PFI privateers dodge tax

Privatisers are vultures, photo Anita Ritenour (Creative Commons) (Click to enlarge)

Top privatisation companies don't even pay taxes on the profits they leech out of public services.

Five offshore 'PFI' firms spent five years paying almost no corporation tax - on profits of nearly Ł2 billion. On top of this, nine offshore companies now own 45% of total PFI and 'PPP' privatisation project value.

The shock figures on Britain's 735 major sell-off schemes come from the European Services Strategy Unit think-tank.

Selling state services for bosses' bottom lines is bad enough. Now the vultures won't even let us claw a bit back through taxation.

Scrap all PFI and PPP contracts. Take the lot back into public ownership. Don't pay a penny to predator profiteers. Use their resources to help fund quality services and decent wages.

James Ivens

Donate to the Socialist Party

Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.

Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.

We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to click here to donate to our Fighting Fund.