UK Uncut: 'Why we are targeting tax avoiders for protests'

'Going on the offensive, taking on the tax avoiders, undermines every premise on which the coalition bases its ideological crusade to dismantle the welfare state.

First, it challenges the idea that this is a crisis created by a "bloated" public sector. George Osborne plans to cut public spending by £81bn over four years. In that same period, if they go unchecked, rich individuals and corporations will avoid paying £100bn in tax.

The people of this country are being forced to pay for a crisis they did not cause. It gives the lie to the idea that "We are all in this together".

The Institute of Fiscal Studies has shown that the cuts will hit the poorest and most vulnerable hardest. And yet according to Richard Murphy, head of Tax Research LLP, by 2014 the largest corporations will be paying a smaller proportion of their income as tax than the people who clean their floors.

And it shatters the illusion that there is no alternative. If tax avoidance were outlawed, tens of billions of pounds would be liberated which could then be invested in public services. Vodafone and Philip Green have a choice: pay tax, or see your business targeted and your profits fall. Either the government makes tax avoiders pay, or we will.'

From Alex Pinkerman at Comment is Free: 'Join us at Topshop and make Philip Green pay'

See UK Uncut

Image: Chris Bird

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