The Vodafone Protest
So, you’re concerned about government spending cuts, and you believe that Vodafone has not given the tax man – or HMRC – what it should. So you decide to protest this apparent oversight at the source. The first flaw in your plan is that, well, HRMC actually aren’t asking for the money:
"We cannot comment on the detail of the settlement but we can confirm that it was reached by HMRC following a rigorous examination of the facts and an intensive process of negotiation that tested the arguments of both parties.So you’re protesting over an urban myth. Nice. Good going there. Unfortunately it makes this protest anything other than legitimate – in fact, it turns it into a form of chugging: demanding donations from Vodafone for your favourite charity (in this case, the government).
"As a result it was agreed that Vodafone’s liability was £1.25bn and at no point was a liability greater than that established.
"There is no question of Vodafone having an outstanding tax liability of £6bn. That number is an urban myth."
And if we take the idea that paying as much tax as possible is good, at least in the eyes of these protestors, then surely you would want Vodafone to make as much money as possible so they can pay as much tax as possible in the future. Therefore, what is one of the last things you would want to do? Perhaps closing down their flagship store through protesting.
Far be it from me to say that this protest hasn't been thought through, but to protest about a non-existent tax bill in such a way that you may end up diminishing future tax revenues strikes me as the very definition of dumb.
Labels: Cuts, Morons, Protests, Taxes, Witless Morons
posted by The Nameless Libertarian @ 1:53 pm
10 Comments
10 Comments:
Great points though I'm sure it was hardly intellectually exhausting pointing out the stupidity of these people!
An inconvenient truth. The man who negotiated on behalf of Vodafone for its tax settlement, John Connors, had previously worked at HMRC as the head of its large business services division, and negotiated on behalf of the tax authority. That is until April 2007, when Vodafone hired him and he moved to the other side of the negotiating table.
Following negotiations with HMRC,
Vodafone had agreed in July to pay £1.2 billion ($1.9 billion) to settle the long-running dispute, even though the company had previously said it was putting aside £2.2 billion ($3.5 billion) to cover what it owed the taxman.
An irrelevant truth more like. The fact that someone has changed jobs and in doing so has changed sides of a negotiating table is not unprecedented - in fact, it is often the case that if a company sees someone with talent then they will try to headhunt them. And the fact that Vodafone put more money aside for a tax bill than they needed to is more likely to be prudence than malice.
Those who think that Vodafone should have paid more in tax would do better to engage their brain cells and protest at HMRC than at Vodafone.
I think both are legitimate targets; HMRC for not getting value for money for the country (while happily forcing small companies into bankruptcy for not paying much smaller tax bills) and Vodafone for avoiding its tax liabilities by routing UK profits through a holding company located in Luxembourg.
Nothing at all wrong with avoiding tax; it is what businesses should do in order to maximise their profits. If HRMC wants to close tax loopholes, it should do so. Until it does, there is nothing legally or morally wrong with companies minimising their tax liability through various business practices in order to get the best value for their investors.
Spot on.
Good points well made.
Sitting on your pampered student arse in a phone shop, taking little video clips of you and your mates being oh so radical...using a mobile phone, probably...doesn't make you Che Guevara.
Great point! Where has the common sense gone from every one else.
You'd think with all the other injustice in the world people would poor there attention to something more worthwhile rather then about information which is as factually based as the Loch Ness Monster.
Vodafone is one of the only UK companies left bringing money into the country. So we treat them like this. At a time the British people should be sticking together we fight. The media say Vodafone owe 6bil in tax, with no proof and we believe them? That the same paper that informs you when Jordan gets a new boob job. I saw a sign saying “7bil cuts Vodafone let off 6bil tax”. Here’s some maths for you £7bill cuts and we payed £7bil+ to bail out Ireland. Go protest about that. If I was a Vodafone director I would move the operation abroad, take my 1.25bil tax a year with me and add 20,000 people to the jobless list. That tax doesn’t even account for the money their employees pay and the other companies that they work with. More than that, you go and shout at the guys in the store who pay their tax? In summary, you’re protesting about a UK company not paying a made up figure when we have just given £7bil+ of real money that does exist to Ireland. I’m a tax payer and a student and I don’t disagree with the raise in tuition fees. We had our years of fun and nothing is for free. Education is not a right it’s a privilege. You go tell children in Africa education is a right. We will happily spend and rack up a trillion pounds of debt, but when it comes to paying £7bil in cuts, nobody wants to cough up. It’s ridiculous. The only comfort I have is seeing that some people have the sense to agree.
These protests come down to greed at the end off the day. No one protested this hard when we shipped our boys and girls of to join a war with the Americans but that was because there back pocket wasn't being effected.
However now there is cuts to help bring the country back and its going to effect peoples back pockets now people are concerned. What can i say the small manority of public and the younger genertion are greedy and selfish.
Its a joke as Maggie said things are going to get worse before they get better
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