Martin Vander Weyer Martin Vander Weyer

Why the real winner from George Osborne’s ‘Google tax’ could be Nigel Farage

Plus: Northern Rock’s charitable legacy in danger; and the news from Hong Kong

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne delivers his speech during the second say of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham in central England on September 29, 2014. Britain's ruling Conservative party will announce plans to scrap an inheritance tax, as it sets out economic policies aimed at wooing voters ahead of a general election next May. AFP PHOTO/LEON NEAL (Photo credit should read LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images) 
issue 04 October 2014

George Osborne’s promise to crack down on multinational companies’ avoidance of UK taxes by the use of impenetrable devices such as the ‘Double Irish’ and the ‘Dutch Sandwich’ certainly has the support of this column. I have long argued that the ‘fiduciary duty’ (identified by Google chairman Eric Schmidt) to minimise tax bills within the law for the benefit of shareholders has to be balanced against a moral duty to pay at least a modicum of tax in every profitable territory. Google, Apple, Amazon and eBay, as well as Starbucks and big names of the pharmaceutical sector, are among those known to use smart schemes which variously involve sales bookings in low-tax Ireland or Luxembourg, transfers in and out of the Netherlands, and ‘royalty’ payments (for the use of Starbucks branding, for instance) in any other direction that saves a few tax dollars.

Those dollars add up to billions at stake for Osborne’s deficit-laden Treasury.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in