Richard Murphy (tax campaigner)

For other people with the same name, see Richard Murphy (disambiguation).
Richard Murphy
Born 1958
Nationality British
Alma mater University of Southampton
Occupation Economist, academic, accountant, journalist and activist
Known for Tax activism

Richard Murphy (born 1958) is a British chartered accountant and political economist[1] who campaigns on issues of tax avoidance and tax evasion. He advises the Trades Union Congress on economics and taxation, and a long-standing member of the Tax Justice Network. He is a Professor of Practice in International Political Economy at City University London.

In 2015, many of his ideas were taken up by Leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn.[2]

Early life

Richard Murphy was born in 1958 and brought up in Ipswich.[3][4] His undergraduate degree was in Economics and Accountancy at the University of Southampton, and further trained at KPMG becoming a Chartered Accountant.[4][5]

Career

For much of his early career he was an accountant in Downham Market, Norfolk. In 1985 he co-founded an accountancy firm which became Murphy Deeks Nolan. The company was sold in 2000. Murphy was also the founder of a company that became the European distributor for the game Trivial Pursuit.[4] Murphy has since admitted that the manufacturing operation he set up in Ireland to manufacture Trivial Pursuit was there to avoid UK taxation, something of which he is now ashamed and was a turning point in his career towards anti-tax avoidance campaigning.[6]

Since 2003 Murphy has become more involved in economic and taxation policy issues.[5] He was a co-founder of the Tax Justice Network.[7] He is the director of Tax Research LLP.[8] However, because Tax Research LLP is a Limited Liability Partnership he is technically the designated member rather than a director. The only other member of Tax Research LLP is Mrs Jacqueline Murphy.[9]

Murphy was named by International Tax Review magazine as the seventh most significant person having influence on tax policy, practice and administration in 2013.[7][10]

Murphy claimed he was the subject of sexual discrimination by the BBC after not being invited to participate on a Newsnight tax debate in November 2012. According to Murphy the BBC cited "gender balance" as a reason for instead inviting his junior female colleague.[11]

In 2009, Murphy lost a libel claim by Lord Ashcroft and associated businesses where he misunderstood an article posted on an unrelated website and published a blog post claiming that Lord Ashcroft's Belize bank provided "tax evasion services".[12]

In September 2015, Murphy was appointed Professor of Practice in International Political Economy in the Department of International Politics at City University London,[1] as a part-time appointment involving research and teaching.[13] Previously he had been a visiting fellow at University of Portsmouth Business School, the Centre for Global Political Economy at the University of Sussex, and at the Tax Research Institute at the University of Nottingham.[5]

He was the founder of, and remains on the Board of Directors of, the Fair Tax Mark.[14]

Public policy

Murphy is a promoter of financial reform, with specific emphasis given to tax avoidance/evasion. He is well known for his estimates that "£25 billion is lost annually from tax avoidance".[15] This is substantially larger than HM Revenue and Customs' estimate of £2.7 billion,[16] and his estimate has been dismissed by HMRC.[17] Murphy claims that HMRC insiders have suggested to him that £300 million additional investment in the department could recoup £8 billion in unpaid tax.[18]

His methodology has been criticised by other groups, including the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation in their December 2012 publication The Tax Gap for Corporation Tax,[19] and the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which cited his estimate of the corporate tax gap for the TUC as one which was "likely overstated (possibly by a wide margin)".[20]

Murphy advocates "country by country reporting", as a means to increase financial transparency to reduce tax avoidance and evasion.[21][22] In 2013, the OECD and G8 endorsed a form of country-by-country reporting.[7]

Murphy is in favour of a land value tax, which would tax land based only on its value, and not on the buildings on it, in order to discourage land hoarding and promote building in areas in need of more housing. It is also very difficult to evade.[23][24]

He has written in favour of removing high-denomination notes such as the £50 note as they are used widely for tax evasion, saying "there is not a shadow of a doubt that vast amounts of cash" are used for illegal purposes.[25][26]

Involvement in "Corbynomics"

In 2015, many of Murphy's ideas were taken up as proposed policies by Jeremy Corbyn, who subsequently became Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition. These ideas helped to form the body of policies that was dubbed "Corbynomics".[27] This included so-called People's Quantitative Easing.[2][28] - a broader development of a policy Murphy launched in 2010, called Green Quantitative Easing, and later the Green New Deal.[28][29] Corbyn also cited Murphy's estimate of there being £120 billion of missing tax revenue as part of the economic plan issued during his election campaign stating that this was enough to "double the NHS budget".[30] In addition, Corbyn adopted several of the remedies that Murphy has advocated (including country-by-country reporting) to address this revenue gap. Murphy later clarified that in his view not all of the missing revenue was "recoverable", and that "at best" £20 billion of it could be collected.[31]

Murphy never held an official position advising Corbyn, though it is reported that he had hoped to have a position on the Labour Party Treasury Team.[32] Murphy said in June 2016 that those demanding a change in the Labour leadership were correct, "even if I will not agree with much of their reasoning". Corbyn had "not provided a vision of what his leadership will deliver", and concerning Labour's economic policies: "we have so far heard almost nothing that really progresses the ideas outlined last summer".[33] A few weeks later, Murphy criticised Corbyn's track record further writing "there was no policy direction, no messaging, no direction, no co-ordination, no nothing".[34][35] In a response to a question raised in the House of Commons, Labour's Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell stated with regard to Murphy "He is not the economic adviser and never has been, because we doubted his judgment, unfortunately. He is a tax accountant, not an adviser. He is actually excellent on tax evasion and tax avoidance, but he leaves a lot to be desired on macroeconomic policy".[36]

