ACCOUNTANCY HOUSES AND TAX AVOIDANCE

Early day motion 673, tabled 3 February 2009 by Austin Mitchell (Labour). Signed by 42 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 but then concealing aggressive tax avoidance schemes which have no commercial substance because their sole purpose is to avoid making a contribution to society via UK taxes on income and profits by enabling wealthy and corporate clients to avoid taxes and National Insurance contributions by transfer pricing, artifical 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 on to ordinary individuals.

Signatures by party: Labour 28, Liberal Democrat 8, Independent 3, Scottish National Party 2, Plaid Cymru 1.