On this Thursday, 2 May, the High Court will hear a case
being brought by the campaign group UK Uncut against HMRC. UK Uncut will argue
that HMRC entered into an unlawful “sweetheart deal” with one of the wealthiest
global banks, Goldman Sachs and allowed them to pay £20 million less than they
should legally have paid.
The £20 million is alleged to represent interest which
had built up as a result of Goldmans engaging in aggressive tax avoidance
relating to bankers’ bonuses by setting up an elaborate scheme to channel money
through the Virgin Islands.
Goldmans is notorious for its aggressive approach to
business, which has earned it the name, the Vampire Squid – because it is said
to “wrap (itself) around the face of
humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like
money”.
UK Uncut will argue that the sweetheart deal was made by
the then top tax man Dave Hartnett and he acted unlawfully as his actions were
in direct contradiction with HMRC’s statutory duty to collect taxes and to do so
properly, fairly and equally.
The members of UK Uncut are not after any of the £20
million for themselves, of course. They have a superior moral code to Goldmans
- and most others in public life. They are simply being public spirited. They want
the £20 million to be paid by Goldmans to HMRC and, most importantly, they want
to stop similar sweetheart deals with wealthy corporations and individuals taking
place in the future.
With economic growth negligible, taxing and spending is these
days essentially zero sum. £20 million less collected is £20 million less for
schools, hospitals, soldiers, deficit reduction or whatever the priority may
be.
With the honourable exceptions of Private Eye, which
broke the original Goldman Sachs story, the Guardian and the Independent, the
press usually ignore UK Uncut or paints them as left wing extremists. This is
hardly surprising as most of the press is owned by billionaires who are
themselves suspected of tax dodging on a large scale.
Sadly, even the Radio 4 flagship Today program – which
might be expected to be more concerned with the objective truth than the press -
insisted on smearing UK Uncut as “anti-capitalist” until there were persistent
complaints. A moment’s thought reveals
that there is nothing remotely “anti-capitalist” in tackling tax dodging.
UK Uncut have already been directly responsible for
Starbucks paying £20 million “voluntarily” to HMRC and indirectly they are
probably responsible for a great deal more money being paid by rich tax dodgers
to the benefit of the rest of society.
If the British public – including Middle England and the readers of the
Murdoch, Rothermere, Barclays and Desmond press – were told the truth about UK
Uncut they would heartily approve.
In time, I think, UK Uncut will be seen as pioneers in
the cause of social justice, successors to the likes of the Chartists and the
Suffragettes. The wealthy tax cheats, their helpers and their apologists will,
I expect, come to be generally recognised as the selfish, anti-social
reactionaries some already see them as today.
No. 306
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