Herring stays ahead of Murphy in tax avoidance debate

BDO's STEPHEN HERRING has stayed ahead of Tax Research UK director Richard Murphy as Accountancy Age's tax avoidance debate heads into the final stretch.

With hundreds of votes already cast, and both Murphy and Herring preaparing their final statements for tomorrow, the debate is still very close. Herring is running with 52% of the votes, with Murphy in close attendance.

Today Murphy said that judgments on how to deal with tax matters were based on a moral code, "the reality is that those claiming morality should be kept out of tax are simply in denial about the law, objectivity and the nature of decision-making".

Herring said: "Put quite simply, we should never require an individual or a business which has three or four routes to make an investment to be required, or indeed expected, to choose the one which generates the highest tax liabilities; to choose another route is not ‘cheating'."

The debate sees Murphy propose that "tax avoidance is an unacceptable exploitation of the tax system". Herring opposes the motion.

The voting and comment systems are still live to join in for the first time. Those who have cast their vote can also switch allegiances if swayed by the latest arguments...

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Picture (l-r): Richard Murphy and Stephen Herring