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David
Cameron like too many of his predecessors talks tough at home but chooses to
comply with the EU when abroad. The Prime Minister stated, as his first failed
pledge, that he would block any increase in contributions to the EU. Second,
when faced with a proposed increase of nearly 6% - which equates to the UK
having to pay an extra £900 million to the EU in the forthcoming year –
David Cameron claimed that he had thus secured a fantastic British victory in
Brussels by limiting any increase in the EU’s budget to merely 2.9%. And to
wrap up these triumphs, the Prime Minister further claimed to have won an
agreement to limit future budgets by making them reflect the austerity
measures being taken by governments across the EU. But then the small print
emerged, and we see that he achieved nothing of the sort
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British taxpayers
will lose at least £9.7 billion due to rulings by the European Court of
Justice. These tax blows to the nation’s finances, coming at a time when the
Government is struggling with our huge national debt, could have been
prevented. However, Ken Clarke and his successor, Gordon Brown, as Chancellor
failed to act on advice to amend EU tax rules. Now the only option to protect
British tax law from EU interference is for the UK to regain its freedom
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The price of the
combined direct and indirect expenses of EU membership in 2008 costs Britain
£55.775 billion. Set out in the latest Bruges Group research by UKIP MEP
Gerard Batten, the full financial burden to Britain has now been calculated.
They show a dramatic increase in the costs of the EU - A price Britain cannot
afford
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How proposed
changes to corporation tax will damage the UK economy by reducing GDP by
£73 billion and cutting investment by £58.4 billion over 10
years
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Gordon Brown's
Government is handing-over billions of pounds of taxpayers' money to the
EU.
The combined direct and indirect costs of EU membership will cost Britain this
year over £114,000 per minute.
As a result of the Government's surrendering of the UK's rebate, and
the mounting costs of pointless EU regulation, this figure is set to rise even
further
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By 2007 the combined
direct and indirect costs of EU membership will cost Britain close to
£100,000 per minute. If the Government believes that membership of the
EU is beneficial to Britain and that we should remain a member, then let it
commission an independent and impartial cost/benefit analysis so that the
supposed benefits can be proved and the findings openly debated
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Developing policies for a post-EU Britain
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On Thursday, 6th April 2006
the Advocate General issued an opinion today, which if followed by the
European Court of Justice, will poke another hole in British tax sovereignty.
It will mean that dividends paid from EU companies to the UK should be exempt
from tax, rather than taxed as they currently are under UK law
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Today the ECJ ruled on
British tax law. The long awaited judgement from the unaccountable ECJ could
cost the British taxpayer billions of Pounds. The fact that the EU has
overturned UK tax law shows that Blair’s famous red-line, which he claimed he
secured when the EU Constitution was being drafted, was in fact a red-herring.
British governments had already surrendered the UK’s right to determine about
20% of this country’s taxation. The decision today shows that the EU has
usurped the right to make UK tax laws. The ECJ has struck-out well-established
UK rules in pursuing the Brussels goal of tax harmonisation. This will cause
uncertainty for business and government funding. The government has known
about this risk since at least 1999, and should now act to bring back control
of the UK’s tax affairs
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As the EU project
continues it is time to think outside the box and explore the alternatives to
the EU
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The Rt Hon. John
Redwood MP and Steve Richards, Chief Political Commentator of The Independent,
debated which direction the Conservative Party should take and its future
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This article seeks to
critically analyse the decision of the European Union’s Advocate General whose
opinion regarding the Marks & Spencer case may create a single EU-wide
corporation tax adding to business costs
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Tax expert Damon Lambert
warns of the European Union's high and anti-competitive tax policies. The
time has come to free Britain from EU control to allow a new tax agenda that
will create wealth and jobs
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The euro is failing and will fail without the back-up of political
integration including harmonised taxation and a centrally managed EU-wide
fiscal policy. These measures will be the inevitable consequence of the euro
and the EU Constitution. Despite the claims made by our Government the EU
Constitution, if ratified, will lead to EU-wide tax control and the
enforcement of damaging outmoded economic policies responsible for the high
unemployment on the continent.
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Carl Mortished, International Business Editor of the Times, 'Tax
harmonisation and EU Competition policy'. And Jeffrey Donaldson MP,
'The European Union - an Unionist/Ulster perspective', address the
Bruges Group
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The Prime Minister's claims about the EU Constitution are merely a
smokescreen designed to hide the true economic implications of the EU
Constitution. In reality it is a threat to jobs and democracy
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Damon Lambert a tax expert at KPMG discusses how the European Court of
Justice is standardising taxation in the European Union
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The devastating consequences of Euro membership on Britain's
independent fiscal policy
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