As I set up my corporation tax payment yesterday, I couldn’t help but notice something (I am unique as my accounting period is 30th April whilst most are 31st March). This means my Corporation Tax is due on the same day we celebrate our golden Brexit opportunities. These include the end of freedom to move across Europe, business without trade deals, and £350 million a week for the NHS.

What is Corporation Tax?

For those of you who run a business, you will know what corporation tax is. For those of you who don’t, it is taxation on the profit made by a business in the financial year running from March or April 2018 to March or April 2019. It is payable on the 1st or 31^st January 2020 (depending on your year end).

I find it somewhat ironic that the day my corporation tax is due is on the same day those who don’t pay it, get their Brexit and the sunlit uplands that are coming their way. Corporation tax and the avoidance of paying it was, without doubt, a huge part of those with big money driving the Brexit bus and the deregulation that goes with it.

Admittedly, the new EU laws on corporate tax avoidance are coming up against some resistance from a couple of EU countries (Ireland notably) but they are at least trying to implement regulation to stop this scam. The people who pumped money into Brexit and indeed Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign are, to a man (its normally men) beneficiaries of aggressive tax avoidance.

Paying What is Due

I guess it annoys me more because I pay corporation tax and they don’t. What I pay is never a huge amount (I walk my dog too much to get rich) but it is significant to me. I would be a liar if I said paying corporation tax makes me wallow in self-righteous joy, because it doesn’t. However, I pay it because that is what you are supposed to do. It is your responsibility as a business.

Those of us who do pay it, rather than invoicing it as ‘services’ from the Cayman Islands, can take some solace. Corporation tax goes towards building roads, schools, hospitals and other public services required to keep the wheels of a nation turning. No one can accuse me of not paying my way.

If you wonder why the wheels of the nation keep smacking into potholes on neglected lanes and streets, check for how much corporation tax is avoided each year. It’s roughly £35 billion or around £673 million a week. Think of all the schools and hospitals that money could build.

The Media Corporate Tax Avoiders

The chief media architects of Brexit were The Sun, The Times, The Express, The Mail and The Telegraph. All these outlets fought tooth and nail to get Brexit done. All of them are owned by people who indulge in avoiding the taxes that legitimate businesses will pay this Friday whilst cabinet members of our own government don’t.

I’m no Poirot but if it is not obvious to people what is going on here, I am beginning to come to the conclusion that we really are a nation that has been taught how to be thick. I also wonder how many people who work in PAYE roles even know how corporation tax works.

Not very many, I am guessing. If I am right, there, in a nutshell, is a bloody good reason why we should not have referendums. Billionaires have just taken back control for themselves and themselves only.

Next week: Why job losses are the fault of whining remainers.