Brixton Top Shop and Vodafone protests
We brave the blizzard to close down the tax-dodgers!
(© urban75, Saturday 18th December, 2010)

In easily the snowiest protest I've ever been on, a hardy band of folks assembled in outside TopShop, Brixton in protest against the tax-swerving activities of its owners.

Here's how the protest was announced:

This Saturday we will be joining others up and down the country on high street protests against the Cuts and Tax Dodgers. Meeting inside Topshop on Brixton Rd at 11am, we will peacefully and creatively close down the store, simply by getting in the way... Nearby there is also Dorothy Perkins, part of Philip Green's Tax Dodging Empire, and a Vodafone store...

If you're angry that the government is cutting services for the poorest and most vulnerable whilst letting the rich avoid billions in tax, then join us, even if you have never been on a protest before. The government is determined to plough ahead with these savage, unnecessary, ideological cuts. But a growing protest movement is starting to stage the fight back.

Be a part of it. They'll be music, and a mic: Calling for any MCs with a political message, to give to the streets of Brixton, Tax Dodgers and our Government.

Come along, bring your rhymes and pick up the mic! See you on the High Streets!.

Here's the background to the charming Sir Philip Green - multi millionaire and 'austerity advisor' to the government:

Sir Philip Green is a multi-billionaire businessman, who runs some of the biggest names on British high streets. His retail empire includes brands such as Topshop, Topman, Dorothy Perkins, Burton, Miss Selfridge and British Home Stores.

Philip Green is not a non-dom. He lives in the UK. He works in the UK. He pays tax on his salary in the UK. All seems to be in order. Until you realise that Philip Green does not actually own any of the Arcadia group that he spends every day running. Instead, it is in the name of his wife who has not done a single day's work for the company. Mrs Green lives in Monaco, where she pays not a penny of income tax.

In 2005 Philip Green awarded himself £1.2bn, the biggest paycheck in British corporate history. But this dividend payout was channeled through a network of offshore accounts, via tax havens in Jersey and eventually to Green's wife's Monaco bank account. The dodge saved Green, and cost the tax payer, close to £300m. This tax arrangement remains in place. Any time it takes his fancy, Green can pay himself huge sums of money without having to pay any tax.

Philip Green's £285m tax dodge could pay for:

The full, hiked up £9,000 fees for almost 32,000 students. Pay the salaries of 20,000 NHS nurses.

[UKuncut]

It truly was a blizzard!































The protest moves on to tax-dodgers deluxe Vodafone, who promptly shut up shop at the sight of us.




























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