All UK Anti-Austerity Campaigns Proven RIght!!
anon@indymedia.org (Santa) | 21.12.2011 12:55 | London
An investigation by the Public Accounts Committee has calculated there is £25 BILLION in outstanding corporate tax, which is bigger than the UK budget deficit for 2002. This report vindicates UK Uncut, Occupy groups and anti-austerity protests, and in terms of the movement breaking-out of its cultural ghetto and linking with mass culture, the most important lesson for radicals is that there is outrage about this "from across the political spectrum", with even the right-wing Daily Telegraph admitting that "Conservatives should support left-wing campaign groups when they’re in the right"...
In what is arguably the most important domestic news report of 2011 (and possibly 2012) "allegations about tax avoidance in the highest echelons of the corporate world have been vindicated in a Commons report". The sheer scale of corporate crime will come as no surprise to most ordinary people, but it is very important in PR terms that claims made from within protest culture have been corroborated by an investigation from within the very heart of the political establishment.
An investigation by the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons has vindicated claims by UK Uncut, calculating there is £25 BILLION in outstanding corporate tax which Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs has failed to collect. The report details "specific and systemic failures" by HMRC and states that "senior HMRC officials were not prepared to cooperate with our inquiry" - in other words it's obvious the HMRC are deliberately failing to tax the hyper-rich.??This £25 billion is bigger than the entire UK budget deficit for 2002, is only slightly below the £30 billion deficit of 2006, and is equivalent to £1,000 for every UK family or 6% off basic income tax. This £25 billion is THEFT, because the likes of Vodafone and Goldman Sachs derive huge financial benefits from the education and health-care that British taxpayers provide for their employees, and from taxpayers funding the infrastructure that helps these corporations trade profitably, yet corporations avoid paying for the services that help keep them rich, while jobs, services, pensions, health-care and education are STOLEN from the taxpayers who've funded them, in order to pay back for all this lost revenue. As such this report vindicates UK Uncut and all Occupy groups, all anti-austerity protests, and everyone who campaigns against traitors like Nick Clegg using the deficit as an excuse to turn every single British university into a private school.
In terms of the protest movement breaking-out of its cultural ghetto and linking-up with mass culture, the most important lesson for radical groups is that there is "widespread outrage" about this report "from across the political spectrum" with "union leaders joining forces with right-wing pressure groups like the Tax Payers Alliance to back the findings", and even right-wing papers like The Daily Telegraph stating this is "outrageous" and that "Conservatives should support left-wing campaign groups when they’re in the right".
There are 2 ways that radical groups can respond to encouragement like this however. The first way is to make political capital out increasing popular anger at the grand-theft capitalism that's robbing us all. The 2nd is to make loud displays of violent radicalism which will seduce a tiny minority while successfully convincing everyone else that radicals are still best avoided.
http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2011/12/20/uk-uncut-vindicated-commons-report-backs-protest-group
Here's ANOTHER BILLION the government don't need to cut from public services...
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-2066529/Super-rich-dodge-stamp-duty-families-pay-tens-thousands.html
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/edwest/100125290/in-praise-of-uk-uncut/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
anon@indymedia.org (Santa)
Original article on IMC London:
http://london.indymedia.org/articles/11345