BAN FURLOUGHS TO TAX AVOIDERS
MPs urge PM to copy other nations
BORIS Johnson is under mounting pressure to ban bosses who avoid UK taxes from getting bailouts.
Opposition parties, churches and charities want the PM to copy France, Denmark and Poland who deny state aid to tax-dodging firms.
Labour leader Keir Starmer, said: “It’s not good enough for companies to extpect bailouts while failing to support workers or pay tax they owe.”
Lib Dem MP Layla Moran added: “I’m calling on the Government to only give support to companies who commit to leaving their tax havens, moving back to the UK for tax purposes and contributing their fare share from now on.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby says vulnerable people “pay the price” of an underfunded NHS while large companies make “huge profits yet hide their wealth in tax havens”.
But when challenged on the issue in
Some funeral firms are struggling the Commons last week, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab ducked the issue.
He said: “We should take some of the partisan language out of this and support workers up and down this country who rely on those businesses.”
International corporations use complex – but entirely legal – “tax efficient structures” to shift income around the world to cut their bills.
Twenty of Britain’s biggest companies operate more than 1,000 subsidiaries in offshore tax havens.
Ministers have refused to say which tycoons with overseas head offices have applied for help in the crisis.
But one mogul asking for a bailout is Virgin Group billionaire Richard Branson – who offered his private Caribbean island Necker as collateral.
Critics have pointed out that he has paid no personal income tax since moving there 14 years ago.
And campaigners have accused the Government of failing to use its own laws to tax big business more.
Since 2016 the Finance Act has allowed the Treasury to demand multinationals come clean about finances on a country-by-country basis.
Tax Justice Network claims officials could have used the law to net an extra £2.5billion every year.
The group’s chief Alex Cobham said: “Now more than ever, governments must reprogramme their tax systems to prioritise people’s wellbeing over the interests of the wealthiest.”
Chancellor Rishi
Sunak is also under pressure to change furlough rules so bosses can let staff work some hours – like other countries.
At present, workers get up to £2,500 a month but cannot do any work.
Think tank Reform wants the scheme tailored so staff can gradually return to work and still get support. The group’s Aidan Shilson-Thomas said: “It may not be flexible enough as the economy slowly begins to restart.” Germany pays up to 60 per cent of net wages to compensate for reduced hours.
In Canada, employees share reduced hours and are compensated for those lost.
Sweden cuts hours to different percentage levels with matching support.
Rules are also inflexible for charities whose workers are often also volunteers.
BA planes lie on a runway at Bournemouth as airlines face the collapse of global travel.
The pandemic has grounded most major flights as fears grow that many carriers could go bust.
Last night BA faced a possible legal challenge from unions over plans to make nearly 12,000 staff redundant.
Unions question whether the cuts are legal after BA furloughed more than half of its 45,000 workers under the taxpayer-funded scheme.
They also ask why BA’s owner IAG has refused to seek a UK bailout while taking £800million in state aid from Spain for its Iberia airline.
The Unite union says BA could survive a year with its fleet grounded after making a £1.7billlion profit last year.