Abolish the Corporation Tax!!

I'm a little late putting this one on the blog, but here is my latest article in "The Grapevine" - this time it is on the corporation tax, and how it shouldn't be kept as it is, or reduced, but abolished entirely!

I get annoyed with the corporation tax for a number of reasons - in part because it is a tax that reeks of that annoying student mentality that thinks itself urban and trendy because it buys crap coffee from the local FairTrade stall as opposed to one of those evil Starbucks things with their good coffee and nice places to sit!  However, this article attempts to present the argument against the corporation tax on the basis of honesty and who it actually taxes.  It also takes on the idea that tax avoidance (as opposed to tax evasion) is a bad thing.

"Last week’s protests by UK Uncut at Barclays brought up the old chestnut of corporations and their supposed “duty” to jump various hurdles and pay certain taxes designed especially for them.

Groups such as UK Uncut believe that tax avoidance, practiced by corporations such as Barclays, is immoral. Accompanying that view is usually the opinion that the rate of corporation tax is too low. Both views are incorrect.

First, there is nothing immoral about avoiding tax. Tax evasion – that is the deliberate non-payment of tax legally owed – is of course illegal, and no-one is defending illegality even if one may criticise the law. Tax avoidance however, is not only legal, it also a natural and even a wise practice for any person or business to engage in. Tax avoidance is merely an attempt to limit the amount of tax that one needs to pay.

This may sound controversial but in reality it is not. Did the UKUncut crowd judge those shoppers who packed out stores in late December in order to avoid the VAT hike? Are they planning to blockade the coach and trucking companies that fill their tanks up abroad in order to pay less for petrol? If I am in America and choose to purchase a product in Texas instead of England due to the fact that there is no sales tax in Texas, should I be then subjected to a dishevelled crowd of students with poorly constructed signs blocking the entrance to my home?..."

The rest of the piece can be found here.