Tax experts insist that ‘most big companies have no interest in bending the rules’, The Sunday Times reported yesterday. Barclays had 'failed to sense a prevailing mood against tax avoidance’, according to the paper.
Barclays insisted that its tax arrangements were within ‘the letter and spirit’ of HMRC’s Code of Practice on Taxation for Banks after the government announced retrospective legislation to close two ‘highly abusive’ tax avoidance schemes.
‘In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, the bosses of small and medium sized firms across the country say the levy has meant they have not expanded their firms and taken on more workers.
Paul Johnson and Stuart Adam provide the view from the Institute for Fiscal Studies on the need for a coherent government strategy for the tax system as a whole.
Chris Sanger weighs up the practical issues facing some of the IFS Green Budget’s prescriptions for growth-enhancing tax reform.
‘Public borrowing is falling faster than expected and is on track to beat official forecasts for this financial year, official figures for the crucial month of January showed on Tuesday, giving George Osborne a fillip a month before the Budget.
‘Barclays has been warned that its reputation is being "tarnished" by the persistent use of "complicated financial structures" to boost profits.
Government debt has doubled in a few years to more than £1 trillion. David Smith considers how worried we should be.
Caroline Turnbull-Hall and Richard Thomas of the Office of Tax Simplification consider whether the tax code is really as long as everyone thinks it is.