{"id":589,"date":"2010-10-18T22:00:07","date_gmt":"2010-10-18T21:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/?p=589"},"modified":"2010-10-18T22:00:07","modified_gmt":"2010-10-18T21:00:07","slug":"there-is-more-than-one-way-to-reduce-a-deficit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/?p=589","title":{"rendered":"There is more than one way to reduce a deficit…"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was a letter published in the Daily Telegraph today (here<\/a>), in which 35 business leaders gave their support to George Osborne’s plans to cut spending. They say that extending the time it takes to reduce the deficit (and by extension the debt) will cause greater suffering for the country. A couple of names of the corporations made me think it could be worth having a quick Google to see the type of people who were so adamant in their support of the country, and the urgency in reducing the country’s debts.<\/p>\n

Two things make up a deficit – the amount of money that the country is spending, and the amount that the country has coming in. Guess what? It doesn’t look like some of these companies are too keen on the second part of this.<\/p>\n

Asda <\/strong>campaigned against a crackdown on a tax loophole allowing builders to be “self-employed” while working for one company (here<\/a>), paid some of their top earners early to allow them to avoid the 50% tax rate (here<\/a>), paid \u00a3115m to the authorities after over-paying royalties to Wal-Mart (here<\/a>). It appears that Asda pays tax around the 18% mark (here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Kingfisher <\/strong>has threatened to move its headquarters overseas, citing the UK’s tax regime, one of the most friendly to corporations in Europe (here<\/a>). The Guardian’s tax database suggests that they paid 20% tax on their profits (here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Towergate<\/strong> is involved in ‘tax efficiencies’, running seminars which deal with “Tax efficient cash\/profit extraction and remuneration strategies for senior business personnel and high earners – leading to significant reductions in taxation” (here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

TalkTalk<\/strong> campaigned against the 50p a month broadband levy, claiming that it would force 100,000 people to give up their broadband lines as the increase would not be affordable in these times. The company then increased line rentals by 55p a month (here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Microsoft<\/strong> channels a large amount of it’s international business through Ireland. In 2007, they paid \u20ac460k tax on profits of \u20ac1.6bn – 0.04% (here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

GlaxoSmithKline<\/strong> has transferred intellectual property to low-tax regimes such as Puetro Rico and Ireland, with companies in higher tax countries paying licensing fees (here<\/a> and here<\/a>). Paid $3.4bn tax settlement to the American tax authorities (here<\/a>). Threatened to move investment from the UK over tax (here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Alliance Boots<\/strong> was taken over by a private equity firm in 2007. In the prior year the company paid \u00a3131m tax on \u00a3455m profit. Following the take over, the firm’s profits were offset against finance charges. The headquarters has moved from Nottingham to the tax haven of Zug in Switzerland (here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Diageo<\/strong> have moved a number of their brands from the UK to the more tax efficient Netherlands. The manufacturing facilities remain in the UK, but the ownership and profit now appear to reside in the Netherlands (here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

This is from a quick couple of Google and news site searches per company, with next to nothing in the way of investigation. I would suggest the Guardian’s Tax Gap<\/a> series, and the Tax Research<\/a> blog as reading material.<\/p>\n

As well as these details on the companies, it would appear that a number of these concerned businessmen may be non-domiciles rather than full UK taxpayers. While the activities of the companies may not be illegal, I would suggest that it is more than slightly hypocritical to demand the swift reduction of the UK’s deficit while trying to pay the bare minimum in the way of tax. Following the spirit of the law, rather than the letter of the law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was a letter published in the Daily Telegraph today (here), in which 35 business leaders gave their support to George Osborne’s plans to cut spending. They say that extending the time it takes to reduce the deficit (and by extension the debt) will cause greater suffering for the country. A couple of names of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[43],"tags":[444,445,446,447,448,449,450,451,452],"class_list":["post-589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-alliance-boots","tag-asda","tag-diageo","tag-glaxosmithkline","tag-kingfisher","tag-microsoft","tag-talktalk","tag-tax","tag-towergate"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pAkBY-9v","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1321,"url":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/?p=1321","url_meta":{"origin":589,"position":0},"title":"Doghouse Rose at De Villa in Rijkrvorsel","author":"MattWPBS","date":"February 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Doghouse Rose, The Lion And The Wolf and Jimmy Broomfield at De Villa in Rijkrvorsel. 20th August 2014. So, back in August I took a few days off from work to drive Tom George (The Lion And The Wolf) and Jimmy Broomfield (Jimmy Broomfield) on tour around Germany and Benelux.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bands"","block_context":{"text":"Bands","link":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattwpbs.com\/wpinst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/cropped-DV-11.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattwpbs.com\/wpinst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/cropped-DV-11.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattwpbs.com\/wpinst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/cropped-DV-11.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattwpbs.com\/wpinst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/cropped-DV-11.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattwpbs.com\/wpinst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/cropped-DV-11.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mattwpbs.com\/wpinst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/cropped-DV-11.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":293,"url":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/?p=293","url_meta":{"origin":589,"position":1},"title":"iPlayer: few days of recommendations","author":"MattWPBS","date":"August 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Been busy, so it's been a few days since I posted one of these, but there have been some great programmes on recently. Thursday 7th August 15:00: Open Country - WWII Secrets of The Peak District Good programme about what happened in the North during WWII. Some interesting stories. Matt\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "iPlayer Recommendations"","block_context":{"text":"iPlayer Recommendations","link":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/?cat=54"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media.livenation.co.uk\/fido\/\/publishing\/news\/i\/m\/c\/Radio4-new-logo-with-frequency.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":362,"url":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/?p=362","url_meta":{"origin":589,"position":2},"title":"Daily links: 17th August","author":"MattWPBS","date":"August 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Usual weekday links. Elements - warning: do not open this if you have a history of spending too much time playing Magic. \"James my mate fancies u x\" - one hell of an anti-texting\/driving advert. ControlPad - windows application that allows you to launch stuff from the numberpad. Quite useful,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/?cat=141"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":463,"url":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/?p=463","url_meta":{"origin":589,"position":3},"title":"There are lessons I never learn…","author":"MattWPBS","date":"March 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"One of these is \"Don't put on gigs, it's too much stress, and you always lose money. Yes, I know it's fun at the time, and you always remember that bit, but for the love of god, will you remember the amount of worry that there is leading up to\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":176,"url":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/?p=176","url_meta":{"origin":589,"position":4},"title":"Balance is a media myth","author":"MattWPBS","date":"July 24, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Absolutely spot on piece in the Irish Times by John Gibbons. There's no more need to give credence to someone who denies global warming or MMR without evidence, than to someone who denies the moon landings or Elvis's death. Commentators thus feel free to \u201cpick a result from anywhere you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/?cat=43"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":277,"url":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/?p=277","url_meta":{"origin":589,"position":5},"title":"Quick one: guess the subject in the Mail","author":"MattWPBS","date":"August 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"See if you can guess what activity is being referred to in this Daily Mail article about an addition to the curriculum. ...part of a controversial drive... ...lessons that should be taught in the home or in the community... ...controversial plans... ...I do not really want my youngster to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/?cat=43"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattwpbs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}