Grangemouth

The Grangemouth operation up in Edinburgh has been in the news the past few days. One article explained how the man in charge, if not exactly the owner, has recently been readmitted to the billionaires' club. Another explained how the operation was losing £10m a month and that if the workers there did not do something about it in the way of cuts to their pay and pensions, they would be out of a job. A view with which I have some sympathy: if we pay ourselves far more than comparable workers get in, say, Indonesia, eventually the work will move there. In the open world economy which has made so many of us - including here the workers - rich beyond the dreams of the depressed inter war years, one lot of workers cannot sustain a huge wage differential over another lot.

On the other hand, where does the entry fee for the billionaires' club come from? That, presumably, has to come in the form of cash or near cash. Which leads to the thought that the same sort of creative accounting which generates zero pounds (or dollars) corporation tax bills for massively profitable operations has gone into the sums which result in a £10m a month loss. Maybe that takes into account the £33m a month service charge paid into the bank account of the small but select company which consists of the man in charge and his dog.

Another thought on the corporation tax front is the Australian thought that corporation tax is an alternative rather than an addition to personal tax. No double taxation here if you please. So if one gets dividends from an Australian company, the corporation tax (in effect) which that company has paid is deducted from what would otherwise be your personal tax bill. Provided, that is, that you live in Australia. All to do with something called franking. If I have got this right, it puts the aforesaid zero pounds in a slightly different light.