School of Management, University of Bath, Bath, UK.
University of Bath, Institute for Policy Research, Bath, UK.
J Public Health (Oxf). 2020 Feb 28;42(1):69-76. doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdz004.
A key driver of the global tobacco epidemic is the massive profit earned from manufacturing tobacco products despite high levels of product taxation. Two of the four major Transnational Tobacco companies are based in the UK, where there is growing evidence of corporate tax avoidance by transnational firms and where there are calls for the industry to pay more towards the harms caused by tobacco products.
OBJECTIVES/METHODS: UK tobacco company profit and corporation tax data between 2009 and 2016 is obtained from publically available sources. The intention is not to perform a piece of forensic accounting but to establish the broad pattern of profit and taxation in order to inform consideration of tobacco product and firm taxation, and hence public health.
Very little profit based taxation has been paid in the UK despite high levels of reported profits, both in the domestic market and globally.
The UK needs better reporting and corporate taxation standards. Tobacco companies should be made to pay more profit based taxation, such as by extending the surcharge on corporation tax currently paid by UK banks, and by making sure companies pay appropriate taxes when reorganizing corporate structures.
全球烟草流行的一个主要驱动因素是，尽管对烟草产品征收了高额税款，但制造烟草产品仍能带来巨额利润。四大跨国烟草公司中有两家总部设在英国，英国越来越多的证据表明跨国公司存在逃避企业税的行为，业界也呼吁烟草行业为烟草产品造成的危害支付更多的费用。
目的/方法：从公开来源获取了 2009 年至 2016 年英国烟草公司的利润和公司税数据。目的不是进行法务会计分析，而是要确定利润和税收的大致模式，以便为烟草产品和公司税收的考虑提供信息，从而促进公共健康。
尽管报告的利润水平很高，无论是在国内市场还是在全球范围内，英国的利润税都很少。
英国需要更好的报告和公司税收标准。应该要求烟草公司缴纳更多的基于利润的税款，例如通过扩大英国银行目前缴纳的公司税附加费，并确保公司在重组公司结构时缴纳适当的税款。
