Tax protesters target Cadbury
Tax Justice protest outside Bournville factory
Tax justice campaigners recently demonstrated against Cadbury at the company’s famous Bournville factory in Birmingham. The ecumenical protest was organised by the Methodist Tax Justice Network (MTJN) and Methodists, Anglicans and Quakers took part. Campaigners claim that Cadbury used aggressive tax avoidance schemes from 2000 to 2010.
During this period Cadbury only paid, on average, £6.4 million of tax per year on annual profits averaging £100 million. Cadbury’s new owner Mondelez (formerly Kraft) has moved its financial operations to Ireland and Switzerland.
The protest followed press coverage that revealed details of Cadbury’s tax avoidance strategies during the decade. The Financial Times stated in an article in June: ‘Some of the tactics Cadbury used to cut its tax bill were aggressive, involving tax havens and complex structures with exotic codenames such as “Martini”. These tactics would have shocked the company’s Quaker founders. But more often the group simply exploited opportunities offered by the UK’s easy-going tax regime, loopholes or conflicts between national and international laws.’
David Haslam, MTJN convenor, said: ‘There is a moral question – tax is the price of a civilised society. If you’re going to provide education, health care, housing, roads, any of the things that any company relies on, you have to pay your share towards that. The rest of us do.’
Cadbury refused to provide a contributor to a discussion on the subject on BBC Radio West Midlands in which David Haslam took part. Instead, the company provided a statement. It said that ‘in common with all global business, Mondelez pays corporation tax based on the laws of the countries in which we operate. We comply with all applicable tax legislation in the UK.’
Tax justice campaigners are calling for a boycott of Cadbury products. People living in Bournville have reacted to the revelation with confusion, disappointment and anger. The MTJN protest coincided with the annual Bournville Village Trust Festival.
Comments
Here are some suggestions. Stop buying Cadburys chocolate. Support family businesses that make chocolate. Peace!
By Padraic Murray on 16th August 2013 - 8:03
Here is another suggestion: read the Quaker tax activist Richard Murphy’s blog on the subject at http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2013/06/21/cadburys-a-corrupted-culture/. Murphy’s work on fair tax is a national credit to Britain and Quaker thought, and it deserves wider appreciation. I happen to run a blog on related matters to Richard’s, focussing more widely on ethical capitalism. You can see my response to the Cadbury scandal at http://www.jnani.org/blog/2013/06/chocolates-guilty-secret/.
By mrking on 16th August 2013 - 14:07
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