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Prime Minister calls for tougher approach to corporate tax

David Cameron has suggested that new laws may be introduced to prevent tax avoidance by large companies who he has described as instructing “fancy corporate lawyers” to “endlessly reduce” their tax bills.

This followed earlier comments by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who said in an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, that he would be urging the Chancellor, George Osborne to being in anti-avoidance measures in this year’s budget.

Speaking in Maidenhead at his first PM Direct event of the year the Prime Minister told leaders of small and medium sized businesses that bigger companies had to pay their “fair share”. 

He said: “They have got to be thinking about being business-friendly to small businesses,”

“With the large companies, that have the fancy corporate lawyers and the rest of it, I think we need a tougher approach.”

Mr Cameron mentioned his past experience when working in “corporate Britain” and referred to how companies “use the complexity of the tax and legal system to try and endlessly reduce their tax payments”.

He added: “One of the things that we are going to be looking at this year is whether there should be a general anti-avoidance power that HMRC can use, particularly with very wealthy individuals and with the bigger companies, to make sure they pay their fair share.”

“Of course it’s right for companies to be able to plan and have predictability and the rest of it, but they should be paying a fair tax rate.”

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