TAX AVOIDANCE

Early day motion 219, tabled 13 November 2007 by Austin Mitchell (Labour). Signed by 26 members.

That this House urges the Government to investigate and regulate the activities of banks, law firms, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Ernst and Young, Grant Thornton and other accountancy firms in devising, marketing, promoting, implementing and concealing aggressive tax avoidance schemes which have no commercial substance because their sole purpose is to avoid paying their dues to society in UK taxes on income and profits, thus enabling 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.

Signatures by party: Labour 23, Liberal Democrat 3.