Tuesday, 20 November 2012

Nothing wrong with tax avoidance?

If some companies are avoiding corporation tax then there are those who say that they are doing nothing wrong. They say that any criticism should not be aimed at companies like Amazon or Google or Starbucks but at the government which allows avoidance. I have written previous blogs on the Rolling Stones and Jimmy Carr, and the latter at least decided that what he did may have been legal but it wasn't ethical.

In the case of Starbucks it may be that their coffee outlets in the UK aren't making a profit but how do they allow their traders in Switzerland to make a healthy 20% profit without seeing a bean? This type of avoidance needs a broader answer than that which may be supplied by the UK government.

The companies are saying that they have done nothing wrong. Where have I heard that before? Oh yes MPs said that about their expenses.

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