Attending a debate on tax avoidance at the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation earlier today, I met an academic who angrily proclaimed to me that “all tax is theft”. I replied that if one holds that view one should probably never use a hospital. One should probably not use roads or trains either, […]
Tax is not theft, it is the price of civilised society Read More »
When driving through the town of Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, it’s hard not to notice that something stinks. From miles around you can see the plumes of thick white smoke billowing into the sky from the sugar factory; the whole area is pervaded by its sickly sweet smell. Halfway across the world, however, its
Associated British Food’s tax avoidance in Zambia stinks Read More »
My editorial from the February issue of International Tax Review “We all want to change the world”, John Lennon once sang. For environmentalists, carbon taxes and emissions trading systems have long been a key tool in changing the world for the better. With the polar ice caps and life-giving Andean glaciers melting, African crops failing
Carbon taxes can save more than the world Read More »
This article was originally written for International Tax Review Someone on Twitter asked how people would sum up this week’s PAC hearing on tax avoidance in three words. Tongue in cheek, I replied: “Good versus evil”. The point is that this is a polarised debate on a moral question and despite the grey area tax
PAC hearing shows gulf between Big 4 and public opinion Read More »
This article was originally written for International Tax Review With the UK chairing the G8 this year, more than 100 charities have come together under the banner of the IF campaign, whose basic premise is that there is enough food in the world for everyone if certain conditions, including ending tax avoidance and increasing financial
IF campaign reaches out to businesses to tackle tax avoidance Read More »
At 11.39pm, April 14 1912, a man called Robert Hitchins made the mistake of turning right instead of left. The RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sank, taking with it a captain who had blithely ignored all warnings of danger and plowed on full steam ahead with the arrogance of an Empire which was soon
George Osborne: History will remember you better if you turn left Read More »
The world produces enough food for everyone, but there’s an if. And it’s a big IF. To tackle it, 100 major charities are joining forces for what seems the biggest NGO campaign since 2005’s Make Poverty History. My good friends at Christian Aid sent me the following press release, which I wholly support: 100 MAJOR
Enough food for everyone, if… Read More »
I have a letter in today’s Evening Standard on the role of tax avoidance in HMV’s downfall.
Letter in the Evening Standard: HMV and LVCR Read More »
David Cameron is taking his sabre to the Netherlands tomorrow, rattling it like a toy rattles when it’s thrown from a pram. On the agenda: Britain’s future in Europe. There will be the predictable xenophobic, nationalistic froth from the right calling for the UK to leave the European Union. Almost as dangerous, there will be
Why we need the EU Read More »
There’s an interesting debate going on at AccountancyAge between tax justice campaigner Richard Murphy and BDO partner Stephen Herring. Both accountants by trade, but coming to radically different conclusions. Murphy sets out his position on the morality of tax avoidance thus: Where does the boundary lie between moral and immoral as Ray McCann asks? That’s easily
Tax avoidance: Fair or foul? Read More »
