Tax refugees
Fraser Nelson 11:05amShire Pharmaceutics, a FTSE100 firm worth GBP5.5bn, is to relist its head office offshore for tax reasons. Global firms (as Shire now is) can report profits anywhere – and Shire will move to Jersey and pay tax in Ireland (where corporation tax is 12.5% for trading income, not 28%). It is a move explicitly “designed to help protect the group’s taxation position”. Shire is fearing a bid from Pfizer, and perhaps quitting the UK tax system is a form of defence. This fits a trend. Hiscox and Amlin have already switched. Amazon recently headed to Ireland.
Businesses do not petulantly say: we’ve had enough of Brown, we’re off. This likely represents a ten-year forecast of what Britain will be like, and (I suspect) involves the conclusion that things would not get much better under the Conservatives – but will get better in our competitor nations. CityAM broke the story – read it here, and Shire’s statement here.
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C Powell
April 15th, 2008 11:23am Report this commentA pity the rest of us can't do the same!
Tom
April 15th, 2008 11:26am Report this commentYahoo! upped sticks and has gone to Switzerland too.
David
April 15th, 2008 11:32am Report this commentProblem is, where do you stop? We reduce taxes to 10%, then somewhere else reduces to 8% and so on.
Andrew
April 15th, 2008 12:10pm Report this commentDavid - You call it a problem? I say thank god we have competition among the taxers.
Madasafish
April 15th, 2008 12:19pm Report this commentEventually some politician is going to have no choice but cut back the welfare state. I reckon in 2011. Benfit systems do not work.. in the long term.
See F Field.
Requires courage: so that rules out Labour.
Ian C
April 15th, 2008 12:38pm Report this commentChickens, home and roost come to mind!
EyeSee
April 15th, 2008 12:42pm Report this commentDavid, OMG! If that happened the State would have to shrink too. We wouldn't be able to afford Management Consultants, spin doctors, Quangoes, EU directives. Unless politicians do what they currently do and only cut back on front line services, so no doctors, armed forces etc. Someone ought to control these politicians and convince them to reduce the burden of the State on our shoulders. How could we do that?
THX1138
April 15th, 2008 12:49pm Report this commentMaybe the NHS should reduce it's spend with Shire accordingly.
Tom
April 15th, 2008 2:08pm Report this commentYou're getting there David!
David
April 15th, 2008 3:18pm Report this commentI see; so cutting doctors, nurses, education, welfare services, no problem. fine.
In fact, let's just go straight to zero tax.
Sebastian d'Anconia
April 15th, 2008 5:27pm Report this commentDavid, as tax is reduced so people keep more of their own money and invest in their own communities and there will be far more and better doctors, nurses, education etc. People paid better, and doing a better job. The idea that if government didnt provide public services then no one would is a joke.
C Powell
April 15th, 2008 5:46pm Report this commentNo David: you're wilfully misunderstanding. Cutting nurses is not good; cutting management consultants, managers, quangos, etc., is absolutely fine, indeed desirable. We'd end up having better services for less money (does anyone really think that all the managers etc has made anything better?) and be able to keep more of our own money. And the problem with that is what, exactly?
Max Kaye
April 15th, 2008 6:16pm Report this commentManagement consultants, NHS advisors, diversity officers and the like canbe turned into productive members of society -- especially if converted to Bio-fuel or Soylent Green.
Chris H
April 15th, 2008 6:35pm Report this commentZero corporation tax is not the same as zero tax.
Corporation tax should be zero because people pay taxes not corporations.
Studies show that about 10% of corporation tax is actually paid by the owners in the form of lower profits. 60% of the tax is paid by employees in the form of lower salaries, while 30% is paid by customers in the form of higher prices. Even when it comes to that 10% of corporation tax paid by owners a signification portion is coming out of pension funds.
Tim Carpenter
April 16th, 2008 8:11am Report this commentEven better, Chris, to tax spending, not income.
Corporation tax should be 10% and later 5% to attract companies to list and book their profits in the UK. It is just common sense. The lower the tax, the more companies relocate, the higher the income from that tax.
Tim Carpenter
LPUK www.lpuk.org
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