“Where there is discord may we bring harmony. Where there is error may we bring truth. Where there is doubt may we bring faith. And where there is despair may we bring hope.” Remember that nauseating quote from a newly elected Margaret Thatcher on the steps of Downing St on her first day in office in 1979?
This was a woman who went on to put troops on the streets of the UK; who declared class war on trade unions and open war on the miners and mining communities; who presided over almost 15 years of police corruption, most of which is just now seeing the light of day through events like the Hillsborough inquiry; and who caused untold damage to British industry and those who worked in it.
An extensive article and research by Kevin Farnsworth on the Renewal website examines the extent to which UK public policy is skewed in favour of private companies – placing business tax cuts, deregulation, privatisation and a weakening of employment rights etc in the context of a corporate welfare state. ‘Direct and indirect public provision that is aimed at private companies accounts for a significant share of state expenditure. During these times of austerity and public sector cuts, a detailed analysis of the costs and benefits of corporate welfare is essential to weigh the direction, emphasis and trade-offs associated with corporate welfare’
http://www.renewal.org.uk/articles/the-british-corporate-welfare-state/
Tax pays for Governments. Governments use tax to pay for international development and aid. There is of course a place for charitable endeavours and arguably tax will never be enough but the rank hypocrisy of would-be-saints ‘Bono’ and ‘Geldof’ with their warped views on taxation and fairness isn’t ‘bollocks’. It is at the heart of what is right and what is wrong with the super-rich believing they can say one thing and do another. When it comes to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable there is a direct cause between the West’s approach to tax havens and the worlds poorest being short changed. Ebola has been made all the worst by poor sanitation and crumbling healthcare. International tax fairness can resolve that.
Read these links and then you decide.
http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1026589.shtml
http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2012/05/16/whys-bob-geldof-so-tetchy-about-his-tax-affairs/
And then perhaps make a direct donation to
DEC as an alternative to massaging the egos of past-their sell-by-date rock capitalists.
It has been hard to miss the coverage of Grangemouth petro-chemical works in the past few days. From a parochial local matter, the affair has been escalated into the national headlines as an example of union intransigence costing workers jobs. The origins of the dispute lie with union perception and reaction to the victimisation of a member, an affair going back to the Labour Party and the Falkirk candidate selection conflict.
Ineos alone chose to up the ante, threatening closure unless the entire workforce agreed to drastic cuts in terms and conditions (including the closure of the final salary pension scheme), a no strike agreement and as a last resort attempting to cut the union out by going directly to the workforce. This can best be described as blackmail, at worst as extortion.
Michael Meacher MP reviews last week’s local elections in England’s shire counties, and calls for ‘two or three key exciting ideas which really resonate with the public and set the pulse racing a bit.’ How about this for a Labour 2015 General Election pledge card?
1. End austerity
2. Tax the hyper-rich
3. A massive programme of social housing construction
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/132529
The main pitch of Prime Minister David Cameron ahead of today's local elections in England's shire counties, was to stress that more Conservative run councils had taken advantage of Whitehall subsidies to freeze council tax in the past three years than councils controlled by other parties. This populist appeal to self interest is echoed by Scotland's governing Scottish National Party. UNISON Scotland has published important research demonstrating the socially regressive and unfair impact of a council tax freeze at a time of massive central government cuts:
http://www.ukwirednews.com/news.php/1481753-Unison-claims-council-tax-freeze-benefits-the-wealthy
This week marks an escalation in the Coalition Government’s war against the poor in Britain. Passed off as ‘predictable criticism’ by well heeled Chancellor George Osborne MP, there is growing public outrage at the imposition of the bedroom tax on low income social housing tenants at the same time as the richest 1.5% of earners receive a 5% tax cut with 13,000 millionaires getting a tax cut of £100,000 per year:
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/03/why-april-will-be-cruellest-month-age-austerity
Not so much a slip of the tongue but a revelation of the true intention of Government. Cutting public spending hasn’t worked and hasn’t reduced the deficit but Liam Fox, darling of the right, hunts down public sector budgets by suggesting the public sector saves a further £300 billion. Just a coincidence this money will then be used to fund Tory tax cuts before the next election. Who said Fox hunting had been outlawed?
http://www.localgov.co.uk/index.cfm?method=news.detail&id=109161
Anna Rose
It is becoming almost a daily occurrence to discover the scale and depth of tax avoidance by multinationals but this latest one I hope makes you think twice before buying Silver Spoon sugar, Kingsmill bread, or Twinings teas. These household brands are produced by Associated British Foods and, in their Zambian operations, have been found by Actionaid to weave a web of tax avoidance on such a grand scale they have paid virtually no tax in spite of multi-billion dollar operations:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/feb/09/british-sugar-giant-tax-scandal
The NHS operates for the public good. Private firms operate for the good of their shareholders. It is entirely legitimate for the state to therefore not collect tax from itself on behalf of itself to then re-spend on the same public services. That would be bureaucracy gone mad. It is entirely legitimate in a fair society to demand those making a profit contribute back into society through taxation.
The NHS is on course to become a tax haven for private health care companies. Monitor, the NHS 'regulator and promoter of competition' is reportedly sympathetic to private sector demands for an exemption from paying corporation tax on their profits. This is further evidence of the public services industrial complex calling the shots in public policy - this time in a Government commissioned review of competition in the health service. Andrew Street, professor of health economics at the University of York, states in the Guardian that Monitor had "been influenced by industry. This looks like pandering to special interests to me. If companies wanted to provide NHS hospital services and not pay tax then they could do so by becoming charities"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/jan/13/private-firms-corporation-tax-nhs-profits
An economics primer written and directed by Fred Glass for the California Federation of Teachers. An eight minute video about how we arrived at this moment of poorly funded public services and widening economic inequality. Things go downhill in a happy and prosperous land after the rich decide they don't want to pay taxes anymore. They tell the people that there is no alternative, but the people aren't so sure. This land bears a startling resemblance to our land. © 2012 California Federation of Teachers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6ZsXrzF8Cc&feature=player_embedded
'There are 10,000 multimillionaires living in Britain with a combined wealth of £700bn, an average of £70 million each. The richest 1,000 people - 0.003 per cent of the population - have actually added £155bn to their personal wealth in the last three years,' writes Graham Stevenson in an incisive critique of unequal Britain ahead of today's lobby of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham. 'We need a Plebs League for the 21st century that perhaps even the Police Federation could join - once it's affiliated to the TUC':
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/124697
Johann Lamont presented the people of Scotland with some very difficult and very pertinent questions last Tuesday on the future provision and funding of public services. She was absolutely correct that world class public services cannot be provided when funding is being cut.
Cost of tax avoidance three times the cost of benefits. See the graph.
The Guardian reports an under-current running through the budget which exposes the duplicity of the Lib Dems who are complicit in a budget settlement that will take money from the poorest to subsidize a £20 billion tax bonanza for bent businesses that avoid paying UK taxes.
