If you can pay the minimum possible amount of tax on your earnings without breaking the law then when why not? Fill your boots I say.
I think you're actually legally obliged to do so.
They've got to return shareholder value, that is: to maximise the return for shareholders.
In fact, if a legal option exists that allows them to not pay tax, then they are failing their shareholders by not exercising that option.
Whether it's ethical or not is by the by as it's legal.
If we as a society have a problem with this, then we as a society should change the laws. Our representatives should change the laws to reflect our wishes. That it doesn't happen is in part because not everyone agrees it's unethical (i.e. the people doing it or hoping to do it... and it's more than you imagine, most contractors and self-employed enjoy a small fraction of what others would call tax evasion), and it's in part because the businesses that benefit the most can afford to lobby, petition and donate to parties that continue with the existing system.
Put it simply: If you have legally saved £100m by tax evasive policies within your company, then you could afford to spend £1m to continue those policies.
Worse, as a saving of any kind increases shareholder value, so long as you did it legally you could afford to spend £99,999,999.99 to save £100m... or one solitary pence.
Lawyers will get rich, and the company is a penny better off.
We can't bemoan a company doing what they're entitled to legally do.
But, we can come down like a tonne of bricks on a company that actively breaks the law and encourages breaking the law to achieve more profit.
That is the beef with Addison Lee. The bus lane stance is breaking the law, and ultimately this risk to life and limb of cyclists and other road users is a play to increase their bottom line profits. They hope to weaken their competition to give them an advantage in winning corporate accounts, and they hope to achieve an improved average journey time which means more fixed price journeys in the same time.
At some point, you have to stand back and say... just how much money is enough? At what point is encouraging the breaking of the law and jeopardising of life worth the extra profit?
Don't hate companies that obey the laws that you have a chance to influence through political process. Hate the company that breaks the law and puts profit over the lives of cyclists.
I think you're actually legally obliged to do so.
They've got to return shareholder value, that is: to maximise the return for shareholders.
In fact, if a legal option exists that allows them to not pay tax, then they are failing their shareholders by not exercising that option.
Whether it's ethical or not is by the by as it's legal.
If we as a society have a problem with this, then we as a society should change the laws. Our representatives should change the laws to reflect our wishes. That it doesn't happen is in part because not everyone agrees it's unethical (i.e. the people doing it or hoping to do it... and it's more than you imagine, most contractors and self-employed enjoy a small fraction of what others would call tax evasion), and it's in part because the businesses that benefit the most can afford to lobby, petition and donate to parties that continue with the existing system.
Put it simply: If you have legally saved £100m by tax evasive policies within your company, then you could afford to spend £1m to continue those policies.
Worse, as a saving of any kind increases shareholder value, so long as you did it legally you could afford to spend £99,999,999.99 to save £100m... or one solitary pence.
Lawyers will get rich, and the company is a penny better off.
We can't bemoan a company doing what they're entitled to legally do.
But, we can come down like a tonne of bricks on a company that actively breaks the law and encourages breaking the law to achieve more profit.
That is the beef with Addison Lee. The bus lane stance is breaking the law, and ultimately this risk to life and limb of cyclists and other road users is a play to increase their bottom line profits. They hope to weaken their competition to give them an advantage in winning corporate accounts, and they hope to achieve an improved average journey time which means more fixed price journeys in the same time.
At some point, you have to stand back and say... just how much money is enough? At what point is encouraging the breaking of the law and jeopardising of life worth the extra profit?
Don't hate companies that obey the laws that you have a chance to influence through political process. Hate the company that breaks the law and puts profit over the lives of cyclists.