Taxation havens cost UK economy '£4bn'

Date: 2nd March 2009

Taxation havens are costing the British economy about £4 billion each year, according to new statistics.

Research by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) found that offshore banking in locations such as Switzerland and the Channel Islands is depriving the UK government of huge amounts of revenue, which could be used elsewhere.

General secretary of the TUC, Brendan Barber, said: "The mechanisms of tax avoidance are always hard to understand, but this is a very simple story.

"If the super-rich held their money and assets in the UK they would contribute to at least £4 billion pounds extra."

According to the TUC, this would be enough for the government to meet its target of cutting child poverty by 50 per cent next year.

A recent investigation by Close Invoice Finance found that a number of small businesses had been turning to friends and family for loans since the start of the economic crisis.