We have committed to the Fair Tax Foundation’s Councils for Fair Tax Declaration.
This commits us to promoting responsible tax conduct through:
- leading by example and demonstrate good practice in our tax conduct, right across our activities, including ensuring contractors implement IR35 robustly and pay a fair share of employment taxes
- not using offshore vehicles for the purchase of land and property, especially where this leads to reduced payments of stamp duty
- not using not-for-profit structures inappropriately as an artificial device to reduce the payment of tax and business rates.
- demanding clarity, when appropriate, on the ultimate beneficial ownership of suppliers and their consolidated profit and loss position.
- promoting Fair Tax Mark certification for any business in which we have a significant stake and where corporation tax is due.
- support Fair Tax Week events in the area, and celebrate the tax contribution made by responsible businesses who say what they pay with pride;
- and to ask the leader of the council to write to Chief Secretary to the Treasury to support calls for urgent reform of EU and UK law to enable local authorities to better penalise poor tax conduct and reward good tax conduct through their procurement policies.
The decision to approve the Fair Tax Declaration was made by members at a Full Council meeting.
What is Fair Tax?
The Fair Tax Mark accreditation scheme was launched in February 2014 and seeks to encourage and recognise organisations that pay the right amount of corporation tax at the right time and in the right place.
Tax contributions are a key part of the wider social and economic contribution made by business, helping the communities in which they operate to deliver valuable public services and build the infrastructure that paves the way for growth.
The Fair Tax Foundation operates as a not-for-profit social enterprise and believes that companies paying tax responsibly should be celebrated, and any race to the bottom resisted.
Research has revealed that between 2014-19, a huge 17.5% of UK public procurement contracts – with a combined value of £37.5bn – were won by businesses with connections to a tax haven. Recent research has found that the UK loses an estimated £17bn in corporation tax revenues as a result of profit shifting alone.
Since approving the Councils for Fair Tax Declaration, we have:
- Signed up to the ‘Councils for Fair Tax Declaration’
- Written to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to support calls for urgent reform of EU and UK law to enable local authorities to better penalise poor tax conduct and reward good tax conduct through their procurement policies.
- We will also be supporting the annual Fair Tax Week through social media etc.
- Our IR35 regulations – ensuring any individual consultants, contractors or advisors are correctly paying income tax and national insurance contributions – are embedded in our pay policy statement. These are reviewed each year by Council, and have recently been subject to review by our internal audit team to ensure that we have the systems and processes in place to comply with IR35.
Further examples will be added here as this work progresses.
Which other councils and organisations are supporting Fair Tax?
- A list of accredited organisations is available on the Fair Tax website, while you can also check which local authorities across the country has approved the declaration.
Find out more
Find out more information on the Fair Tax website.
