FTSE 100 COMPANIES AND TAX HAVENS

That this House notes a report by ActionAid charity which indicates that FTSE 100 companies between them have more than 34,000 subsidiaries; further notes that a quarter of these companies are registered in tax havens, enabling some of the UK's largest companies to engage in complex tax avoidance; further notes that based on the definition of tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions compiled by the US Congress, 98 out of the 100 FTSE companies use tax havens via their subsidiaries; expresses concern that the banking sector has the largest number of tax haven companies despite being recipients of well over a trillion pounds in loans, grant and guarantees from the public purse to keep the sector afloat since 2009; believes that the economic elite should be paying more than their fair share for restoring the public finances; and calls on HM Treasury to investigate immediately the use of offshore based subsidiaries by large companies to avoid paying legitimate taxation.