Brighton & Hove has added its name to the ActionAid ‘Towns Against Tax-dodging’ campaign after a successful Green motion to a council meeting (23rd October).
The anti-poverty charity has been asking councils to sign up and call on the government to do more to get large companies to pay their fair share towards quality public services.
Councillor Leo Littman, proposer of the motion, said, “HMRC’s tax gap – the amount of taxes unpaid thanks to evasion, avoidance, error, and criminality – has soared to £34 billion. That’s 1 pound in every 15 owned to the British people, not being collected.
“Just one company, Alliance Boots, has avoided more than £1 billion in tax over 6 years. That’s enough money to fund 78,000 NHS nurses across the country for a year, or roughly 360 nurses here in Brighton & Hove.
“In a time of massive cuts to councils, this simply can’t go on. Extra income from clamping down on tax avoidance could be used to fund local services, protecting our residents from the worst of austerity.
“Also current tax laws give large corporations an unfair advantage over their smaller, more local rivals. We have a plethora of small businesses, trying to compete with much larger firms. Levelling the playing-field would allow them to compete without having their hands tied behind their backs.
“For the sake of fairness, the national economy, local people struggling to make ends meet, and local businesses facing unfair competitive disadvantage, we call on the government to end tax avoidance.”
Notes
*The Green motion passed by Brighton & Hove City Council
For more information please contact Brighton and Hove Green Party office on 01273 766 670.