I am doing a lot of research on companies, corporation tax and the tax gap at present. All is part of what I call 'day job'. But let me share this chart:
In 2000 there was one company for every 37 people (near enough) in the UK.
Now the number is one for just under 17 people. The number of companies per head of population has doubled this century.
Corporatisation is rampant.
Data is from Companies House and the ONS.
NB: Some people did not like the labelling of the original chart: it has been amended for the sake of clarity.
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The tax treatment of interest paid by landlords will continue to be one driver of this. I think it’s time for one of your lists.
Maybe…
respectful suggestion- think your title should be heads/company ie reversed
No
The number of companies has doubled
Does this include CICs?
Also, has the data count included ‘multiples’ as in the number of subsidiaries eg. Anon UK Ltd, AUK services Ltd, Anon CIC; all the same people: CEO, directors etc
Would it count as 3 or 1?
Yes
And Yes
Why? Something to do with tax and the ability to extract Rent perhaps?
Tax and labour market liberalisation, I suggest
Tax yes rent extraction? Don’t be ridiculous it’s people earning a living!! I am a mechanical engineer by training and I know literally of 100s of people in oil & gas in particular who voluntarily choose to contract and they do so by forming their own company. In years gone by I have done the same and worked on short term projects ( 6m – 3yr) in Korea, Australia, Singapore, Eastern Europe etc. It’s just Labour market mobility meeting the demand from industry.
Are we close to the time when as well as a birth certificate we will all get our own company registered?
Setting aside the growth of company formation in the UK being influenced by taxation factors and possible necessity coupled with misplaced idealism that adequate income streams are better found by being self-employed I’ve always liked this argument for socialised healthcare:-
http://mathbabe.org/2011/11/22/who-takes-risks/
“Misplaced idealism that adequate income streams are better serve about being self employed”… I can only sleak about contracting and the formation of a company to facilitate it.. trust me there is no “misplaced idealised”. It is absolutely practical. And without the associated mobility of labour we would be up in arms complaining about structural unemployment. You follow where the demand for labour not wait for it to reach you.,
Actually, no I don’t trust you
Why should I?
I suppose it’s what to expect if someone contests the belief that independence and freedom of the individual is abused in a free market system. But to describe someone forming their own company as a “rentier” or “misplaced” is nonsense and lends me to belief that too many people try too hard to be overly clever.. whereas the self employed (very much driving force behind the growth in the number of companies) on the other hand are just trying to earn the best living they can.
We, no
Many are knowingly abusing employment law
And a great many are motivated by tax abuse
What would be the correct number of people per company? What is the number of equivalent corporate entities per head of population in say the US, or France or Germany?
I am not saying there is a correct number
I am noting a trend
They are quite different things
Try as I might I cannot find reliable data on the number of companies per EU country