Saturday, September 07, 2013

Tax evaders escape the law

Under the Companies Act 2006, firms must confirm the location of any subsidiaries to Companies House and failure to comply risks a fine. 124 firms on the FTSE 350 index were accused of “systematic and widespread” failures to comply with the “most basic” requirements of the law. Previous disclosures by the leading 100 companies in Britain had “not been consistent”, Companies House said. Most had since provided the information, Companies House added, but five firms were yet to do so. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said it would not name the five, citing “commercial sensitivity”.

Chris Jordan, the tax campaigns manager of Action Aid said yesterday: “This review has revealed a shocking failure by FTSE350 companies to comply with the most basic requirements of the law.  Almost half of the companies examined had failed to fully reveal their subsidiaries and appear only to have done so after being investigated by the Government. These lists are often the only way tax authorities in developing countries can find out about tax havens and the connection to UK multinationals. If the lists are not complete then developing countries are kept in the dark. Tax havens are frequently used by big companies to deprive developing countries of vital tax revenue that could be used to build badly needed schools, hospitals and roads.”

Uh-huh - break the law of the land and receive no punishment, not even named and shamed. We may take issue that increased tax revenues for third world countries would go for the peoples welfare and not into military spending but the essence has some truth - these companies are taking food from the mouths of babes to line their pockets.

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