Protest outside Vodafone second week running
Article published: Sunday, November 7th 2010
Protestors staged a demonstration outside the Vodafone store on Market Street for a second consecutive weekend on Saturday 6 November. They accuse the multinational telecommunications giant of owing £6bn in tax – a claim strenuously denied by the company.
Around 15 people entered the shop and distributed flyers before being forcibly ejected by staff and security. They then unfurled a banner calling Vodafone a ‘tax dodger’ and another declaring ‘We will not pay for your crisis’.
As reported by MULE last week a deal struck between HM Revenues and Customs and Vodafone over tax liabilities is at the centre of the controversy. According to a Private Eye article HMRC wrote off the majority of a tax debt incurred by the takeover of a German engineering company in 2000, meaning that they were able to get away without paying a reported £6bn.
Protestors placed the alleged ‘tax dodging’ against the broader background of public spending cuts and government austerity.
One member of the group who wished to remain anonymous told MULE: “This is not a single issue about corporations not paying their fair share of tax. We want to dispel the myths about the inevitability and fairness of the cuts, as well as making people aware that there is an alternative”.
Text on a flyer distributed by protestors stated: “The government cuts are not ‘fair’ when the bankers who caused this mess will receive £7 billion this year in bonuses and when 23 out of 29 government ministers are millionaires.
“We are very clearly not ‘all in it together’”.
For more information contact: manchesteranticuts@gmail.com
More: Manchester, QuickKick
Comments
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The reason why Vodafone strenuously denies what they call the “urban myth” relating to an estimated £6 billion in taxes is because their official, legal liabilities fall far short of that sum.
The whole point of the protest is that Vodafone has processed transactions offshore in places like Luxembourg specifically in order to avoid UK tax liabilities.
Vodafone is technically correct to say that it doesn’t owe £6bn tax to HM Revenue & Customs – because it made sure that the Mannesman deal was conducted ‘offshore’ and didn’t incur UK tax liabilities. That’s partly what the protesters are protesting about!
According to estimates reported in the likes of Private Eye and elsewhere, if Vodafone hadn’t availed itself of this legal tax dodging ruse then its UK tax liabilities *would have been* (not are) £6bn.
Vodafone, thou dost protest too much.
Comment by Lulu on November 8, 2010 at 3:18 am
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