‘UK should refuse bailouts for tax haven companies’
BORIS Johnson’s government should follow other European countries in blocking access to Covid-19 business support to companies registered in tax havens, say church leaders and Labour MPs.
Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, is among the group of leaders of Christian denominations calling on the prime minister to take on companies that they claimed are ‘hiding their wealth in tax havens’.
In a letter to The Times newspaper, the coalition said: ‘We welcome the decisions of the Danish, Polish and French governments to refuse bailouts for corporations in tax havens.
‘During this crisis many of the most vulnerable people in our society are paying the price for a health and welfare system woefully unprepared for a pandemic. Meanwhile, some large corporations continue to avoid responsibility, making huge profits yet hiding their wealth in tax havens.’
The letter continued that ‘we cannot go back to business as usual’ when the pandemic ended. A ‘fair tax system where all pay their fair share is essential’, they said, to build an economic system that prioritised the wellbeing of people and the planet.
Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge echoed the same sentiment. Taking to Twitter, she said: ‘Corporate tax avoiders & billionaire-owned companies are abusing the Govt’s coronavirus support schemes. If you don’t pay your fair share of tax in the good times, you should have no right to public cash during a crisis.’
In the House of Commons, fellow Labour MP Peter Kyle raised the issue and urged chancellor Rishi Sunak to have ‘conversations’ with tax-avoiding companies to ensure ‘they play a much fuller part in our economy going forward’.
Mr Sunak said that ‘it is right that people act responsibly during that process’ but did not set out any plans to ban companies registered in tax havens from being able to take part in support schemes.
A Treasury spokesperson later said HM Revenue and Customs had ‘robust tools’ when it came to challenge firms who avoided paying their fair share of tax, reported The Guardian. ‘That is the right way to challenge avoidance, not by denying support to British workers who pay their taxes and would otherwise lose their jobs,’ the spokesperson said.
The Policy & Resources committee has previously highlighted how Guernsey is a ‘cooperative and transparent jurisdiction’ – with EU finance ministers reconfirming this assessment in February of this year. This effectively puts the island on the EU’s ‘white list’ for meeting relevant standards of tax transparency and fair taxation.
