#MakeTaxFair: It's time for a tax dodging bill

Another day, another scandal of corporate tax dodging hits the news. The general election debate has been thick with talk of the tax dodging practices of HSBC’s Swiss arm and sparked a bigger debate about tax avoidance over the last week.

The public outrage is clear and justified. And it has been this way for the past few years as one after another, stories about Google, Starbucks, Amazon and beyond have hit the papers. For many people it’s a sign of the broken relationship between people, large companies and government.

The issue boils down to one of basic fairness – if ordinary people are paying their fair share of tax, why aren’t large corporations? That’s why a recent poll showed an overwhelming 85 per cent of the UK public said they thought tax avoidance was morally wrong, even if it’s legal. The law on tax dodging is playing catch up with the public, as are all the political parties. Only 20 per cent of people think that politicians have done enough to tackle tax dodging.

In the wake of a slow and partial response from politicians in recent years, it’s no surprise to see campaigners setting the agenda for what real change looks like. That’s why ActionAid has joined together with a broad coalition of more than 20 other organisations who all believe that tax needs to be made fair.

We’re calling for the next government to introduce a Tax Dodging Bill within 100 days of the general election. This law would tackle corporate tax dodging by UK companies here in the UK and in some of the world’s poorest countries.

In just two weeks since the campaign launched, more than 50,000 people, over 60 academics and economists, a variety of faith leaders and businesses have backed the call. The momentum is growing and the political parties are feeling the pressure. But we do not yet have the commitment to the Tax Dodging Bill we need.

The bill we’re proposing could raise at least an extra £3.6bn in tax for the UK and curb tax dodging by UK companies that costs some poorer countries an estimated £3bn a year.

With the UK losing billions and developing countries losing a total estimated $160bn to corporate tax dodging every year, we simply can’t afford not to.

This story isn’t simply one about the scandal and intrigue of corporate tax dodging. It’s about real people, whose lives could be changed for the better through these tax revenues.

Developing countries lose an estimated $160billion a year to corporate tax avoidance, far more than all of the combined aid they receive. An excerpt from The UK Gold, set to air on London Live at 8pm Wednesday 25th March, explains the devastating impact of tax avoidance on developing countries like Zambia; an estimated 85,000 children’s lives could be saved every year if companies paid their fair share of tax.

In Zambia in southern Africa, despite the country’s rich mineral wealth in metals like copper, almost two-thirds of the population live below the poverty line. Mpumba Primary School is supposedly government funded but has so little money that teachers pay for the electricity from their salaries.

Faines Kalaba, grandmother of a pupil at the school told us: “A lot of things could change for the better if companies paid more tax to the government. We have a lot of problems which are caused by receiving insufficient funds. I would love to see a school that has enough teachers and learning materials. If these companies paid more tax, I think a lot of these problems would be attended to.”

Tackling tax dodging really could have a huge impact. The amount of tax introducing a Tax Dodging Bill could recover in poorer countries would be enough to put half the children in the world who currently don’t go to primary school into the classroom.

Corporate tax dodging is an issue whose time has come. The Tax Dodging Bill is how we will judge progress.

The UK Gold, a new documentary on corporate tax avoidance, airs on London Live at 8pm Wednesday 25th March. Narrated by Dominic West, and featuring an original sound score by Thom Yorke (Radiohead), Robert Del Naja (Massive Attack) and Guy Garvey (Elbow).