Media commentary

Murphy writes for the The Guardian, and was a blogger for Forbes from January 2010 to November 2011.[37]

In 2001 Murphy wrote an article in The Observer recommending that parents set up a personal service company for their nanny, as an alternative to illegal cash-in-hand payments, to avoid income tax and national-insurance contributions.[38]

Murphy has been widely praised by commentators on the left, being described by the Daily Mirror journalist Kevin Maguire as an "heroic figure"[39] and the Guardian journalist Polly Toynbee has called him a "tireless campaigner".[40]

Personal life

Murphy is a Quaker.[2][41] He lives with his wife, a GP, and two children in Downham Market.[4]

Publications

Books

Reports

References

  1. 1 2 "Professor Richard Murphy". City University London. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Zoe Williams (22 September 2015). "Can Corbynomics guru Richard Murphy fix Britain?". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  3. ↑ Ronen Palan; Richard Murphy; Christian Chavagneux (1 February 2013). Tax Havens: How Globalization Really Works. Cornell University Press. p. 4. ISBN 0-8014-6855-8.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Terry Macalister and Heather Stewart (11 September 2015). "The man behind Corbynomics: an accountant from leafy Norfolk". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 "Richard Murphy". Tax Research UK. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  6. ↑ http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2010/08/06/ireland-undermines-investment-in-south-africa/#comment-578670
  7. 1 2 3 "Richard Murphy". International Tax Review. 11 December 2013. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  8. ↑ "Richard Murphy". The Guardian. London. 15 August 2008. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  9. ↑ "Tax Research LLP : Report and acoounts : 31 March 2011" (PDF). Timworstall.com. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  10. ↑ "The Global Tax 50 2013". International Tax Review. 11 December 2013. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  11. ↑ Kelly, Tom; Roberts, Hannah (2 November 2012). "Newsnight bunnygirl: BBC news show snubs male economist of 54 but picks fashion blogger, 25, for debate about tax". Daily Mail. London.
  12. ↑ http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/tory-chief-lord-ashcroft-settles-website-libel-claim/
  13. ↑ Carlos Martin Tornero (14 September 2015). "News briefs, appointments: Ian Carruthers (IPSASB) and Richard Murphy (City University London)". The Accountant. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  14. ↑ "Meet the Team: Fair Tax Mark". Fair Tax Mark. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  15. ↑ "The Missing Billions : The UK Tax Gap" (PDF). Tuc.org.uk. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  16. ↑ "Tax gap estimates for 2013-14" (PDF).
  17. ↑ "House of Commons - Closing the tax gap: HMRC's record at ensuring tax compliance: Government Response to the Committee's Twenty-ninth Report of Session 2010-12 - Treasury". Publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  18. ↑ Boyle, Catherine (18 August 2015). "'People's QE?' Left-wing leader's plans for the UK". CNBC. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  19. ↑
  20. ↑ "Corporate tax, revenues and avoidance" (PDF). Institute for Fiscal Studies. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  21. ↑ Murphy, Richard. "Why is Country-by-Country financial reporting by Multinational Companies so important?" (PDF). Tax Research LLP. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  22. ↑ Murphy, Richard. "Location, location – Campaigner Richard Murphy proposes a radical new International Accounting Standard that would require reporting turnover and tax by location" (PDF). accountancymagazine.com. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  23. ↑ http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2012/03/12/what-is-land-value-taxation/
  24. ↑ http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2013/09/30/time-for-land-value-taxation-in-the-independent-this-morning/
  25. ↑ "The move against high denomination bank notes gathers momentum".
  26. ↑ "There is some money we just do not need".
  27. ↑ "What is Corbynomics and could it work? We look at the Labour leadership frontrunner's alternative economic plan". This is Money. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  28. 1 2 Carlos Martin Tornero (24 August 2015). "Corbynomics: Everything you always wanted to know about it, explained by Richard Murphy". The Accountant. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  29. ↑ Richard Murphy and Colin Hines (2010). Green quantitative easing: Paying for the economy we need (PDF) (Report). Finance for the Future. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  30. ↑ "The Economy in 2020" (PDF). Solidarité & Progrès. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  31. ↑ "Is there a £100 billion hole in Corbynomics?". Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  32. ↑ "Is the dream over? Team Corbyn gives Jeremy's economic guru the 'cold shoulder'". The Spectator. 2 January 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  33. ↑ Cowburn, Ashley (29 June 2016), "Thomas Piketty, leading left-wing economist, resigns from Labour party role", The Independent, retrieved 5 September 2016
  34. ↑ Murphy, Richard (17 July 2016). "The rise and fall of Corbyn's economics". Tax Research UK. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  35. ↑ Waters, Lee (21 July 2016). "Labour's problems go way beyond Jeremy Corbyn". Click on Wales. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  36. ↑ "Charter for Budget Responsibility". House of Commons Hansard. 20 July 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  37. ↑ "Contributor: Richard Murphy". Forbes. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  38. ↑ Murphy, Richard (14 January 2001). "Make sure your nanny won't land you in jail". The Observer. London.
  39. ↑ "Kevin Maguire - Mirror Online". Blogs.mirror.co.uk. August 2011. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  40. ↑ Toynbee, Polly (30 June 2014). "Forget the excuses, here's how Britain can tax the rich". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  41. ↑ "Salter Lecture 2014 Tax Justice Richard Murphy". Quaker Socialist Society. Retrieved 20 February 2015.

External links

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