George Osborne will tackle firms that avoid tax says Vince Cable

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   George Osborne will tackle firms that avoid tax, Vince Cable says
   

George Osborne intends to take action to stop major global companies “systematically” avoiding millions of pounds of taxes, Vince Cable has suggested.









Vince Cable has joined the backlash against companies that avoid paying tax in the UK Photo: EDDIE MULHOLLAND



By Tim Ross, Political Correspondent

3:03PM GMT 15 Nov 2012





The Business Secretary warned that the government will “get to grips” with companies that have been “deeply angering” the public by paying a fraction of their potential tax liabilities in Britain.


He hinted that the Chancellor could act as early as next month, in the annual Autumn Statement, to prevent the “systematic abuse”.


Mr Cable’s outspoken intervention comes after American companies including Starbucks, Google and Amazon were accused of “immoral” behaviour though “industrial scale” tax avoidance.


MPs on the Commons Public Accounts Committee expressed their anger after all three companies were accused of siphoning profits away from Britain by using a complex web of accounting strategies that were cynical and “unjust”.


Mr Cable MP told Sky News Sky News the Government was determined to tackle tax avoidance activities by major firms.



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“Some of them seem to be avoiding tax systematically and this is deeply angering for tens of thousands of British companies who do pay their tax properly,” he said. “We’ve got to get to grips with it.

"I’m sure the Chancellor would address this, because there is a lot of public anger which is building up. We’ve been through very difficult times. Individuals have seen their standards of living cut.

"Much of the anger in the past has been directed at the way banking systems operated but we’re now getting evidence of systematic abuse by some companies, and that’s really got to be stopped."

The Chancellor will deliver his Autumn Statement on December 5.

During a hearing earlier this week, Margaret Hodge, chairman of the public accounts committee, suggested the companies were “exporting” their profits overseas to “minimise” their tax liabilities in the UK.

“We are not accusing you of being illegal. We are accusing you of being immoral,” she said.

And pigs might fly

Lillyofthevalley wrote:And pigs might fly

Actually, lilyofthevalley, I think he will.there is a lot of bad feeling about Tax avoidance , also all these Companies who

use off-shore Countries to register their Offices. Philip Green, the worst example , who owns Next, Top Shop and another Company has everything in his Wife's name and she lives in Monte Carlo where there is no Tax. It's not as if the clothes are made in Britain !!!!.