Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, said that he supported “country-by-country” proposals first put forward by the European Parliament that would mean all businesses detailing the contribution they make to the state.
He said any moves would stop companies being “tarnished” by tax rows where the detailed facts were not available.
Companies like Starbucks, he argued, had a “good story” to tell on their UK operations despite some criticising them for the low levels of corporation tax they pay.
The Business Secretary said any proposals should come under the control of the G8 group of industrialised nations and should not be a matter for Europe alone.
He said the OECD should also play a role after Britain and Germany backed a review by the global economic body of international tax policy.
The Treasury is also believed to be supportive of moves to increase what was described as a “transparency push” by one official.
The European Parliament has said that the new rules should initially apply only to banks and have attached an amendment to a complex set of new banking regulations being considered by the European Union.
The regulations also include the controversial cap on bankers’ bonuses.
Although the Treasury said that applying the new rules to banks first would be sensible, it is thought that the Chancellor also agrees that the ultimate target would be for all companies above a certain size to comply.
“I’m very sympathetic [to the idea of country-by-country reporting],” Mr Cable told The Sunday Telegraph. “If something could come out of the G8 process leading into the OECD that would be very good.
“Then you would get a proper international agreement across the countries that matter. That would be a good forum in which to get some kind of agreement to establish good practice.”
Britain is chairing the G8 at present and David Cameron has said he wants an international agreement on how companies pay taxes. His move came after foreign companies, such as Starbucks and Google, faced criticism for paying small amounts of corporation tax in the UK.
Both businesses pointed out that they contributed wealth and taxes in other ways by employing people and paying business rates. “There is mounting concern about where tax is actually paid,” Mr Cable said.
“The danger at the moment is that this just spills over into a generalised anti-business, anti-multinational sentiment which is unhelpful because we do want successful businesses, we do want inward investment.
We don’t want people to be stigmatised on the basis of ad hoc little bits of research.” Mr Cable said that the issue had been discussed in Government and that there would be legislation if necessary.
“It is quite possible that some of those companies have been traduced in a very unfair way,” he said.
“As it happens my staff spent quite a bit of time talking to Starbucks and going through their accounts with them and it did turn out that they hadn’t made any profits here on which to pay tax.
“They actually had a good story but because you had to burrow away it didn’t emerge and their reputation has been severely tarnished as a result.
“It would have been much better if the whole thing had been open.” Banking sources said that there was a concern that raising the tax issue again would be seen as “anti-business”.
telegraph.co.uk
He said any moves would stop companies being “tarnished” by tax rows where the detailed facts were not available.
Companies like Starbucks, he argued, had a “good story” to tell on their UK operations despite some criticising them for the low levels of corporation tax they pay.
The Business Secretary said any proposals should come under the control of the G8 group of industrialised nations and should not be a matter for Europe alone.
He said the OECD should also play a role after Britain and Germany backed a review by the global economic body of international tax policy.
The Treasury is also believed to be supportive of moves to increase what was described as a “transparency push” by one official.
The European Parliament has said that the new rules should initially apply only to banks and have attached an amendment to a complex set of new banking regulations being considered by the European Union.
The regulations also include the controversial cap on bankers’ bonuses.
Although the Treasury said that applying the new rules to banks first would be sensible, it is thought that the Chancellor also agrees that the ultimate target would be for all companies above a certain size to comply.
“I’m very sympathetic [to the idea of country-by-country reporting],” Mr Cable told The Sunday Telegraph. “If something could come out of the G8 process leading into the OECD that would be very good.
“Then you would get a proper international agreement across the countries that matter. That would be a good forum in which to get some kind of agreement to establish good practice.”
Britain is chairing the G8 at present and David Cameron has said he wants an international agreement on how companies pay taxes. His move came after foreign companies, such as Starbucks and Google, faced criticism for paying small amounts of corporation tax in the UK.
Both businesses pointed out that they contributed wealth and taxes in other ways by employing people and paying business rates. “There is mounting concern about where tax is actually paid,” Mr Cable said.
“The danger at the moment is that this just spills over into a generalised anti-business, anti-multinational sentiment which is unhelpful because we do want successful businesses, we do want inward investment.
We don’t want people to be stigmatised on the basis of ad hoc little bits of research.” Mr Cable said that the issue had been discussed in Government and that there would be legislation if necessary.
“It is quite possible that some of those companies have been traduced in a very unfair way,” he said.
“As it happens my staff spent quite a bit of time talking to Starbucks and going through their accounts with them and it did turn out that they hadn’t made any profits here on which to pay tax.
“They actually had a good story but because you had to burrow away it didn’t emerge and their reputation has been severely tarnished as a result.
“It would have been much better if the whole thing had been open.” Banking sources said that there was a concern that raising the tax issue again would be seen as “anti-business”.
telegraph.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment