Following a successful weekend of demonstrations, the Daily Mail has joined the UK Uncut tax avoidance campaign. Alex Brummer writes today about the "exploitation of rules" by corporations.
Following a successful weekend of demonstrations against tax dodging, an unlikely source has joined the campaign against tax avoidance. The Daily Mail’s City Editor, Alex Brummer, writes today about the “exploitation of rules” by companies that lower their tax liabilities. It shows that the insurgent tax avoidance campaign can unite both right and left.
A weekend of action in 23 different towns and cities by UK Uncut resulted in the closure of several shops including Top Shop’s flagship Oxford Street store. The UK Uncut website reports:
“On Oxford Street, London, a sit-in forced the five-storey flagship Topshop store to close, before protesters moved onto close BHS, Vodafone, Boots, and Dorothy Perkins. In Brighton, 18 activists were arrested following the shut down of a Topshop, where protests super-glued themselves to the window.
“Vodafone and Topshops stores were closed in a further 6 cities – Nottingham, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Oxford Newcastle – with protests occuring in an additional 13 locations – Southampton, Stroud, Portsmouth, Lewisham, Reading, Wood Green, York, Liecester, Liverpool, Bristol, Glasgow, Cambridge and Edinburgh.”
City AM outlines this morning that Cadbury may be the next target for the protesters. UK Uncut find an unlikely ally in the form of the Daily Mail who cover Saturday’s protest in graphic detail. City Editor Alex Brummer draws attention to the group and highlights question marks over the tax residency plans of Kraft (which owns Cadbury) and the tax affairs of Sir Philip Green who owns Topshop. In an article titled ‘This plunder of our heritage‘, Brummer writes:
“Tax avoidance (organised by expensive teams of accountants) is perfectly legal. Yet it comes at the expense of millions of hard-working people who are not in a position to exploit such loopholes and have to bear the brunt of subsequent cuts in public services and increases in their own taxes…
“it is outrageous that the Government has failed to ensure big business shares the load, and has not demanded assurances from foreign buyers of major British firms (such as Kraft) about their future tax residency plans.
I”n the absence of proper official scrutiny of such important issues, a new pressure group called UK Uncut is campaigning against those companies it claims are escaping their tax liability to the Government. In its sights are conglomerates such as Kraft and Arcadia Group (which includes Topshop and BhS), owned by retail tycoon Sir Philip Green. What these protesters find particularly offensive is the fact that Green was chosen by David Cameron to help advise how the government machine could reduce expenditure.
You can follow the UK Uncut campaign on facebook and twitter.
31 Responses to “Daily Mail echoes UK Uncut campaign against tax avoidance”
Francis Chin
Ignorunts unite! RT @tweetminster "Daily Mail echoes UK Uncut campaign against tax avoidance" http://bit.ly/gJL77x – Left Foot Forward
Mr. Sensible
Well there you go…
Social media fuels protests across political divide « Slugger O'Toole
[…] whose latent power is well pitched here by Ian Birrell and supported believe it or not, by the Daily Mail, as highlighted by unlikely ally, Will Straw’s Left Foot Forward […]
Temden
If individuals or organisations are able to avoid paying so much tax whilst not breaking the law they are doing nothing wrong. I think it’s disgraceful behaviour that some Ukuncut protesters have show by carrying out acts of criminal damage. They are the unlawful ones.
Frank Terry
Everyday people pay the the tax due to them irrespective of how much they earn and the same principle must apply to the super elite corporate rich. It is grossly mistaken of those commenters quoted here to bleat about how PG is undeserving of criticism. He has avoided such a monumental amount of tax. Those of us who do pay our dues are justified in our pursuit of equity with PG and the many others who dodge their responsibilities. Go to Arcadia and buy and buy and buy AND then return to store and return and return and return and return again in your thousands over the christmas hols. No law is being broken rather than the breaching of good citizenship. But no law is being broken as PG and his apologists also claim. We pay he pay too, no?