No tax avoidance cases brought to court by UK tax authority since 2004

From TJN: A member of the UK Public Accounts Committee that recently grilled Amazon, Google and Starbucks execs on tax avoidance asked a top UK revenue official how many multinationals had been taken to court for tax avoidance.  Answer:

"of the thousands of major corporation tax ruses set up since 2004, not a single one has been taken to a tribunal or court! All have been settled through "light touch" compromise agreements, often in breach of the department's official policy and at immense cost to taxpayers."

TJN responds:

There are three main ways to turn your country into a tax haven, from the perspective of corporate taxation. One, cut your tax rates. Two, create (and encourage) tricky tax loopholes. Three, don't enforce your tax laws, (and let them write your laws in the first place.) This latest revelation by the Eye - among other things, revealing how a senior tax official misled a public inquiry - just confirms the third, leg, if ever such confirmation were needed.

Astonishing.