Ethics and governance in the European Financial centers

TAX AVOIDANCE
13.11.2007


Mitchell, Austin

That this House urges the Government to investigate and regulate the activities of banks, law firms, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Ernst and Young, Grant Thornton and other accountancy firms in devising, marketing, promoting, implementing and concealing aggressive tax avoidance schemes which have no commercial substance because their sole purpose is to avoid paying their dues to society in UK taxes on income and profits, thus enabling wealthy and corporate clients to avoid taxes and National Insurance contributions by transfer pricing, artificial loans, inflated management charges, special purpose vehicles, joint ventures, fictitious assets, offshore schemes and secretive trusts, all designed to deprive the Treasury of billions of pounds of tax revenues which in turn forces the Government to curtail social investment and shift the tax burden onto ordinary individuals.

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