Source: Twitter

 

@johannhari101 Vodafone stores shut down in London, Manc, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, York, bristol protesting their 6bn unpaid tax.Great work! #UKuncut

 

@DarrylMason Tax fraud/avoidance in UK equals £120 billion per year. Welfare cheating? £1 billion. Those bloody dole vampir...oh. #ukuncut

 

@chris_coltrane We're still protesting Vodafone! We shut their flagship store, we're chanting, people are talking with us. We ran out of leaflets! #UKUncut

 

Source: BBC

 

Protesters blockade Vodafone shops in tax protest

 

Campaigners claiming Vodafone has been let off an unpaid tax bill of £6bn have blockaded several shops.

 

Campaigner Ed Brompton said: "This money - £6bn - could be spent on schools, housing and hospitals."

 

But a Vodafone spokesman denied the tax bill reports, adding: "We pay our taxes in the UK and all of the other countries in which we operate."

 

A spokesman for HM Revenue and Customs said of the £6bn: "That number is an urban myth."

 

Four shops in central London and others in Glasgow, Oxford and elsewhere were forced to close because of the demonstrations, sparked by a campaign on Twitter and Facebook.

 

One of the campaigners, Ed Brompton, said: "We've succeeded in closing three shops in Oxford Street and one in Tottenham Court Road. There is also action going on in Manchester and elsewhere.

 

He said: "This money - £6bn - could be spent on schools, housing and hospitals. But instead it is going to go to the shareholders, a few people who are already rich."

 

A Vodafone spokesman said there had been protests outside a small number of UK stores and added: "We temporarily closed some of them and diverted customers to other locations so they were not inconvenienced."

 

He said: "We pay our taxes in the UK and all of the other countries in which we operate.

 

"Reports suggesting that we have an outstanding tax bill for £6bn are incorrect, as this was never the case."

 

The HMRC spokesman said: "We can't comment on the details of the settlement but we can confirm that it was reached by HMRC following a rigorous examination of the facts. It was agreed that Vodafone's liability was £1.25bn and at no point was the liability greater than that.

 

"There is no question of Vodafone having a tax liability of £6bn. That number is an urban myth."

 

The campaigners cite an investigation by Private Eye magazine which they said showed the taxman had dropped an attempt to reclaim £6bn in taxes.

 

The sum purportedly stems from Vodafone's purchase of the German telecoms firm Mannesmann, which was supposedly bought through a Luxembourg subsidiary to avoid paying tax in Britain.

 

The campaigners have also set up an online petition calling on the government to insist Vodafone pay the money.

 

The world's largest mobile operator measured by revenue saw "organic service revenue" rise 1.1% to £10.6bn in the April to June quarter.

 

Last week Vodafone was told to pay a 112bn rupee (£1.6bn) tax bill in India.

 

Vodafone has been given 30 days to cough up the £1.6bn the Delhi government claims it owes following the 2007 purchase of the Indian telephone assets of Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa.

 

Vodafone claimed the $11bn transaction was exempt from tax because it took place between two offshore entities.

 

FUCK YEAH! Its all happening now it seems :D Good on all these people tbh.

Edited October 30, 201014 yr by Grandwicky

I agree totally, shame of Vodafone for avoiding the tax in the first place, but absolute shame on the HMRC and the Government for allowing them to get away with it... And the HMRC has the fukkin' nerve to chase up people for tax for PAYE mistakes THEY MADE IN THE FIRST PLACE...... <_< <_<

 

I absolutely agree with the protestors, I know some people will say "oh, it's the poor employees that get terrorised", but that's garbage, no one is deliberately setting out to harm Vodafone employees.. It's really more in spirit with the McDonald's protests back in the 90s... And it would appear going by these reports that the UK taxpayer isn't the only one they're trying to screw, they're at it in India as well....

 

C'unts.... <_<

Hahaha! f*** yes!

 

Down with Vodascum!

 

 

I can't stand the company, and this really is the cherry on top. The fact that big big big businesses like Vodafone are being let away with not paying their full tax bill and are being able to reduce it through creative accounting [i'm halfway through my final year and know enough to reduce the tax bill of Vodafone!] when the rest of us are being screwed over is just a disgrace tbh. This government does not have it's priorities in order!