Why doesn’t Labour just tax the big corporations?

[GoodnightAdeline]

Upcoming election, yada yada.

I see a lot of posts about tax evasion and how, if we just taxed the big corporations properly, we wouldn’t be in the financial mess we are in.

I have a layman’s understanding of the economy, but surely if it was that simple then Labour would do it and use the money to fund their vision for the country? Why instead are they scrapping policies due to affordability and warning us things will be tight?

Because most bug corporations are multinational and if you increase corporation tax too much they will just move production to another country, meaning we lose the current tax and a lot of people lose their jobs. Plus it would vastly put off corporations investing in this country in the first place

@TheAirRunningOut is absolutely right. Plus, most countries tax companies on the profits arising within their borders, so the overseas profits of UK multinationals have usually already been taxed overseas - if we tried to tax them again then the UK multinationals would be at a huge competitive disadvantage compared to foreign competitors.

Tax doesn’t fund much except corruption excess and incompetence.

more tax means more of the above.

nothing much will ever drop down to the man in the street.

Because it's easier to tax the middle class.

Rachel Reeves has been cosying up to the large multinationals for the last 18 months at least. They’re not worried about a Labour govt.

Says a lot.

If companies pay more tax that comes from higher prices, lower wage increases or lower profits to shareholders (that's all of us in private sector employment or personal pensions). The money has to come from somewhere...

Large companies are taxed already. The idea that they can get away without paying taxes is fantasy. HMRC focuses a lot on collecting from large companies as there are large rewards if they can prove they’re due to pay more.

of course corporation tax in the uk is relatively low (but not exceptionally low) and could perhaps be raised. But when people say things like “why don’t amazon just pay their taxes” it’s just because they’ve read some misinformation that they don’t.

its actually not. Companies don’t vote.

Because big companies will move to tax havens (as is already happening)

Some companies get taxed on global profits in the uk but generally get credits for tax paid in other countries. So it works out the same anyway

Companies carrying out business in the United Kingdom are taxed on those activities here. It’s irrelevant if they are incorporated, and/or have their main place of business elsewhere. That doesn’t allow them to avoid tax on uk income.

They do, just not the way voters do.

They donate and they influence decisions at a much higher level than an ordinary squeeze middle.

If the UK increases corporation tax, large corporations will just move to another country and this will result in fewer jobs, less tax, a contracting economy.

Now that we are out of the EU, we have to try even harder to keep the large corporations here. Growth in the UK has lagged that of other G7 economies in recent years. Productivity and GDP per hour worked are particularly low here.

Low levels of business investment, Brexit barriers to trade, low public investment and problems with skills training have been cited as factors that have left Britain lagging its peers.

Presumably you mean middle income earners though, and not middle classes?

In fact 60% of the income generated by taxation comes from the top ten percent tax payers.

Corporation tax already went up from 19% to 25% last year !

They aren’t evading tax, they are avoiding it. They have entire departments dedicated to minimising tax bills, legally.

you can’t tax the hell out of companies or they will relocate.

Thank you. I’m amazed this hasn’t had more replies given the sheer number of posters who believe this is the answer to all our financial problems….

Firstly, whilst companies pay tax, all tax is effectively levied on individuals. If companies pay more tax their prices go up.

Secondly, big companies are typically international and can move revenue around to the lowest jurisdiction. That’s we need international treaties, which are hard to agree / implement.

if it were easy, it would’ve happened already.

That's easy to answer. There are a significant number of people who form an opinion based on little, if any, actual fact, and then don't like to be educated by someone else. You only have to look at Brexshit to see that.

So, on here, there are those who think all our problems are caused by tax dodgers, and don't like being educated about it. This thread (fortunately) has some informed people on it, so the other posters, by default, are likely to stay away.

The irony is that Mumsnet, like any other discussion board, is a great place to learn about stuff and is the very place to learn. You can tell that this view is not shared by the amount of posters who just want to have their own opinion read back to them, but disappear when this does not happen.