Originally posted by AtW
View Post
The multinationals will continue to pay an amount of tax that they choose and which suits their shareholders and whatever market sector they are targeting. They will continue to ignore the efforts of lowly paid Civil Servants to bring them to book because they know that they have purchased air cover in the form of politicians who will move to block anything too onerous.
I served in the tax departments of a couple of major banks. We were more concerned with the internal effective rate of tax and its effect on share price rather than what was "fair" to pay. Do I think that has changed? No. My friends who still work there say it's the same.
Tax is a covenant.
Taxpayers pay and Governments spend.
If all taxpayers paid a fair amount then that side of the equation would be fine. However taxpayers don't all pay a fair amount. Some, who can afford good advice and have influence pay what they like. In the face of such behaviour Government (who have broken their own side of the covenant so many times, it's hardly worth listing) picks on soft targets and is increasingly using the heavy hammer of retrospection to do so.
If this Government is so concerned about the "right" amount of tax, why not go to EVERY UK based multinational, ask them for 10% of their global profits for the past 10 years, right now, and then spend 20 years arguing about whether they can claim some of that back?
That is effectively what is happening with contractors.
No illegal activity proven, no decided case of any significance, no legislation that nails the issue, but none the less pay now and argue later.
If that is fair for contractors, why not be fair to multinationals in the same way?
I'll leave you to make a guess why.
In the meantime, unless you believe that the tax system should be tilted against contactors for reasons I've not seen in your posts, to maintain that contractors are being treated fairly is in denial of the facts.
Comment