You pay tax so they don't have to

[minge tightly]

Firms' secret tax avoidance schemes cost UK billions

British taxpayers are being left to plug a multibillion-pound hole in the public finances as hundreds of the country's biggest companies increasingly employ complex and secretive tax arrangements to limit the amount they hand over to the exchequer.

An extensive Guardian investigation has examined the accounts of the UK's biggest companies - many of them household names - and discovered a series of sophisticated tax strategies which, critics say, amount to an almost unstoppable tide of perfectly legal corporate tax avoidance.

The veil of confidentiality that covers these tax avoidance schemes is so difficult to penetrate that nobody knows exactly how much tax goes missing each year. But HM Revenue & Customs estimated that the size of the tax gap could be anything between £3.7bn and £13bn. The Commons public accounts committee put it at a possible £8.5bn and the TUC said £12bn.

...According to the National Audit Office, in 2006 more than 60% of Britain's 700 biggest companies paid less than £10m corporation tax, and 30% paid nothing.

Britain's top taxman, Dave Hartnett, told the Commons public accounts committee last year that 12 major corporations had "extinguished all tax liabilities in 2005-6" thanks to avoidance schemes.

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrats' deputy leader, said last night: "The scale of corporate tax-dodging exposed by the Guardian research is absolutely mind-boggling. It will deeply anger households and businesses who pay their fair share.

www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/feb/02/tax-gap-avoidance

[VikingHumpingWitch]

Yeah yeah but I'd rather complain about single mothers in council estates getting a few quid a week.

[sushimo]

The bigger you are, the more you can fork out for the ultimate in accountancy, and therefore the fiddles. I'm not in the least surprised to hear this, just surprised it took so long to be brought out into the open.

[minge tightly]

"During Britain's feverish boom years, operating profits soared. But, as can be seen, the tax take did not.This appears particularly true of the banks. While their profits almost tripled between 2000 and 2007, their overall tax contribution, never high in the first place, hardly increased over the period, and indeed at one point started to fall.The Office of National Statistics records total corporation tax receipts of £4.1bn from banks and building societies in 2000, but only £3.3bn last year. We calculate that Barclays, for example, paid only an average of 23% of its profits in tax to the UK and various other countries over the period, despite Britain's headline rate of 30% in the period the Guardian reviewed."

www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/feb/02/tax-gap-avoidance1

Billions to bail-out the banks, and billions to subsidise the tax they pay (or not).

Surely you should be rounding up some pitchforks and flaming torches?

[VikingHumpingWitch]

Feb 3, 2009 10:45:55 GMT minge tightly said:

Billions to bail-out the banks, and billions to subsidise the tax they pay (or not).

Surely you should be rounding up some pitchforks and flaming torches?

Be interesting to see if this generates anything like the ire benefits scroungers get. If not I will have to conclude that we just prefer picking on the weak because it's more fun.

[feral]

Good grief ! and this is a surprise to anyone ?

It's not benefit scroungers who get my goat so much -its the fact that it's me paying for the useless gits .That big corporations dont pay as much tax as I do ( relatively ) makes me just wish that I could afford their accountants instead of giving my hard earned to a government that splurges it on benefit scroungers etc etc etc

[minge tightly]

I have little doubt that the good citizens of Britain would prefer to pick on the weak they see directly in front of them (Or in the Scum and Mail, those fine purveyors of all that is good& positive about the pysche of Blighty) rather than rub two brain cells together to see how utterly brazen companies are in avoiding their fair share of tax (Which most of us, as PAYE tax payers, cannot avoid) or to grow the bollocks to do anything about it.

[feral]

Oh and I think bailing out the banks is the biggest joke of all before someone thinks I think it was a great idea .
But then again what option was there ? let them go down the drain and watch how all the poor mugs lose everything whilst those who creamed it all away for years were left untouched.

[mids]

Ironically, the Guardian group is one of the biggest offenders.

[feral]

or to grow the bollocks to do anything about it.

yes, that's the point isnt it ? We all ( and I include me in the " we " ) just whinge about how unfair it all is

[feral]

In this " sue me sue you " society it should actually be possible to successfully sue the government for causing undue stress

[silkbreeze]

what was it that bob dylan sang..............

They say patriotism is the last refuge
To which a scoundrel clings
Steal a little, and they'll throw you in jail
Steal a lot, and they'll make you a king

[tarrant]

Business taxes are a constant source of stupidity.

Every government since Adam has promised to simplify them yet every one has simply added more.

But it's absolutely true, that if, as a company owner, you are prepared to spend a little extra on really good accountants, you can save a fortune.

[minge tightly]

yes, that's the point isnt it ? We all ( and I include me in the " we " ) just whinge about how unfair it all is

Maybe the strikes at the oil refineries are a harbinger of things to come and the regrowth of a British spine?

Gawd knows how pampered, spoilt and uncaring the British have become over the last few decades while they've happily been spunking money they don't have living a lifestyle they cannot afford and obsessing over celebs.

Time to get back in touch with the actions of our forefathers who made this country what is was, rather than arrogantly or unknowingly hanging on to their coattails while being pissed on from above

[VikingHumpingWitch]

Feb 3, 2009 11:13:44 GMT minge tightly said:

Maybe the strikes at the oil refineries are a harbinger of things to come and the regrowth of a British spine?

Complaining about the immigrants and not giving one about the big companies ripping us off left right and centre? Some spine.

[minge tightly]

Yeah alright, it's misguided but at least they're getting out there. Might be the start of national anger

[Libby]

Feb 3, 2009 10:54:26 GMT feral said:

Good grief ! and this is a surprise to anyone ?

It's not benefit scroungers who get my goat so much -its the fact that it's me paying for the useless gits .That big corporations dont pay as much tax as I do ( relatively ) makes me just wish that I could afford their accountants instead of giving my hard earned to a government that splurges it on benefit scroungers etc etc etc

well said feral!

[yord]

You pay tax so they don't have to ? quite right. Im amazed that the few companies still operating in the UK dont just say " feck you " to both employees and government.

[policecar]

corporations will just decamp elsewhere if you tax them - it's not right but there you have it.

[yord]

OF COURSE ITS RIGHT. why tf should they pay any tax at all. Its them that keep the whole fecking show on the road and provide you sappless gits with a means of survival. You dont like it , you open your own company and start employing