Tweet This week’s YouGov poll for the Sunday Times makes it very clear that Labour is failing to get a clear anti-tax avoidance message across to the public. In answer to the question “In general, do you think it is acceptable or unacceptable to LEGALLY avoid paying tax?”, 62% of people (72% of Labour voters) think [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Tax Dodgers’
The government are keener to catch whistleblowers than tax avoiders
May 7th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.Tweet The treatment of Osita Mba, the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) solicitor, is a public scandal. It was he who revealed that Dave Hartnett, former head of HMRC, had made a private deal with Goldman Sachs, sealed with a handshake, that let them off payment of interest amounting to at least £10m. This issue [...]
HMRC let Goldman Sachs off tax to avoid “major embarrassment” to Osborne
May 2nd, 2013 by Newsdesk.Tweet In the legal case against HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) over the ‘sweetheart’ tax deal with Goldman Sachs, details have emerged of a controversial cover up to avoid political embarrassment at the heart of government. It came to light in the High Court that the former tax chief, Dave Hartnett, chose to waive the [...]
75% tax on rich rejected – a censure for François Hollande’s policies of pretence
Jan 10th, 2013 by Tom Gill.Tweet (translated from the original by Jacques Sapir) The measure considered to be one of the most emblematic of the promises of François Hollande on tax, the famous 75% rate for people on incomes of over €1 million, was rejected Saturday, December 29 by France’s Constitutional Council. The “Wise Men”of the council, to be clear, [...]
Over 40 UK Uncut actions target Starbucks over tax avoidance & cuts impact on women
Dec 9th, 2012 by Newsdesk.Tweet Growing public anger at Starbucks was clear yesterday as over 40 of their shops across the UK- including in Liverpool, Cardiff, Bristol and Shrewsbury- were targeted by the anti-cuts direct action network, UK Uncut. In central London a creche and women’s refuge were set up in Starbuck’s flagship stores, and in Birmingham people slept [...]
CALL OUT! 8 Dec. Refuge from the cuts – target Starbucks!
Nov 29th, 2012 by Newsdesk.Tweet It’s time for the government to wake up and smell the coffee. Women have had enough of being attacked by a cabinet of millionaires. But there is a refuge from the cuts. Join us on Saturday 8 December to transform the tax dodger Starbucks into services women depend on, such as refuges and crèches. Check the UK Uncut [...]
Why pay tax? HMRC operates not a tax net, but a colander
Nov 29th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.Tweet The Government likes to tell us they’re cracking down hard on tax avoidance. Yet the UK is steadily turning into a property speculators’ honeypot, aided by tax loopholes and the offshore secrecy of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) in the Caribbean that conceal property transactions. Were the UK authorities even aware of this, let [...]
Why a tax cut for millionaires is “a good thing”
Nov 29th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.Tweet Yesterday Parliament debated the 50p tax cut for those earning (or paying themselves) more than £150,000 a year, or £3,000 a week, all the way up to the chief executives of the FTSE-100 companies whose remuneration package today averages £4,80,000 a year, which works out at £93,300 a week. The Tories are in favour, and [...]
UK to require tax havens to disclose UK account holders to HMRC – Really?
Nov 27th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.Tweet It is good news, if true, that the Treasury is finally acting to force UK-controlled tax havens to divulge the names of UK residents who hold (substantial) funds there in order to avoid tax. The US is bringing in a Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) next year which will require foreign banks to [...]
Building the tax justice consensus
Sep 20th, 2012 by Richard Murphy.Tweet For more than thirty years the politics of the UK and most other western democracies has been dominated by a notable and consistent adherence to a single consensus on tax issues. That persistent policy approach has been built around what has been described as the Washington Consensus. That agenda, which translated neoliberal thinking into policy [...]
