Tax reform and the Panama Papers

Tim Farron has written about the Panama Papers and the opportunity to change our system to restore trust in tax and politics on Facebook, you can read and share it here.

These revelations and this issue is about more than just David Cameron. We must not miss this opportunity to change the system.

It is absolutely essential that British people have full confidence in our leaders, and that when decisions are made and Budgets are written there is not even a slightest hint of a conflict of interest or personal gain.

We need a politics that works for people and communities, where it is their interests which are at the heart of how things are done.

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Politicians must rebuild faith in politics by doing what matters, by reaching out and helping people, and doing what we were elected to do in the first place.

In March Tim Farron asked Vince Cable to lead a major review for our party on tax to ensure people can have faith in the system and that it works in a truly globalised world.

Liberal Democrats want to see:

  1. Moves to bring in a real anti-avoidance rule. The anti-abuse rules were a good first step we took in government but we need to go further.

  2. Strengthen penalties for participating in repeated aggresive avoidance schemes – the changes this Government is bringing in won’t even allow someone to be named unless they have been involved in three separate avoidance schemes that have been defeated by HMRC in the courts. We need tougher penalties for those persistently aggressively avoiding tax.

  3. Use the anti-corruption summit this May to push overseas territories to hold a central list of beneficial ownership in each fund created, and for that list to be made available to HMRC. The Panama Papers show there is a huge problem in this area and this anti-corruption summit is an opportunity for us to globally take real, concerted action to change things.

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