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Article

26 Feb 2012

Author:
Phillip Inman, Guardian [UK]

Tax avoidance schemes unjustified even if legal, admits leading business lobby [UK]

Britain’s leading business group has for the first time admitted that “black box” tax schemes devised with the sole aim of avoiding tax are unjustifiable even if they are legal.…[The Confederation of Business Industry (CBI)] said its members play by the rules and pay their fair share of tax…without resorting to complex tax avoidance schemes…UK Uncut and other anti-poverty campaign groups have become increasingly vocal in calling for a crackdown on artificial tax planning by big business…[CBI director general, John Cridland] said business had proved reluctant to talk about tax in the past, but a combination of intense criticism of individual firms and the tax debated stirred by the government’s austerity measures meant it was necessary for employers to engage more openly about the appropriate level of business taxes…[Refers to Vodafone, Goldman Sachs, Arcadia, Top Shop, Miss Selfridge]