Osborne: G7 agree to target tax evasion and avoidance

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BBC News - Osborne: G7 agree to target tax evasion and avoidance

The G7 group of industrialised nations have agreed that there must be collective action against tax evasion and avoidance, the UK's finance minister has said.

Chancellor George Osborne said after the talks that it was "incredibly important" that firms and individuals paid the tax they owed.

The members agreed on more policy issues than had been assumed, he added.

The G7 comprises the US, Germany, the UK, Japan, Italy, France and Canada.

In a news conference held jointly with Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King, Mr Osborne said the finance ministers and central bank governors of the G7, meeting in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, had also agreed no bank should be "too big to fail".

Tax avoidance
"We must put regimes in place... to deal with failing banks and to protect taxpayers and to do so in a globally-consistent manner," he said.

Any crackdown on tax evasion is welcome, and needed... but this is just rhetoric. We need to see action. I wish the Chancellor success, though. Tax evasion is a morally indefensible position.