14
June
2013
Trade Unions challenged David Cameron yesterday to use next week's G8 summit to plan a radical crackdown on tax dodgers.
The Prime Minister has been forced to pledge to use his term as G8 president to tackle tax avoidance after probes into Google, Amazon and Starbucks uncovered their dodgy dealing.
Ahead of the Northern Ireland meeting the TUC set out a plan for how world leaders can finally halt the tax robbery and avoid the limp measures proposed at the G20 summit in London in 2009. Top of the list is better sharing of information on individuals and organisations' income to more easily expose avoidance. Next is a call for countries to copy new US laws that make it mandatory to offer information on the incomes of its citizens to other countries.
The TUC also wants to see an "urgent" cash boost for Britain's failing register of companies that is supposed to hold accurate information on ownership and provide real transparency.
General secretary Frances O'Grady warned Mr Cameron that hard-pressed people have had enough of being ripped off by big business. "It has taken years of campaigning to get governments to take tax justice seriously," she said. "But with voters across the globe hit by austerity and spending cuts, no politician can now ignore the corporations and super-rich individuals who say that tax is for the little people.
"Warm words will not be enough. This is why we have set the summit five tests and warned the Prime Minister that he cannot be taken seriously in calling for the real owners of trusts and companies to be registered until the UK sets up its own register."
Further pressure came by way of a poll that showed a whopping 85 per cent of people in 13 countries crying out for action against tax dodgers.
An overwhelming 96 per cent of Britons demanded action, along with nine in 10 Germans, Canadians and four in five French.
International Trade Union Confederation general secretary Sharan Burrow said: "The sheer scale of tax evasion revealed by one corporate tax scandal after another is matched only by the injustice to workers and their families.
"In developing countries in particular, national economies are robbed of revenues which could be used to address critical needs of such as food security, health, poverty alleviation and education."
