Mrs Nelson wrote: ↑Mon May 15, 2017 12:59 am
Part funded I should have said,
That's if attractive tax exemptions from our government can be classed as funding
We may not like, and I certainly do not, but it is the world that we live in. And I have said it before, the UK cannot, nor can any other country, act unilaterally to abolish all the tax exemptions. It is far too easy for these companies to just move their headquarters for tax purposes to another, more beneficial territory.
Pretty well most international trading companies around the world take advantage of these tax breaks. It is why so many major companies have their European headquarters in Eire, and why American corporations, such as the giants like Microsoft and McDonalds, have their worldwide headquarters in the State of Delaware because that is the equivalent of a tax haven for the Yanks.
Big companies around the world are now structured so that they have to pay for "services" and trade mark "royalties" to a subsidiary set up in a tax friendly country. It is why, for example, virtually all the stores that a company like Tesco trade from are owned by a series of property companies in Luxemburg, operating out of a broom cupboard in an accountancy firm. Each month/quarter, Tesco sends it's rent for the stores to Luxemburg, where the tax rate is ridiculously low, and the cost of the rent reduces the profits that Tesco in the UK make. Then the property companies lend the money back to Tesco (UK) and the UK part of the business pays interest and charges for borrowing the money that actually belongs to them, reducing the pre-tax profits even more.
With the world as it is now, and the ability to run corporations from absolutely anywhere in the world that has access to broadband, the only way any government can try to limit these tax attractions is to slowly remove them, and hope other countries follow suit. In the meantime, it is up to the relevant tax authorities to come to some compromise with these companies to get them pay more corporation tax, bearing in mind that none of these companies are actually breaking any laws.