Holes in the net

摘要

The difference between tax evasion and tax avoidance, Denis Healey, a former chancellor once said, is the thickness of a prison wall. Now, it seems, it is the thickness of a lawyer's brief. Two rulings this week, one European and one British, grappled with the conundrum of how authorities in one country levy tax on profits earned in another. The first makes it easier for British companies (and, by extension, other European firms) to cut their tax bills by setting up subsidiaries in low-tax jurisdictions, while the second makes it harder for British individuals to do the same.