‘So I buy it. The most perfect little cardigan in the world. People will call me the Girl in the Grey Cardigan. I’ll be able to live in it. Really, it’s an investment’. (Sophie Kinsella, ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’)
I’ve just got back from a few days in Copenhagen and while I was there I invested in The Jumper.
Since the introduction of the disguised remuneration rules, now found in Part 7A of the Income Tax (Earnings & Pensions) Act 2003 (‘ITEPA’), many companies are faced with a problem about what to do with their Employee Benefit Trust (‘EBT’).
In my previous blog post, I highlighted the problems with current policy decisions and corporate tax rules which have failed to keep up with the new globalised world, and allow for industrial scale tax avoidance. Without ripping up the existing tax code and building one suitable for the internet age, there are some changes which Governments can take in order to minimise the level of tax avoidance.
Over the past 18 months, the political wind has changed. The public have made clear how disgusted they feel at the industrial scale tax avoidance by big business, and politicians are now waking up to their anger. A recent YouGov poll found that 62% of the public considered (legal) tax avoidance unacceptable.