Churches against Tax Dodgers

I

Innispurs

Vital 1st Team Regular
West Yorkshire Church leaders press MPs and MEPs to take action for tax justice.

On Wednesday 30th January MPs and MEPs representing West Yorkshire received a letter from church leaders calling for concerted action from all political parties to address the issue of tax justice.

Senior church leaders and representatives from West Yorkshire Ecumenical Council (WYEC), have written during Poverty and Homelessness Action Week , based on their churches’ daily experiences of sheltering homeless people, feeding hungry people, clothing destitute people and supporting people crippled by debt. As the numbers of food banks and food parcels increase the sense of injustice at tax avoidance increases too.

The fourteen signatories were also keen to point out that tax dodging, in its various forms, is an injustice that keeps some people poor while others get richer. The letter comes following support from church leaders for Christian Aid and Church Action on Poverty’s Tax Justice campaigns.

Chair of WYEC, Bishop of Pontefract Tony Robinson said

‘Tax avoidance denies help to the poorest and most vulnerable people both here in the UK and in developing countries. This is morally unacceptable. As representatives of the churches of West Yorkshire we call on our politicians to take action to ensure multinational corporations pay their rightful share of tax in the countries they operate.’

The letter asks the MPs and MEPs representing West Yorkshire to:

ensure the UK takes a lead in promoting transparency in the affairs of tax havens and the companies using them. Particularly whilst it chairs the G8 summit in June and also through the EU;
ensure tax avoidance loopholes are closed for both companies and individuals;
push for measures that would require companies to report on the profits they make and taxes they pay in every country in which they operate.
push for measures that would require tax havens to automatically share information about the money flowing through them with other countries;
ensure greater resources and energy are deployed to detect and prosecute those engaged in illegal tax evasion.

The signatories include:

Rt. Revd. Tony Robinson, Bishop of Pontefract,
Rt. Revd. Nick Baines, Bishop of Bradford;
Revd. Graham Ensor, Regional
Minister, Yorkshire Baptist Association;
Revd. Kenneth Evans, Chairman, Yorkshire District, Moravian Church;
Pastor Gloria Hanley, West Yorkshire African Caribbean Council of Churches;
Lt. Col. Bill Heeley, Divisional Commander, Salvation Army;
Rt. Revd. Walter Jagucki, Bishop Emeritus, Lutheran Church of Great Britain;
Rt. Revd. John Packer, Bishop of Ripon and Leeds;
Eva Pinthus, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers);
Rt. Revd. Stephen Platten, Bishop of Wakefield;
Revd. Dr. Liz Smith, Chair, Leeds Methodist District;
Revd. Dr. Roger Walton, Chair, West Yorkshire Methodist District;
Revd. Kevin Watson, Moderator, Yorkshire Synod, United Reformed Church;

 
Life is full of little ironies BUT one of the interesting trends since the early days of Thatcher has been the drift of the C of E from Tory social policy. Not quite the Tory party at prayer any more!
 
I think you may have missed the point that Jesus said to Peter that he should give to Caesar what belonged to Caesar in reference to paying taxes, he added that he should aslo give to God what belonged to God, if you may recall the passage in the new testament. Jesus was FOR Peter paying his tax. It's not a new thing.

Incidently we have just bought a building for our church youth project and when the bill came from the solicitor, it was around £8k less than we agreed to pay. Our Pastor sent the solicitor back to the vendor to tell them that they had forgotten the tax in all probability. It turned out not to be a mistake as it happened, the vendor gave us the taxable amount so that our tax bill was covered. So nice of them! But we DO try to ensure that we deal honestly over tax, even though we could use the money.
 
The best thing about churches is the free lunches they go. Can't beat free food. Love it.
 
Galvin's Shinpads - 30/1/2013 17:35

Lay that on me again...

A religious cult, which dodges tax itself, is against everyone else dodging tax??
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It is quite funny..

Everyone should be against tax dodging at every level, but then everyone should be against social benefit fraud, work dodgers...the 'state' has the power and has had the power for a long time to deal with these issues, but they've been so incompetent and so poorly politically led, it shouldn't surprise anyone...'cool Britannia' was an illusion., in much the same way the celtic tiger was.
 
Few churches doge tax themselves since the government changed the charity commission legislation. If churches declare themselves charities, they can legally get gift aid etc for the work that they do and most do the work these days, there are less and less churches that don't get involved in charitable work in the communities, here and abroad. Most Christian churches step outside their doors these days and get their hands dirty with community projects. It always was the case in the old days, Salvation Army and all that. I for one am glad to see it restored, people need help with all sorts of things and the church is often a good source of help. The government decided that they should get some charitable status. Though most of the churches I know haven't looked for it, many have used the facility to increase their work levels and have been grateful for the help, it isn't easy doing things with just donations.

