report the taxes they pay in the countries in which they operate “on a voluntary basis”.
Oh come on Cameron: country-by-country reporting was not and never will be a woolly CSR issue where a little voluntary disclosure of where lots of tax is paid without any detail of where profit is earned and with all those places where no tax is settled - that is, the tax havens we're most interested in - ignored on the basis that they're "immaterial".
Get real man.
And if you're not serious about tax fraud, tax evasion and corporate tax avoidance stop pretending that you are.
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“debate about whether companies should be encouraged to report the taxes they pay in the countries in which they operate “on a voluntary basis”.”
David Cameron has just toned down the “We Bad” routine after encountering the tough vested interests.
I’m sorry but this is farcical, the fact that he can’t see his announcements are a ludicrous is beyond belief.
What do you expect from someone who’s sole non-political job was in PR? Cameron thinks he has to appear to look tough on tax so he can justify the austerity being imposed on the rest of us, but, as with anything a politician says, actions speak louder than words.
The more the discredited (to those of us with some degree of intelligence and judgement, that is) the Thatcherite/neoliberal economic model is, the more the British right try and cling to it.
I’ll believe the government is serious about stopping tax avoidance and tax evasion when they stop cutting staff in HMRC, bring in the reforms to Companies House Richard’s talked about, work with other G20 countries to get country by country reporting off the ground and finally, get round to putting the boot into all those tax havens which are remnants of the British empire and which we ultimately control if we want to.
Genuine question; Why do you think Cameron and Osborne seem to be so against large corporations paying more tax? If they are paying very little tax in the UK (mostly payroll taxes), then how is their presence here a benefit to the country and if they were threatened with closing the tax loopholes that allow them to pay such little tax, would they really leave such a big customer base as the UK?
I can never understand why Cameron/Osborne are against it as surely it is a no-brainer? Is it because they personally benefit from not having these taxes (because they are either invested in these companies or will go on to work with these companies)?
They want jobs in the City
Like Blair and major before them
But so far not like Brown