To us, it’s an obscure shift of tax law. To the City, it’s the heist of the century

George Monbiot on a prospective change to the British corporate tax system.

At the moment tax law ensures that companies based here, with branches in other countries, don’t get taxed twice on the same money. They have to pay only the difference between our rate and that of the other country. If, for example, Dirty Oil plc pays 10% corporation tax on its profits in Oblivia, then shifts the money over here, it should pay a further 18% in the UK, to match our rate of 28%. But under the new proposals, companies will pay nothing at all in this country on money made by their foreign branches.

And the kicker: only available for medium to large businesses. I’d kind of naively believed that the old Tory extreme big-business bias was consigned to history, but it’s still the party for rich kids.