A true scandal

The The Guardian have a fantastic report about the ongoing scandal that is the Labour Governments' PFI scheme and the new tax avoidance aspects. The article starts "Billions of pounds of private finance initiative projects approved by Gordon Brown, including the refurbished Treasury headquarters in Whitehall and the new Home Office, have been moved offshore by their City owners to avoid paying tax on their profits."

This section should also be read "Prem Sikka, professor of accounting at Essex University, said yesterday that the latest revelations should be the subject of an inquiry at Westminster. "The disclosures of the way these contracts are being handled ought to be investigated by the Commons Treasury committee. The government should put clauses into PFI contracts preventing them being transferred offshore for a set period. "The only reason to move to the Channel Islands is to avoid taxes or to take advantage of less transparent auditing. The taxpayer is losing out. They are having to pay rent for these projects, but the tax base is declining.""

Do read the whole article.