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INVESTORS in a huge UK shopping centre have been accused of paying corporate taxes of just 0.5 per cent.
A Canadian pension fund involved in Westfield Stratford City shopping centre in London has been condemned for alleged “aggressive UK tax avoidance.”
Union Unite has accused the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) which has £5.9 billion invested in the UK, of having an “apparent role in avoiding payment of UK corporate taxes.”
The fund handles the pensions investments of 18m Canadians.
The accusation came as a top CPPIB executive yesterday addressed a London conference on “responsible investment.”
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey quoted a report by Unite’s Australian sister union revealing the 0.5 per cent corporate taxes paid from Westfield Stratford City Shopping Centre.
He said CPPIB and its Dutch pension fund’s 50 per cent interest in the complex is held in offshore tax havens — Jersey and Guernsey.
Mr McCluskey said: “Tax dodging by those who can afford to pay and by those who benefit from public expenditures may be legal but it is morally unacceptable.”
He urged CPPIB “to lead the way” in supporting a global policy of fair tax payments.
Richard Murphy, economist with the Tax Justice Network, said: “Westfield owns a number of major shopping centres in the UK, including the iconic Stratford Olympics site, but all of these sites are owned offshore, and mainly in Jersey. This is true of Westfield worldwide, where tax planning seems to be a major motivation for anything that Westfield does. The result is that, despite its considerable UK presence, after loan interest has been paid — to what often also turn out to be offshore companies — very little tax is being paid in the UK.”
He said the practice might be legal but questioned whether investors would choose to be involved.
“This is particularly important in the case of a pension fund whose members may well be suffering as a result of the loss of jobs and cuts in services that a lack of corporation tax revenues may be creating in the UK and other countries,” he said.
