Avoidance crackdown is just a 'tax increase'
Deloitte says move to close loopholes is just a corporation tax rise by another name
Deloitte has claimed that the tax avoidance crackdown is just an increase in
corporation tax by any other name.
‘They’re using the closing of loopholes as a clever way of packaging what is
really a 10 per cent rise in corporation tax,’ said Bill Dodwell, a tax partner
at the firm, in The Observer.
Analysing the increase in the corporation tax take, and adjusting for
improved profitability and other changes, leaves an increase of £4bn, or 10 per
cent, Deloitte said.
The suggestion that the crackdown is simply a tax increase, a view echoed by
the CBI, will be regarded with great skepticism by those in HM Revenue &
Customs.
Ministers have in recent years moved to crack down on the most flagrant
abuses of the tax system, including the use of complicated financial instruments
to avoid tax and national insurance on large city bonuses.
The Big Four accountancy firms have become increasingly vocal in their
condemnation of the avoidance crackdown in recent weeks, however, which has been
severely restricting their revenues on tax work.