Tax avoidance is “sinful” and tantamount to robbery, says Archbishop John Sentamu, one of the UK’s most senior clerics, as G8 leaders prepare to discuss the issue.
From the BBC:
Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, told the BBC that individuals and companies needed to be held accountable for their actions when it came to tax.
Tax avoidance was hindering efforts to tackle hunger and malnutrition in developing countries, he suggested.
Business has urged politicians to focus on setting laws and not “moralising”.
Tax avoidance was “definitely a moral issue”, the archbishop said and asked whether it was sinful, he replied: “It is sinful, simply because Jesus was very clear; pay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”
Those not paying their full tax liabilities were “not only robbing the poor of what they could be getting, they are actually robbing God, because God says ‘bring into my store house all the tithes'”.
“So if God has told us to be just, to walk humbly and to be merciful and then we behave in a very strange way – God is being robbed, the world is being robbed, your neighbour is being robbed.”
Business organisations have warned politicians against “moralising” about the issue and said it is the task of governments to set the laws regarding tax and for firms to abide by them. Google, Amazon and Thames Water all insist they are complying fully with the law.