Aside from opinions on the rights and wrongs of the Big Company Tax situations, we thought a few facts may be of interest.

Government revenue in 2014/15 was made up of Income tax 32%; National Insurance 21%; VAT 22%; Duties 11%; and Corporation Tax 8%.  Green Taxes, Capital Gains Tax, Stamp taxes and other receipts total 6% between them.  Corporation tax is not a big earner for the UK government and is set to decrease as Corporation Tax rates are set to reduce in the coming few years

Often big company do make a huge contribution to the UK economy.  For example, it is thought Google has in excess of 2,000 employees in the UK, handing over payroll taxes estimated in excess of £200M each year.  Also, it spends considerable sums and incurs considerable VAT.

As far as anyone knows big companies in the news for paying too little tax are paying the amount of tax calculated by the rules.  It is entirely predictable that such companies won’t pay more tax than they have to.  Not many individuals pay more tax voluntarily.

If more corporation tax is to be collected the tax rules need changing.