Nottingham march against billionaire tax dodgers

As part of a national day of protests on unpaid tax, Nottinghamshire SOS (Save Our Services) organised a protest outside a Vodafone store before moving on to other stores to expose tax avoidance by companies. Each Vodafone store closed during the protest outside it.

The HMRC permanent secretary for tax, Dave Hartnett, has allowed the phone giant to avoid paying an estimated £6 billion tax. As one placard nicely put it, “Dave Hartnett – Vodacrony”.

The protest raises the question of how to stop tax avoidance schemes when large corporations wield massive economic power and will threaten governments if they feel their profits are threatened.

For example, how can Kraft, the owners of Cadbury, be stopped from moving substantial parts of the chocolate manufacturer to Switzerland which has a far lower rate of corporation tax? The answer: public ownership under democratic workers’ control and management.

The march was joined by students from both Nottingham universities who arranged to meet after the ending of the University of Nottingham occupation.

This was followed up by a meeting to discuss building for the 9 December protests.

A Nottingham Socialist Party member