Big Business. Avoiding Tax

Picture this: you’ve got your favourite brands, the likes of Google, Starbucks, and Apple, strutting down the high street of the UK, flashing their logos like peacocks in a business zoo. They’re serving you lattes, selling you gadgets, and helping you find the nearest pub with Wi-Fi. But when it comes to paying their fair share of taxes, they’ve got a clever little trick up their sleeves. They’ve registered their companies in places like Ireland and Monaco, where the tax climate is as welcoming as a cosy pub on a rainy afternoon.

Now, why do they do this? Well, it’s all about playing by the rules of the game — rules that, admittedly, can seem a bit like a golden knot of legal and financial loopholes. These companies set up offices in countries with lower corporate tax rates, like Ireland, which has become a bit of a tax haven sweetheart with its 12.5% corporate tax rate. It’s like finding a secret VIP pass to the tax amusement park, where the slides are greased with tax breaks and the carousel of savings never stops spinning.

By shifting their profits to these low-tax locations through complex financial acrobatics, they manage to keep more of their hard-earned (or rather, cleverly earned) money. Think of it as a tax magic trick: the profits seem to disappear from the high-tax hat of the UK and reappear in the low-tax hat of Ireland. Abracadabra!

But why is this allowed, you ask? Because, my dear Watson, it’s all part of the international tax system, a labyrinth of treaties and laws that companies navigate with the precision of a GPS in a maze. Governments want to attract big businesses to their shores for the economic equivalent of a sugar rush — jobs, investment, and growth. So they offer these sweet tax deals, hoping the companies will play nice and bring their offerings (and jobs) to town.

These greedy big brands must contribute to the UK economy now, like everyone else if they are conducting business here, instead of robbing the poor when the black appears empty and needs refilling. It is just disgusting and only time, and perhaps a change in the tune of public sentiment, will tell if this will ever be addressed.