Tuesday, November 30, 2010

More on Philip Green protests

Following yesterday's blog, The Guardian has a longer piece today about Sir Philip Green, a tax avoider and UK retail billionaire who has a high-profile job with the British government advising on public austerity savings. It has a great comment from a spokesman for the grassroots protest group UK Uncut, who says:

"Philip Green is a tax avoider, and yet is regarded by David Cameron as an appropriate man to advise the government on austerity," said UK Uncut's spokesman, 26-year-old Daniel Garvin. "His missing millions need
to be reclaimed and invested into public services not into his wife's bank account."

Bit by bit, the tax justice agenda is gathering momentum.

On the subject of UK retailers, Tax Research has now updated its "Knickers to tax" work on Marks & Spencer, which we blogged recently. It responds to those who have criticised the research, and produces a list of questions for the critics to answer.

1 Comments:

Blogger Robin Smith said...

This is a good point. I've been asking how Mr Green and all the others accumulated such vast sums. I was at the High Pay Commission the other day making my submission. And it went as follows:

Real Reform: What is the Central Cause of High Pay Differentials?

Real Reform: How Does Capital Concentrate Into Huge Corporate Fortunes?

In essence they are skimming off land rents. The more a corporation earns in rent from location values, compared to the use of their capital, the higher the "earnings", the higher the salaries.

Banks are at the top because they produce almost nothing. Big retail is in the middle, Tesco(a big land bank) and perhaps Mr Green. Tenant traders are at the bottom and can accumulate no surplus from rent at all... they pay it out to the above!

Big corporation is not Big Capital at all. It is Big Rent. Monopoly or rentier power. Not capital power. Big Rent simply has the power to purchase the huge stocks of capital using land rents to fund it all.

1:13 am  

Post a Comment

<< Home