Sammy Wilson (East Antrim) (DUP):...A point I want to make in
conclusion is that there are opportunities for tax increases that
will not actually hurt businesses or individuals in the United
Kingdom. As a result of Brexit, we now have the opportunity to
tackle those people who have been avoiding taxes wholesale. I am
thinking of the Amazons and the Googles, who use the Irish Republic
as a place where they can locate and take all their profits to.
They load all their costs into GB and the...Request free trial
(East Antrim) (DUP):...A point I want to make in
conclusion is that there are opportunities for tax increases that
will not actually hurt businesses or individuals in the United
Kingdom. As a result of Brexit, we now have the opportunity to
tackle those people who have been avoiding taxes wholesale. I am
thinking of the Amazons and the Googles, who use
the Irish Republic as a place where they can locate and take all
their profits to. They load all their costs into GB and the United
Kingdom and then avoid our taxes. I believe that there are
important opportunities that the Chancellor needs to take. I am
disappointed that, even with the announcement of additional
inspections for tax fraud, the amount is so small. We do not just
need new inspectors; we need new policies, and we should be getting
on with that. But all in all, I think that many people in Northern
Ireland will recognise this as a good Budget for the Union, a good
Budget for individuals and a good Budget for recovery.
(Foyle) (SDLP):...I am not somebody who would
normally support low corporation tax, but the fact of the matter is
that in Donegal, just across the border, corporation tax is 12.5%.
In Derry, a mile away, it will soon be 25%. We take advantage of
the protocol, and then we harm it by having a corporation tax
double that just across the border. We know that small retailers
are on their knees, and there is no mention of a windfall tax
on Amazon which is making an
absolute fortune at the expense of those retailers...
(Folkestone and Hythe) (Con) [V]:...In this year
of coronavirus, some of the biggest winners have been the major
online retailers—companies that pay relatively little in
corporation tax and in business rates compared with the high street
businesses that increasingly they compete against. I welcome the
super deduction for business investment, but we may see that some
of these companies were already planning to make big
investments—companies such as Amazon investing in new
warehouses and facilities—and will do so now and recoup even more
off their tax bills. We need to think about how we can effectively
tax businesses that operate online and through multiple
jurisdictions, so that they pay a level of tax that is relatively
fair for the business that they do and is on more of a level
playing field with the businesses in our communities with which
they increasingly compete...
...As this year the Competition and Markets Authority
establishes its digital markets unit, we need to make sure that big
companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon are not abusing their
market power, and therefore creating inbuilt costs for consumers
through charging advertisers too much. We also need to ensure that
workers get their fair share. Fair competition for British
businesses looking to compete in the tech sector is important, and
we need to reform our competition law to make sure that is
possible. That will be an important part of making sure that we can
build back better after the year of covid.
(Gainsborough) (Con):...My right hon. Friend makes
an entirely valid point. One of the points that I want to make in
my short contribution is that we have to accept that the high
street and small businesses have moved on. The truth is that we
have a very unequal tax system. Giants such as Amazon are paying an infinitely
small proportion of their profits and turnover in business rates,
and are driving small businesses and shops out of the high street.
I personally think that there is something to be said for
abolishing business rates all together. How would we pay for that?
We could actually pay for it through a 3% increase on VAT on all
businesses. That, of course, would hit the very large businesses
such as Amazon which pay derisory levels
of tax, very hard indeed. My right hon. Friend makes a very fair
point...
(Thirsk and Malton) (Con):...As my right hon.
Friend the Member for Gainsborough (
) said, we need to make sure that we set a fair and level
playing field and stable framework for businesses. Because of the
threats from Amazon and the like, one way we
can do that is to scrap business rates altogether and replace them
with a small increase in VAT. That would be a simple solution to
the problem and set that fair and level playing field for many SMEs
in this country...
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