Complex regime

And what is the Treasury saying about this? Nothing much. Well, nothing much in public. They are sticking to their line that under this Government, corporation tax has been reduced to its lowest ever rate. Let us not even debate that claim here. The point is, the issue is not so much the rate, as the costs of compliance with the tax rules. The tax regime gets increasingly complex with each financial year. (For example, the Finance Bill now runs into two volumes, and a 600-page Bill is now no longer the exception.) In addition, we have one of the most aggressive anti-avoidance regimes around. These things mean that Britain is no longer a favourable place to do business.

So it is not just a question of how much tax was eventually paid. It is also a question of, how many lawyers and accountants did the company have to hire to advise it on the complexities of the tax system? How many days' work was spent on compliance with these rules? How much time was used to deal with aggressive queries from the tax authorities? These are the issues that are making HSBC (and no doubt, others) look longingly at the departure lounge. If Gordon Brown had any sense, he would look into this sharpish. Not likely, though. After all, these problems arose only after this Government came into office. For all that time, there has been only one man in charge of tax policy.

Yes, that's right. Step forward, Mr G. Brown.