The ongoing revelations about off-shore accounts and tax avoidance go right to the heart of government, and to Downing Street itself. Ogmore residents openly tell me that they feel betrayed by the Prime Minister and the UK government.
Ogmore residents tell me that while they have to work hard and pay their taxes, it seems there is another set of rules for the very wealthy, who can employ expensive lawyers and accountants to help them avoid paying due tax. And of course every pound avoided in tax due by some, means that pound is taken away from our NHS and our schools, from our police and emergency services and our public services.
This episode may have been embarrassing for the Prime Minister, but the real tragedy is for our public services, and for hard-working members of the public who are paying their due taxes.
Labour has proposed a hard-hitting 10-point plan to tackle tax avoidance and the wilful abuse of tax loopholes. If you support our proposals, feel free to share this with others on social media.
Labour’s 10-point tax plan in full
- An immediate public inquiry “to establish the harm done to the UK’s tax revenue and consider detailed proposals for reform”. These could include forcing firms and trusts to publish more information.
- Change the register of MPs’ interests forcing members to publish all offshore holdings, no matter how small.
- Create a ‘Specialised Tax Enforcement unit’ in HMRC, doubling the number of staff who scrutinise the affairs of the wealthiest individuals and firms.
- Force foreign firms to list their owners and beneficiaries if they are bidding for public sector contracts.
- Negotiate an EU deal forcing to multinational firms to file public reports on their dealings, country by country, and protecting whistleblowers.
- Introduce a “General Anti-Avoidance Principle” and extend current rules to cover offshore abuses.
- Crack down on accounting tricks, including telling courts to ignore “artificial steps” inserted in transactions to try and reduce tax.
- Work with banks to find out more about who owns the companies and trusts they work with.
- Introduce ‘strict minimum standards’ on transparency for crown dependencies and overseas territories like the British Virgin Islands – where more than 100,000 Panama Papers firms were based. That includes a public register of owners, directors, major shareholders and beneficial owners.
- Draw up plans for a register of trusts which transfer trustees’ residence offshore and tax avoidance schemes involving trusts which are disclosed to the HMRC under the current law.