The good news is the EU is bringing in new laws to curb offshore tax havens. The bad news is that a hard Brexit could mean Britain won't adopt them.

The new laws would force financial intermediaries to reveal cross-border tax schemes to a central directory. The EU wants to implement it by 2019 -- by which point Britain could be out.

Last year Oxfam reported that the UK’s wealthiest could be hiding at least £170 billion offshore. That’s money that could be funding our NHS, our schools and other vital services that are facing severe cuts right now.

Let’s make sure the man in charge of our country’s finances, Chancellor Philip Hammond, hears us loud and clear: we want real action to crack down on offshore tax havens and make sure that corporations pay their fair share.

Philip Hammond: support draft EU measures that tighten the screw on tax avoidance schemes and commit the UK to a crackdown on offshore tax havens!

Parliament introduced legislation forcing those who market tax schemes to report them to Revenue & Customs in 2004. However the new proposals would go further, tightening the screw on British and European companies who work as intermediaries for corporations trying to move their money offshore.

“The ultimate objective,” it’s claimed in the leaked legislation, “is to design a mechanism… that will dissuade intermediaries from designing and marketing [offshore tax avoidance] arrangements.”

Brexit could give the government an excuse not to join in and take real action on offshore tax havens, bringing Theresa May’s threat of making the UK a low regulation corporate free-for-all off the shores of Europe one step closer.

It’s up to us to stop that happening. We know that Philip Hammond doesn’t want to sacrifice our economy for the sake of political point scoring in Brexit negotiations -- a huge outcry from us could be enough to make sure he puts an end to offshore tax havens for good. 

Philip Hammond -- don’t let Brexit be an excuse. Adopt the new EU proposals on financial intermediaries and commit the UK to a crackdown on offshore tax havens!

Hundreds of thousands of SumOfUs members like you worked so hard to hold the likes of Google, Apple and HSBC to account and make them pay their fair share in tax. That’s money that could be going to our cash-strapped public services instead of lining the pockets of the already wealthy.

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