Monday 12 October 2015

Taxing problem

How difficult is it to tax companies?

Facebook paid just £4,327 corporation tax in 2014 according to an analysis of their accounts by the BBC. Global profits for the company were £2.9 billion. 

That £4,327 is meant to be a transfer from wealth to poverty, taxing those with money to help those without. 

It is not. Rather, it is a footling expense, less than the director's dining room will consume in a week's wine bills. The accountants who massaged the figures to avoid tax will have been paid many times more.

So again, how difficult is it to tax companies?

If it is easy to hide profits then we should go after turnover. Start from the assumption that profits are 15% of turnover and tax Facebook at that level; pay first, then come and argue. 
 

Facebook's profits should help the poor; poor people need Facebook's money. But to tackle the multinational giants requires multi-national action, as the EU have discovered. 

It can be done, but not with the fawning Osbamerons at Westminster.

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