Make a principle of not avoiding tax, by Steve Richards

31 Mar 11
The forthcoming National Audit Office review of Revenue & Customs, high-profile alleged tax avoidance cases and Richard Murphy’s ‘There is an alternative’ (Public Finance, October 8, 2010), all raise the question whether we accountants have a conflict of interest on tax.

The forthcoming National Audit Office review of Revenue & Customs, high-profile alleged tax avoidance cases and Richard Murphy’s ‘There is an alternative’ (Public Finance, October 8, 2010), all raise the question whether we accountants have a conflict of interest on tax.

Legal tax avoidance and enforcement have become highly developed and lucrative specialisms for the profession. It is like lawyers defending high rates of legal aid.

A law that is not uniformly enforced on everyone is an unjust law. A tax that is only a tax on people who can’t afford a specialist accountant is an unjust tax.

Would a general anti-avoidance principle be a desirable reform? If the government wants to reduce tax on UK companies in a way that complies with EU law, leaving tax loopholes and creating precedents for exploiting them is not the way to do it.

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