Category: Corporation tax

Why the Public Accounts Committee should call the OECD to give evidence

I couldn’t watch yesterday’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing. From what I could gather over Twitter it was a lot of fun, but didn’t shed any light on anything significant…and what we can learn from the evidence will I’m sure be covered on blogs elsewhere. What I did hear, though, was a fascinating ten minute… Continue reading Why the Public Accounts Committee should call the OECD to give evidence

Questions for the Public Accounts Committee today

This afternoon, Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will be discussing “Taxation of Multinational Corporations” with Matt Brittin, Chief Executive Officer of Google UK, Troy Alstead, Starbucks Global Chief Financial Officer and Andrew Cecil, Director of Public Policy at Amazon. The Guardian reports that Starbucks may already have sustained lasting damage to its brand image from… Continue reading Questions for the Public Accounts Committee today

The death of corporation tax?

With all the recent scandals involving internet companies, it seems quite reasonable to assert that corporation tax as we know it is in a crisis, and it’s time for fundamental reform of the way we tax multinational companies. The very low overall effective tax rates of the internet giants do suggest that today’s biggest companies… Continue reading The death of corporation tax?

Corporation tax has no association with GDP growth, says an IMF paper

This is a review of “Tax Composition and Growth: A Broad Cross-Country Perspective,” an IMF working paper by Santiago Acosta Ormaechea and Jia Yoo. Here’s the assumption that I’m going to make in this post: it’s probably not too much of a stretch to say that the consensus among development practitioners is that economic growth… Continue reading Corporation tax has no association with GDP growth, says an IMF paper

Is it time to tax companies on the basis of sales, not profits?

corporation tax is paid on profits, not sales, for a start. That KPMG’s Chris Morgan felt the need to clarify this point in Tax Journal got me thinking. It seems that, in the wake of the recent spate of corporate tax scandals, there’s a confluence of opinion between the general public and many tax scholars.… Continue reading Is it time to tax companies on the basis of sales, not profits?