 
Welshtel - 31/1/2013 10:03

Few churches doge tax themselves since the government changed the charity commission legislation. If churches declare themselves charities, they can legally get gift aid etc for the work that they do and most do the work these days, there are less and less churches that don't get involved in charitable work in the communities, here and abroad. Most Christian churches step outside their doors these days and get their hands dirty with community projects. It always was the case in the old days, Salvation Army and all that. I for one am glad to see it restored, people need help with all sorts of things and the church is often a good source of help. The government decided that they should get some charitable status. Though most of the churches I know haven't looked for it, many have used the facility to increase their work levels and have been grateful for the help, it isn't easy doing things with just donations.
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It's good to hear.

I'm always in admiration of those that can find the time to make such a tremendous effort to help those who need it.
 
I know you are a Christian, Tel, just as you can probably guess that I'm an atheist. However, I do admire that Welsh Methodist/Labour tradition that was motivated by a sense of social justice (Raymond Williams writes eloquently about this) and was important in the rise of Welsh socialism/social democracy.

I suppose what I am saying is that the record of the Christian churches of all hues and configurations is not great when it comes to social justice. The old adage that the C of E was merely the Tory party at prayer was, for many centuries, very accurate. I am always amazed when I go into an Anglican church to see the military flags and the dedications to former colonial and imperial grandees. I can't help thinking of Bishop Desmond Tutu's famous observation:

“When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.”

That is why I am encouraged and delighted to see the statement about tax dodgers - the birth of a social conscience?
 
Innispurs - 31/1/2013 15:51

I know you are a Christian, Tel, just as you can probably guess that I'm an atheist. However, I do admire that Welsh Methodist/Labour tradition that was motivated by a sense of social justice (Raymond Williams writes eloquently about this) and was important in the rise of Welsh socialism/social democracy.

I suppose what I am saying that the record of the Christian churches of all hues and configurations is not great when it comes to social justice. The old adage that the C of E was merely the Tory party at prayer was, for many centuries, very accurate. I am always amazed when I do into an Anglican church to see the military flags and the dedications to former colonial and imperial grandees. I can't help thinking of Bishop Desmond Tutu's famous observation:

“When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.”

That is why I am encouraged and delighted to see the statement about tax dodgers - the birth of a social conscience?
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I'm not defending those in the past who did various things for various reasons, neither am I condemning them because I didn't personally know them. What I will say to you though as honestly as I can, is that there are good and bad in all clubs. Churches are no different but I always hope that the amount of bad Christians in any church are very small but we aren't perfect. We try to emulate God and do good like He does but not all of us get there, that's for sure. The important thing for me and most Christians that I know is to do what is right, to help those that need help and seek to be better people and we can only do it with God's help. It's a strange thing this 'Salvation' from God, it took someone like John Newton from his slave trading background, changed him completely and set his life on a totally new course such that he wrote 'Amazing Grace'. Now that's reform and the birth of a social conscience and it always leaves me stunned!

(Are you really an atheist? I don't meet many of those, there are very few that really don't believe He exists in some way.)
 
Yep, as the late great Luis Bunuel said, 'I'm still an atheist, thank God'.

I suppose my views - on social justice, on equality, on our relationship with others, including our immigrant and Muslim others - are compatible with basic Christianity - I can't speak for other religions. Love thy neighbour, forgive thy enemies, feed the hungry, comfort the sick and the elderly etc - is what drives my socialism - it's just, as I said, most Christian Churches as institutions of enormous wealth and influence have historically batted for the wealthy and the powerful against the weak and the vulnerable. I am a political person, not a religious one.
 
Innispurs - 31/1/2013 19:24

Yep, as the late great Luis Bunuel said, 'I'm still an atheist, thank God'.

I suppose my views - on social justice, on equality, on our relationship with others, including our immigrant and Muslim others - are compatible with basic Christianity - I can't speak for other religions. Love thy neighbour, forgive thy enemies, feed the hungry, comfort the sick and the elderly etc - is what drives my socialism - it's just, as I said, most Christian Churches as institutions of enormous wealth and influence have historically batted for the wealthy and the powerful against the weak and the vulnerable. I am a political person, not a religious one.
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Very well put Innis.
 
I'm not a socialist politically but every time I have engaged in social work (I'm NOT a social worker!) and made a real difference is when I've been doing what God has taught us to do.
 
It looks like the Churches will have to take on the on-line gambling industry as well, This from the Richard Murphy via the Independent:

The Independent has opened a new angle on tax avoidance, this time concentrating on the role of online bookmakers and the costs they impose on the UK Exchequer, reporting today:

Bookmakers and casinos have avoided paying around £1bn in UK tax on bets placed by British people by routing them through subsidiaries based in overseas tax havens, The Independent can reveal.

Football, racing and poker betting operators are estimated to be saving around £250m a year by offshoring online gambling – more than the highly publicised recent cases of tax avoidance by Starbucks and Amazon.

Although William Hill and Ladbrokes are UK Plcs with hundreds of high street branches, bets placed on their websites and phone lines are regulated and taxed in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar.

Other big names such as Betfair, PaddyPower and 888 – which heavily market their games in the UK – also avoid paying British tax on “remote” betting and gaming.

