ReallyReallyGoodMeat

Okay, of course from a legal standpoint they are different, but they are both ways of not paying tax, so you need to be clearer when just saying they are 'opposite'.

Yes, but that is not an excuse to crack down on them is it?

Who's to say a tax-paying chain such as Nero or Costa would not take their place? You think these same employees would be out of a job if they didn't work for Starbucks? The only people truly benefitting from the arrangement are lawyers and accountants.

ReallyReallyGoodMeat

Depends. If my neighbour was an American and squirrelled his money in foreign schemes I had no access to, yet had access to all the exact same amenities I had access to, then yes I'd be p!ssed. Especially if all the public services around me were turning to crap due to lack of funding.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Yes, we pay the VAT, they collect it from us and hand it to HMRC, if they didnt then they would be in big trouble for that one so I suspect it is probably correct. They will claim VAT back on anything they buy that has it levied.

Employers NI wont be vast amounts and every company has to pay these regardless, dont know the rates but if a company emoloys a lot of lower paid workers then they may not even need to pay it.

Businesses that pay full tax in the UK still provide employment, if they didnt someone else would, they only employ people as their isnt a machine to do the job, it isnt some benevolent gesture, usually companies spend as much effort as they can dumbing down terms and conditions in their favour, especially with unskilled labour. With the lower paid workers the state subsidises their income with various benefits so we get pay tax to goverment and they dole it out to people so they can have a cheap workforce, so we get to pay in whilst they make their profits dissapear with smoke and mirrors.

Basically my thinking is that if you do business here and make a profit then you pay a few quid back into the system and the system really needs to sort things out so nobody can void/evade paying any tax.

If everyone paid some when they are earning then perhaps it might not be as high.

Sorting out this country and its finanes will be a load of incremental changes, this is but one.

jonc

It doesn't matter what rent is charged, it is naive to think that if a business closes then anther competing businesses would step in and take over the premises and it's staff. In the majority of cases this just does not happen in the real world. The competing business would have to consider it's own finances first and whether it has the capital to do such a thing. It is very rare that competitor would step in and take over and the reality is that the premises, in the current climate, remain empty for long periods or turn into a "pound" shop.

jonc

That's rubbish, the number of new start up businesses in the UK has been rising, there has been a steady and continued rise in new startup businesses from 2010.

jonc

I agree that this should not go on and the loop holes should be closed, however, neither should the government impose a punitive taxation policy that would discourage foreign investment. I don't profess to have an answer on how to tackle this, I'm not an accountant but what I would say is that there is a fine balance between taxation and investment in businesses both home grown and foreign. As such any new policies should also ensure the UK remain as an attractive and competitive proposition.

ScoobyWon't

When the choice is create your own job or have no job at all, the attraction of starting up is likely to rise.

jonc

Sure, and I salute those that are brave enough to do so instead of claiming off the state. But my point was that there will still be plenty of UK businesses starting up despite the current tax policy. And to add that it's stupid to compare our situation with that of Greece.

andy97

iTrader: (1)

I didnt phrase the question that way I was posing the question to see if you would do tax avoidance if you had the same opportunity, well would you?