Salvadore Allende, leader of Chile in the 1970s, nationalised many companies and paid no compensation to the owners, on the grounds that they had been making excessive profits out of the Chilean people. Jeremy Corbyn could make a similar case when returning major utilities back to public ownership, not only on grounds of profit, but also by reason of many of them denying the Treasury of much needed funds through their tax avoidance and evasion schemes. Why should the owners of Thames Water be paid any compensation when their company has cheated the taxpayer out of any corporation tax in the last ten years, "despite a £1.8bn turnover and shareholders banking £1.2bn in dividends" (Richer Sounds boss launches crusade to expose tax avoiders, 27.05.18)?
"Naming and shaming the guilty parties", as Julian Richer says, is one way to get businesses to pay their taxes, but the threat of nationalisation without compensation might be rather more effective!
No comments:
Post a Comment