Tax Havens And Hm Revenue And Customs

EDM number 1574 in 2008-09, proposed by John McDonnell on 02/06/2009.
Categorised under the topics of Companies and Taxation.

That this House notes that the UK plays a major role in tax dodging, with many of the world's tax havens being British dependencies or territories, and with many tax lawyers and accountants working in the City of London; believes that companies have a social responsibility to pay their fair share of tax, not only in the UK but also in the developing world; further notes that since its creation HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has pursued a programme of job cuts and office closures, and plans to close over 200 offices and cut 25,000 jobs by 2011, undermining HMRC's ability to assess, enforce and collect taxes and monies at a time when the tax gap is estimated by the Tax Justice Network to be costing the UK £100 billion a year and developing countries £250 billion a year; and calls on the Government to halt staff cutbacks and tax office closures in HMRC, to work with other countries to eradicate tax dodging practices, such as trade mis-pricing, and to promote transparency through country-by-country reporting by companies on the tax they owe, to abolish all UK tax havens, to prosecute those corporate executives, lawyers and accountants for profit laundering and tax dodging, and to use the taxes collected to help fund vital public services in the UK and in developing countries.

This motion has been signed by a total of 39 MPs.