Why multinationals love the EU ... and spread so much fear about Brexit

[millyonth]

I read this article this morning by Graham Stringer MP. I thought I would put it here just to add a Leaver's perspective to these Remain-dominated boards. I have a small business and I agree with everything he says. It's worth noting that small businesses employ more people in the UK than the multinationals do - but the multinationals' voices are much louder - especially in parliamentary lobbies. Their voices are behind all the Brexit fear and doom-mongering which is so prevalent on MN - and gets in the way of planning a positive future for the UK.

This is how Stringer's article starts ...
"If you found yourself in conversation with a top executive from the tax-shy American multinational Amazon what do you think you would say? My guess is that most people would start with something like: “Why don’t you stop avoiding our taxes and pay your fair share, you scabrous fat cat?!” Taking this obvious line did not seem to occur to the man responsible for raising taxes, Chancellor Philip Hammond. Instead, in conversation with Amazon Vice President Doug Gurr and other top executives of multinationals, he chose to explain how he would thwart both the decisions of the House of Commons and the electorate on Brexit. No talk of Amazon tax but commitments given to conspire against the electorate and Parliament. This gives us a useful insight: that multinationals want to keep the EU just as it is ..."

brexitcentral.com/political-establishments-sense-entitlement-overtaken-sense-democracy/

And before you point out that the EU sometimes raps Amazon on the knuckles with a fine, those sort of managed reprimands are just token gestures that make the whole thing even more maddening. If you're interested you can google Juncker Amazon Luxembourg to find out more about Amazon's place at the heart of the EU.

Millyonth
I don't understand your reasoning. 1)revoke probably won't happen but OK.
2) WA and transition, yes great, it gives time for adjustment.
3) No deal, makes no sense. Your business UK to EU will practically stop, at least for several weeks (being very optimistic) while new systems are set up. The necessary forms aren't even written yet as no one knows what is going to happen. They may well be similar to customs forms used to ship to Africa or wherever (as a third country) but the overall systems are not in place.
As mentioned on another thread, you may sell something now, but what happens in 6 months for a warranty claim, which legal jurisdiction, if it is to be repaired, this action might class as a 'service' which is not necessarily covered.

And the ones that do mostly don't have any experience of dealing with customs declarations, nor any capacity to undertake this work.

Err - yes they do. I was finance director of a "small" company back in the 90's, and we exported probably 90% of our sales across the globe, particularly to the USA, Brazil and Asia. In fact, we exported barely anything to Europe. There's loads of help/support available. Most of the major transport firms will help with the paperwork - they've got whole departments sorting out export documentation. We also made extensive use of the Federation of Small business and our local Chamber of Trade, the latter who also had specialist in house export staff. Likewise we imported loads of things from outside the EU including metal components weighing several tons - I don't think we ever had a problem with significant delays etc.

Same with all the modern e-commerce websites, ebayers, etc - exporting outside the UK/EU is now very common, and again, there's loads of help available online - your local post office will help with the export paperwork.

I know this is anecdotal but he probably speaks to 20 smes a month and he’s saying it’s already carnage out there.

Must be the area then. I have about 100 SME clients who I'm in contact with at least 2/3 times a year, some weekly, and barely a handful are losing any sleep over it. They're more worried about HMRC's MTD car crash.

I would hope that corporation tax would be low for all businesses. Lower taxes and less avoidance means a higher tax take

That (and other) statements makes me wonder if you run a business at all.

The recent UK cuts to corporation tax will cost the UK treasury over £6 billion, with zero incentive to spend this money on anything at all, let alone spend in the UK on jobs or investment.

Kazzy
Ah yes, MTD
How many VAT returns will be rejected in July when the rules change ?
How many people do not know about the sector extensions?
And yet HMRC is so snowed under remembering how to do T2 and C88
that there has been NO public information

Err - yes they do.

They mostly don't; a minority do.

Even small businesses that already export outside the EU may struggle with the increased administrative burden once they have to make customs declarations for EU shipments as well.

They may also face other costs: at my workplace we are seeing EU customers insist that any extra costs post-Brexit - eg import tariffs - must be funded by U.K. suppliers. We also have to fund the extra inventory costs. Even for a big company it's a significant burden.

An SME may not be in the export trade, but they sure as hell will be in the import trade in some shape or form. Their customers may well include many non-UK citizens, and they may depend on EU nationals for their staff.

Their UK customers ability to spend will also depend on the size and growth of the economy which will also be impacted by any form of Brexit.

It is also strange, very odd, that all these things that UK SMEs supposedly cannot do because of the EU do not hamper the very large SME sector in Germany.