It’s a now familiar tale: when something goes on line it goes offshore:

The offshoring, which has grown in recent years, allows operators to replace the UK gambling duty of 15 per cent on gross profits with an effective rate of duty of less than one per cent.

An investigation by The Independent has found that all of the top 10 operators in “remote gambling” now headquarter a part or all of their operations in Gibraltar, the Isle of Man or Guernsey – at a cost to the Treasury of £1bn in lost duty since 2009.

Of course, all deny wrongdoing:

In a statement, William Hill, which saves an estimated £37m annually in betting duty, vigorously denied it was “engaged in any avoidance scheme or artificial tax structure”.

Ladbrokes, which saves around £18m annually, said it had only moved offshore reluctantly “to survive and compete”.

However, disclosure of the scale of the money lost to the UK Government across the entire industry is likely to provoke anger, at a time of austerity caused by a growing deficit in the public finances. Richard Murphy, director of Tax Research, said: “This indicates, yet again, the toothless approach of the UK’s tax authorities to tax avoidance.”

Yes, I did say that, and as the Independent then noted:

Mr Murphy added that the Treasury’s approach of working in co-operation with business to secure tax agreements was “not working”.

“We know it failed in the case of banking where Barclays ignored their deal with HMRC months after they signed it,” he said. “Now we can see that the negotiated arrangements with the gambling industry – where they were given all the concessions they demanded – haven’t worked.”

In total about £300 million a year is lost as a result of this abuse. Just add it to the tax gap that H M Revenue & Customs refuses to recognise.
 
Welshtel - 31/1/2013 20:50

I'm not a socialist politically but every time I have engaged in social work (I'm NOT a social worker!) and made a real difference is when I've been doing what God has taught us to do.
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Sorry boss, 'God' never never had to teach me morals or ethics and I reckon I'm doing quite alright. I also reckon humanity in general does not have to be "taught'' by a book of fables.
 
Another EU failure, Ex? This latest from Richard Murphy:


Why, oh why, won’t governments take on tax evasion? I am continually baffled by their refusal to do so
Posted on February 5 2013

The EU has this afternoon issued deeply disappointing new guidance on the laws it expects member states to put in place to tackle tax evasion and money laundering through the use of limited companies and trusts.

An EU study had suggested that the best way to ensure that companies and trusts could not be used for money laundering abuse and tax evasion of the sort my research and that of others has shown to be possible was to put on public record the true beneficial ownership of those companies and who stood to really benefit from the trusts. The same report also said this was the most cost effective way to deal with this issue.

The EU has rejected this advice. It is only requiring that a company must itself prove who owns it, which is absurd: if it is being used for criminal purpose this requirement will simply be ignored! To say that this utterly misses the point of the demand for information is to massively understate the degree by which the EU has missed the mark on this issue.

Worse still, it seems that the new rules will not provide any effective mechanism for tackling those who assist tax evasion by the provision of professional services to companies used for that purpose.

I’m left, as is so often the case now, asking the obvious question of why it is that governments are so reluctant to take on the issue of tackling crime when tax crime is one of the biggest crime activities there is (costing the EU states about €850 billion a year) and the implications of it are apparent to all of us as Europe continues to face austerity that would be unnecessary if only the taxes that are due were paid.

It’s a great afternoon for tax evaders. It’s bad for all the rest of us.
 
As I've said many times Innis, I'm baffled by Governments reluctance to deal with these tax issues when they've had the power to do so for decades..

The problem inside the EU is that Tax harmonisation will rip it apart, and they know it.

For years pressure was being applied both directly and indirectly on various Dublin governments and their commissioners to stop enacting laws that allowed it to become a tax shelter for global overseas companies. Microsoft, dell, Gateway, Intel all invested in Ireland on the basis of it's favoured statuses they were awarded and tax payer money they were granted. I should know as I sat on a companies UK boards and the stench of corruption (partly a reason I joined and support/fund Transparency International now) coming from successive Irish ministers and other EU countries along with the hypocrisy that went with in our dealings with the EU bureaucrats was simply over-whelming...

I've run and been on the boards of companies that choose to remain UK domicile and paid the price for doing so, so it probably little wonder why I have no time for the EU or the shenanigans it's actively encouraged over the years.
 
Another observation from tax expert Paul Murphy!

'I noticed another exchange on tax avoidance in parliament yesterday, this one on gambling taxation, no doubt motivated by last week’s report in The Independent in which I commented. It went as follows:

Catherine McKinnell (Newcastle upon Tyne North, Labour)

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to his Budget Statement 2012, when he intends to bring forward legislative proposals to give effect to his announced changes to the taxation regime for remote gambling.

Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove, Conservative)

Implementation of the Government’s reform to remote gambling taxation is planned for 1 December 2014. The Government will legislate for the reform in a future Finance Bill.

So, the government spotted the problem in early 2012 and by late 2014 they may take action.

In the meantime nearly a billion will be lost.

Why make haste when there’s only a billion to lose after all?'

Probably so that it can concentrate on the bedroom tax??
 
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