Prime minister, David Cameron, took the opportunity to call upon the international community to help clampdown on individuals and companies involved in tax avoidance, when he addressed the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland the other week.
Mr Cameron said, "I am a low-tax Conservative, but I'm not a companies-should-pay-no-tax Conservative" and "Individuals and businesses must pay their fair share."
Whether or not he intended it as a pun, the P.M warned that companies paying little or no tax, such as Starbucks would have to “wake up and smell the coffee.”
The P.M expressed his desire to work with the U.K's G8 allies, including the U.S, Germany, France, Russia, Italy, Canada and Japan to establish whether existing rules were adequate in countering tax avoidance, believing that more can be achieved through international co-operation than countries acting alone.
Mr Cameron said, "Some forms of avoidance have become so aggressive that I think it is right to say- these raise ethical issues – and it's time to call for more responsibility and for governments to act accordingly."


A system of automatic information exchange between nations to catch tax evaders was something that Cameron expressed needed exploring.
During his speech, Mr Cameron besmirched accountants and in so doing drew the ire of Michael Izza, chief executive of the Institute of Chartered Accountant in England and Wales who blogged,
“I was disappointed to hear the prime minister again dismiss accountants, this time as an ‘army' of avoiders, or 'clever accountants.” He added, "We don't recognise that description. Our members do not support illegal tax evasion or the kind of aggressive tax avoidance that we believe to be unethical. In fact, an effective accountancy and finance profession can and does help solve many of the problems the prime minister wants to address.”
Cameron was also criticised for regurgitating the usual spiel about unacceptable aggressive tax avoidance without explaining what he means by this.
As the UK is poised for a potential triple dip recession, the issue of tax avoidance looks set to remain a political football throughout 2013. 



I have to say, it is a testament to the determination of the british working people that they can succeed in business “despite” the determination of thier government to prevent them doing so.
Simplify the tax system, lower rates to an acceptable level and companies will be falling over themselves to do business here and pay tax. Result=inreased revenue, it’s not rocket science.
Simplify Tax ! The solution is so simple but no Government has the balls to tackle the real issues. The people of this country are starting to be fed up with the political language of scoring votes.
One tax VAT across the board ensures everything is paid for when sold/bought. Any attempt to not pay would be Tax Evasion. Laws would need to be changed to prevent companies falsely offsetting revenue which is probably one of the biggest losses to HMRC..
It”s clear that what we need is to reduce the tax taken from people’s income but increase the overall Tax taken. We need a simple, low tax system that encourages investment and expenditure. However every product sold in the UK must pay tax without exception.
That’s what this Government needs to implement for Britain to have a successful future.