Customer Relationship Managers?
They are supposed to be getting the taxes that are due, not running some golf club.
Treasury minister David Gauke assured MPs that HMRC was doing a good job of collecting all the corporation tax that multinational firms like Amazon and Google owe in the UK during a debate in the Commons yesterday. MPs including the leader of the Public Accounts Committee Labour minister Margaret Hodge and Conservative MP for …
Ladies, Gentlemen!
This business of taxing or not taxing Google, Starbucks and Amazon: it is more about PR than anything else. There are rules, the rules are designed to accommodate these big companies. Part of the reason being that they and their mates write the rules. That's it, really.
Government is part power, part services. The services include things like NHS, unemployment insurance, state education, state pensions. The things that make it worthwhile for you and me to cooperate. The other side is the power side, where powerful people and organisations use the system (and us) to further their interests, i.e. to shaft the common man. C'est la vie!
It's true.
In Pay As You Earn (PAYE) HMRC offloads the work on to employers then adds another layer of management or three to make sure the unpaid (that is not paid by HMRC) employee is doing justice to the workload.
Maybe all HMRC employees should be treated similarly?
Besides, there is a convention of sorts that if someone prepays a bill then they get some preferential service apart from in HMRC.
People prepaying by PAYE (PAYE mugs?) can far worse treatment than the self assessed no?
So we should be happy that HMRC is collecting £8 billion from companies on average for the last three years so says the MP appearing from the committee. However in response I would have expected to hear the following questions:
What proportion of the £8 billion came from companies with profits over say £200 million and in particular the group of companies that have been in the public eye?
What is HMRC's estimate of the tax loss caused by the manipulation of profits resulting in movement of profits internally within companies?
What is the £8 billion as a percentage of the total estimated loss?
Unless you know the size of the problem the value of the recovered monies is irrelevant.
If only there was some kind of forum in which the select committee could make their opinions felt. You know, some kind of chamber, in which the members wrote laws, debated them and then, having voted on them, brought those laws into force.
Hearing an MP bleat about bad tax laws without suggesting amendments to those laws is like hearing someone who's just torched your sofa complain that it's hot in here.
Time to amend the Taxpayer confidentiality. It cannot give a running commentary to this House on the action that it takes,"
Absolute gibberish! there is no law barring them from disclosing such information to parliment, they have made it a HMRC policy. Ask him a question and if he refuses , JSA for him.
"Hello" said the assistant, "I see you are admiring our magnificent range of shiny shiny"
"Well, yes, I was looking for one in British racing green" I replied.
"Just the thing sir" as his hand flitted behind a box and pulled out a gorgeous bit of shiny shiny, tastefully finished in the colour of my choice.
"I see your prices are very reasonable"
"Come this way sir" and I was ushered to the counter.
The sales assistant reached for the phone and a few moments later was in conversation.
"Hello, this is Dave 11256AQ3"
"Yes it's 1257789 and £78.99"
"OK"
He proffered the phone "If you would like to speak to our sales team in Ireland, they will complete your purchase"
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Maybe a call centre in Eire, could act as seller for any number of companies that would like to compete with the international boys, for sheer cheek.