The EU renders it an impossibility for UK to fairly tax business

The HoC Public Accounts Committee has now published its report on the taxation of multinational companies against the backdrop of our membership within  the corrupt and incompetent EU. The following are the introductory remarks:

"Global companies with huge operations in the UK generating significant amounts of income are getting away with paying little or no corporation tax here. This is outrageous and an insult to British businesses and individuals who pay their fair share.

Corporation tax revenues have fallen at a time when securing proper income from taxes is more vital than ever.

There is little credible information about what is going on. The evidence we took from large corporations was unconvincing and, in some cases, evasive. HMRC also lacked clarity when trying to explain its approach to enforcing the corporation tax regime.

The inescapable conclusion is that multinationals are using structures and exploiting current tax legislation to move offshore profits that are clearly generated from economic activity in the UK.

HMRC should be challenging this but its response so far to these big businesses and their aggressive tax planning has lacked determination and looks way too lenient. Policing the tax system must be at the heart of what HMRC does.

It must be more aggressive and assertive in confronting corporate tax avoidance. This is essential for the credibility of both the Department and the tax system.

Confidence in our tax system can only be maintained if every company and every individual is seen to be paying their fair share. That requires HMRC to act firmly now.

But the drive to make these companies live up to their obligations will have to be conducted on a number of fronts. These include possible legislative change within the UK and efforts to increase international cooperation. The multinationals should be required to report their tax practices transparently. Prosecutions should be mounted where necessary and offenders should be publically named and shamed.

We consider that paying an appropriate amount of tax in the country in which profits are made is not only a matter of basic economics. It is also a matter of morality. The UK should be taking the lead in making this point."

This blogger cannot pretend to have read the report, but did listen to the entire evidence upon which it is partly based; has considerable experience in multinational corporations utilizing transfer price arrangements, and has closely observed the workings of the corrupt and thoroughly rotten EU over many years. I can, therefore, assert with absolute certainty that with the calibre of our present politicians and civil servants, it is an impossibility for us to levy taxes fairly across the entire business sector whilst within the EU.

Furthermore, I will express as a personal opinion, that there is no desire amongst our politicians and civil servants to rectify that situation as the holders of such offices all hope to eventually benefit from the corrupt and rotten EU system