You are reading a single comment by @hugo7 and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@hugo7
It doesn't work like that.
You have tax evasion (illegal), and you have tax avoidance (legal).
It is often proposed to have specific anti-avoidance legislation. One problem is that you end up in this weird situation, where you're prohibiting people from doing something that is legal. Which tbh makes me uneasy as a principle. Especially when HMRC already have some pretty fucked up ways of operating.
I'd say Corporations are a perfect example of where lowing tax is a good thing. @ 15% most wouldn't bother with the hassle of structuring their affairs to seriously avoid tax, followed by the enquiry process, followed by the cost of going to court if the enquiry goes against them, followed by the risk of the Court going against them, or the inevitable cost of settling, and all set against the backdrop of wasting loads of time/money.
Also remember a lot of them don't like all the negative PR. One well known pharmaceutical co, makes sure that it always 'makes money' in every jurisdiction it operates in, just so it can pay tax.
As for better funding the Public Sector and privatisation... from my limited experience of the Public Sector I think there is a lot they could do themselves to make sure they're better funded. Limiting pensions is a start. Hopefully this (amongst other things) would get them on the road to having employees rather than wasting a fortune on temp agencies and contractors just to get around it.
Also growing some balls and actually challenging the fees they are charged and hold contractors to account. IMO individual bonuses for heads of departments would be a good way of doing this, because (ime) there seems to be an endemic problem that no one seems to give a fuck about where/what money is spent as it 'isn't theirs'.