Tackling tax avoidance is not enough

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I mean that headline.

The Lib Dems have announced that they’ll be calling for tax avoidance and the non-dom problem to be tackled at their conference. I’ve said it before, and no doubt I’ll say it again, that I know these policies were adopted as a result of TUC and Tax Research UK work — especially on a General Anti-Avoidance Principle. I met the Lib Dems on a number of occasions to achieve this goal. And of course they have got into the Coalition agenda as a result.

But — and this is key — they’re not enough. They’re not enough to close the tax gap by themselves. they’re not enough to solve our economic crisis. they’re not enough to tackle the harm Danny Alexander and friends are seeking to wreak on the UK through malicious and unjustified cuts, opposed now by the FT and Economist alike.

So welcome as the moves are — and I’m happy to say that — they come as part of a deeply unattractive package I’d much rather not have. One good turn is not enough to buy off the opposition to economic destruction.


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