Turnover tax

[DirtyDog]

Google sell everything in Ireland and pay tax at 20%, but avoid 99% of that due to licencing their IP from their company in Bermuda. The real question is how was it that Google, who are undoubtedly an American company, were able to move their IP to Bermuda? All these companies are American, so really it's the US that's losing out most of all as they should all be paying tax on their international profits at home.

Most incorporate in Delaware anyway, which is an on-shore tax haven. But there's no chance of this government cracking down on DE as a tax shelter.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

My mistake - only for eBooks do they charge UK consumers 20% and pay over 3% to Luxembourg.

Actually Amazon don't charge 20% on ebooks (or any digital content), they charge 3% because place of supply rules mean they have to charge Lux. VAT rates on ebooks (hence the rule change from next Jan, when they will have to charge 20%).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/cus...?nodeId=502578

[Zero Liability]

c) they manage money rather better than politicians have done for the last 100 odd years

Plus there isn't this utter air of disdain and condescension you get when dealing with the likes of HMRC, or a local council. Incompetent and arrogant.

I would much rather see Amazon keep the money than give it to a bunch of profligate, snotty know-nothings.

I think the government should come up with a list of services it deems to be "essential" (whether or not they are, or whether or not only it can provide them is another story), come up with a figure for providing them and limit its annual tax revenues to that. No power to borrow, no power to inflate, no power to raise further taxes. I doubt this would last long, but it's not the populace's problem that they can't bloody manage 'their' money and are so addicted to power that they cannot say no to anyone offering them sufficient graft.

I would say get them out of the provision of healthcare and education entirely, and deal with welfare via a negative income tax/guaranteed income, since the ostensible purpose behind supplying these services via the govt is their universal provision, anyway.

Even if fracking does take off in Britain, I still believe our politicians would manage to pocket the revenues but still end up with a huge debt by the end of it.

Just pointing out how unworkable these "solutions" are. We need to either a) leave the EU and abandon free trade (call that the UKIP option), b) the EU needs to decide one CT rate for everyone, or c) accept that this sort of crap is always going to happen and we're powerless to prevent it.

c).

As for a), abandoning free trade has nothing to do with UKIP. They are not protectionists.

[AtW]

Most incorporate in Delaware anyway, which is an on-shore tax haven. But there's no chance of this government cracking down on DE as a tax shelter.

It's not a tax heaven, the reason companies in USA register there is because its cheap to maintain company and corporate law is very well established in that state so things are a lot more predictable and cheaper to deal with law wise.