The following are on the Guardian letters page this morning. I am a signatory to both:
The public accounts committee's report into HMRC's tax settlements made for compelling reading (Revenue hid 'sweetheart' tax deals for big business, MPs say, 20 December). But more fascinating was the feeble response by HMRC and the striking lack of response from either Vodafoneor Goldman Sachs.
Gone are the days when HMRC and Vodafone would come together as an unstoppable dream team proffering denials of tax avoidance as an "urban myth". Now, we see HMRC weakly saying the committee is misinformed and is basing its conclusions on partial information. We know that the committee did everything in its power to get to the truth, but HMRC obstructed the inquiry by using the veil of secrecy that is taxpayer confidentiality.
It is imperative that the UK's political and business culture changes so that rich individuals and corporations treat tax avoidance as taboo. It is also crucial that the culture at HMRC changes so that it clamps down on tax avoidance. If this were the norm, the UK could raise sufficient income to protect the services currently under threat from cuts, set an international standard for tax justice, and make progress towards achieving equality in the UK and around the world.
So while we support the efforts of the public accounts committee, we also support the action by UK Uncut Legal Action to challenge HMRC in the high court so that the decision to let Goldman Sachs off its unpaid tax is declared unlawful and the £20m is given back to the taxpayer. It is undeniably in the public interest that this case should go through the courts in order to ensure transparency, accountability and fairness.
Katy Clark MP, Virendra Sharma MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, John McDonnell MP, Caroline Lucas MP Jonathan Edwards MP, Diane Abbott MP, Paul KennyGMB, Mark SerwotkaPCS, Christine BlowerNational Union of Teachers, Len McCluskeyUnite, Nicholas Shaxsonauthor of Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men Who Stole the World, Richard Murphy, Tax Research, Clifford SingerFalse Economy,Neal LawsonCompass,Greg MuttittWar on Want, John ChristensenTax Justice Network
And:
- We would like to thank you for highlighting the disgraceful treatment of Osita Mba, a personal friend, whose whistleblowing on a deal between HMRC and Goldman Sachs has earned him not praise but disciplinary action and the threat of losing his job and/or prosecution (Report, 15 December).
Without protection, whistleblowers will be reluctant to come forward and divulge information that is in the public interest. We have collected more than 7,300 signatures in a petition in support of Osita and the important role whistleblowers play in serving the public interest. As one of our petition signers, Ben Tisnell, states, "Whistleblowing is a courageous act of public service; those exposing wrongdoing should expect protection in any civil society." We firmly agree with his view — whistleblowers should not face condemnation but should be protected.
Kerry-Anne Mendoza, Katherine Segal, Maria Murselland 7,300 others
Please support both actions this Christmas. They're about your freedoms.
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As there is an estimated (the vast majority of it private debt) debt in the UK od around 1000%, it is somewhat English understatement to say that action is needed on tax.
Drastic action is needed and soon because, if something is not done rather quickly to addess the debt problem, a hurricane will soon come blowing our way.
Printing real banknotes into denominations of £1,000,000, printing up a billion or so of them, sticking them in a government account and writing cheques off the back of it would be a good start.
Of course, much of this debt is too huge and unrepayable, so a large part of it should be simply cancelled. The rest could be bought up by printing money, buying up the bonds and cancelling them.
Of course, sticking to the point, we need a government with the courage to end tax avoidance schemes and one that will at least try to recover the estimated £120,000,000,000 lost to the government every year.
The more the government can get in tax, the less it has to borrow. It makes perfect sense, but sense these days seems to be at a premium.