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waylandsmithy
offlineMember
What the hell is wrong with our MPs? That's at last half a dozen recently who have been caught preaching about fairness and tax avoidance, whilst fiddling their expenses or committing some other kind of fraud.
It's about time we armed ourselves, stocked up on tinned food and adopt redneck law. Who's with me? And who has a recipe for badger?
weematt
offlineMember
Yes it would make you sick, the hypocrisy not the badger.
Hypocrisy is the issue not the tax avoidance as it is probably legal and the only way to stop that is different tax laws. Even then the taxes have got to be internationally competitive.
Regarding the article, it expresses UK tax paid as a percentage of global turnover whereas tax is paid on UK profit. A low percentage UK tax paid of a large global turnover would indicate a company with low profits declared in UK. If they stack up all their admin and overhead costs in the UK they can make their UK profit lower and pay less UK tax while declaring higher profits elsewhere. Why would any business, or individual, not set out to minimises tax paid?
The business concerned deals in steel so I would not stock up on tins for fear of helping them sell more steel. As for badger recipes, I much prefer beaver.
waylandsmithy
offlineMember
Oh, I wouldn't be surprised if the tax arrangements fit through a loophole, but I expect Starbucks and Vodafone's arrangements do as well. If you were an MP, would it not occur to you to try not to look like a fiddling, dishonest, grabbing shitbag?
Squudge
offlineMember
I think they should set up a properly empowered intervention team in HM Revenue and Customs, with a remit to make all of 'em PAY IT BACK.
Thus anyone caught diddling expenses, house flipping, renting out to each other and claiming, setting up massive tax singularities - whether they got off any criminality charges or not - full recovery of every penny, however long it takes.
This should be staffed, by the way, by underpaid lower-ranking civil servants in HMRC who have dreamed for years of a payrise, or finally, doing a job they can be proud of. I suspect a few are weary of driving trivial diddlers in failing businesses to suicide for a few hundred quid of undeclared savings interest.
Squudge
offlineMember
oh now HERE is a grudge you can admire
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9668607/HSBC-investigation-Singer-James-Blunt-on-list-of-Jersey-accounts.html
beau-jolly
offlineMember
Yeh! For "very" read "barking".
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