Why Google or Tesco should collect our taxes

Billions of pounds of potential revenue is tied up in more than 20,000 tax tribunal cases because the Government lacks the resources to deal with them promptly, tax experts have told The Times. An internal estimate by Revenue and Customs claims that the backlog would take 38 years to clear at the present rate. Interviews with current and former Revenue staff, and lawyers and accountants who advise wealthy taxpayers, have portrayed a department that is struggling to cope with mounting pressure to stop big companies and the rich from avoiding their tax bills. The claims come after it was revealed this week that a host of wealthy people, including footballers, financiers and celebrities, continue to use avoidance schemes to reduce their income tax, despite HMRC increasingly challenging such arrangements. One of Britain?s most successful businessmen is increasing the pressure today on the Government to produce a tax law that is fair for all. In an interview with The Times, the former chief executive of Tesco Sir Terry Leahy says that if there is unhappiness with the law ?then the answer is to change the law?. He also attacks the status of non-domiciles, who avoid paying full tax in this country by being registered abroad. ?There?s an insulated international group of people,? he says. ?I?m slightly puzzled by the UK?s generous treatment of foreign residents. I?m for lower tax but I?d start with British citizens. Why sh

Turkey threatened to act decisively last night after Syria shot down a fighter jet off the coast of the Mediterranean. The attack is the worst yet on the Nato member and is likely to provoke even more tension in the volatile region. An emergency meeting of security officials was convened by the Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Ankara after the F4 fighter jet was brought down over the sea, eight miles from the Syrian town of Latakia. ?As a result of information obtained from the evaluation of our concerned institutions and from within the joint search and rescue operations with Syria it is understood that our plane was brought down by Syria,? he said. ?Turkey will announce its final position and take necessary steps with determination after the incident is entirely clarified.? The jet disappeared southwest of Hatay province after taking off from a

Last updated at 12:01AM, June 23 2012

The announcement was delivered in three clipped, businesslike sentences, deliberately avoiding the sense of history in the making. ?As you all know, Martin McGuinness has received an invitation from Co-operation Ireland to attend an event in Belfast next week to celebrate the arts and culture across Ireland,? Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, began. ?The Co-operation Ireland event will also be attended by the President of Ireland, the Queen of England and by First Minister Peter Robinson. It is unconnected with the Jubilee.? With this carefully crafted statement, Sinn Fein confirmed that a former IRA commander who dedicated his life to ousting the British from Northern Ireland will shake hands with the Queen next week. They will meet at a charity reception in Belfast, marking another once unthinkable and irreversible milestone in the peace process

Published at 12:01AM, June 23 2012

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