Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: HM Treasury

Oral Answers to Questions

Naomi Long Excerpts
Tuesday 14th May 2013

(11 years, 6 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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David Gauke Portrait Mr Gauke
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One measure that I know my hon. Friend will be well aware of was the reform of research and development tax credits. We are making those more generous and bringing in a new above-the-line R and D tax credit. That is making the UK increasingly competitive in this sector.

Naomi Long Portrait Naomi Long (Belfast East) (Alliance)
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Developing countries need assistance from the west with collecting the tax due to them from multinational companies. How will the Government use their presidency of the G8 to ensure specifically that the strengthening of disclosure standards takes place multinationally?

David Gauke Portrait Mr Gauke
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The hon. Lady is right to raise this issue, which we touched on earlier. One of our priorities for the G8 presidency is to bring forward measures on tax evasion and tax avoidance. It is worth pointing out what the Prime Minister said in an article in The Wall Street Journal yesterday; he wants to encourage

“better global reporting to tax authorities in both the developed and developing world”.

That could make a big difference.