Darling takes the stick to corporate tax avoiders - but where's the carrot?

Alistair Darling’s new tax avoidance clampdown is finally exploiting public revulsion to corporate tax avoiders.

But according to the Guardian, “Michael Wistow, head of tax at Berwin Leighton Paisner, said the moves threaten to impose onerous duties on directors.”

My heart bleeds for them. Corporate tax avoiders are starving our public services of £12bn-plus a year.

On the other hand, if they simply paid the corporate tax expected of them, I suspect their duties would be a heck of a lot less onerous. Who knows, they may even sleep better.

What Darling’s plans lack, however, is some kind of carrot as the flip side to his stick. He’s talking about “naming and shaming” the tax dodgers, but offers no incentive to comply.

Of course, that’s where the Tax Tick would fit in - a logo to help us consumers identify and support products sold by tax-compliant companies. (Self-funded by very minimal royalties and administered by a dedicated non-profit company, it wouldn’t put any additional burden on taxpayers either.)