INVESTIGATION OF THE TAX AVOIDANCE INDUSTRY

Early day motion 384, tabled 21 June 2005 by Austin Mitchell (Labour). Signed by 45 members.

That this House urges the Government to investigate the activities of banks, law firms, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Ernst and Young, Grant Thornton and other firms in devising, marketing, promoting, implementing and concealing aggressive tax avoidance schemes which have no commercial substance and whose sole purpose is to avoid UK taxes on income and profits, thus enabling their wealthy and corporate clients to avoid taxes and national insurance contributions by transfer pricing, artificial loans, inflated management charges, special purpose vehicles, joint ventures, fictitious assets, offshore schemes and secretive trusts, all designed to deprive the Treasury of billions of pounds of tax revenues which in turn forces the Government to curtail social investment and shift the tax burden onto ordinary individuals, as evidenced by the increase in the 1989-90 income tax total from £48.8 billion to £122.4 billion in 2004-05, while the corporation tax over the same period, despite low inflation and record company profits, increased from £21.5 billion to £33.5 billion, making corporate taxes less than 2.5 per cent. of the GDP, resulting in regressive tax burdens and distribution of wealth and tax burdens.

Signatures by party: Labour 30, Liberal Democrat 13, Plaid Cymru 1, Scottish National Party 1.