So David Cameron wants to "sweep away secrecy" wrt tax avoidance.

[SoupDragon]

i wonder if he will be doing the same for individuals as well as companies? I refuse to believe that there are no MPs, for example, who pay only the tax they absolutely have to by law.

They do have to declare all their interests, so in theory it should be harder for them to fail to declare all their earnings...

Was listening to a news prog on Radio 4 earlier - the expert (whose name I did not catch) was saying paying tax is basically optional these days for multi-national corps. Apparently Jersey is the world's leading producer of some product they really don't make (will come back to me) just as Starbucks buy all their coffee from that well-known coffee growing nation, Switzerland.

Another expert on the news last night said the latest international reforms are aimed at dealing with dirty money - laundering proceeds of crime via front companies and hiding beneficial owners - so shouldn't be a problem for legitimate firms at all. Quite the reverse,

Making multi-national corps pay tax where they actually do their business would be better for smaller businesses as well as ordinary taxpayers - how can a start-up or small business compete with a company that turns billions of pounds in profit but pays no tax at all?

SoupDragon aren't most people only paying the tax they absolutely have to by law?

Jersey are responsible for the supply of almost all bananas. David Cameron probably eats lots of bananas, isn't that what monkeys eat?

It seems that Scameron believes a few measly words will suffice. He is apparently talking about all the billions lost in tax revenue in developing countries being far in excess of the aid money given to these countries. Problem is though, how can you both inflict free market reform and make demands upon countries that insist they privatise everything and hand over to corporations, whilst at the same time claim to be clamping down on the tax avoidance of these corporations. I do wish Dave would apply some joined up thinking at this rate he will make himself unelectable in 2015. Without the backing of those whose interests he is meant to serve, he can kiss any second term goodbye.

I'm with BaconKetchup. Get a bill from HMRC for a particular amount and you'll get no thanks for sending an extra tenner. Different if you're a tenner short of course. If there are legitimate ways to pay less tax no-one, private individual or organisation, should be pilloried for doing so. If they have spare cash and a social conscience, give it to a charity....

legitimate is an interesting word. Is it legitimate to use a chain of front companies to hide the actual beneficial owner? Is it legitimate to use artificial strategems to magic all the profits made in the UK to another arm of the company abroad, or to pretend that all the UK profits have been wiped out because the UK arm is charged a questionable fee by another part of the company, or has to repay a 'loan'?

Is it legitimate to engage in unfair competition against companies that do actually pay tax in the UK?

I, for one, look forward to an in depth look at Zac non-dom Goldsmith's tak affairs.

I dont see why people are in such uproar about tax avoidence,its legal!evasion is illegal.

It's not 'hiding', 'magic' or 'pretence' to organise income streams and business locations to legitimately & legally take advantage of varying corporation tax rates. If the accounts are audited and shown to be wrong, there are consequences. If the laws are wrong, change the laws.

I dont see why people are in such uproar about tax avoidence,its legal!evasion is illegal

Indeed, however, it seems that the current gov are blurring the two. I'm sure I heard the chap on the BBC talking about evasion when it seemed as if the whole article was about avoidance. The trouble is the vast majority of the public don't actually know the difference so it's easy to deflect the blame onto companies, instead of those that make the laws in the first place.

oh come off it cogito, do you really think Switzerland is a major coffee-producing nation? And Jersey the home of the banana?

Not at all. No more than I think landlocked Moldova is the home of ocean-going petrol tankers or Bophuthatswana a natural location for casinos. But, human ingenuity being what it is, if something isn't actually illegal and there is a financial advantage to doing it... it will happen. I don't think we should be blaming the people that take advantage of bad laws.