Nick Clegg on tax avoidance by supermarkets

During the week Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg gave a speech to the Association of Convenience Stores about the future for Britain’s shops:

The supermarkets don’t just have the planning system working in their favour, they’ve also got the tax man eating out of the palm of their hands.

They say that every little helps but then set up hugely complex tax avoidance schemes. They are jumping through loophole after loophole while the Chancellor sits idly by as ordinary families and small business struggle to make ends meet.

Tax avoidance in this country isn’t small scale. It’s a slick and highly lucrative industry. An estimated £2bn is lost to this country every year in unpaid Stamp Duty Land Tax.