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Margaret Hodge: Multi-millionaire Labour MP's family business 'paid just 0.25% tax on its profits' | Mail Online
Labour MP Margaret Hodge's family business paid just 0.25 per cent in tax on its profits last year, it emerged today.
The chairman of the Public Accounts Committee now faces embarrassing questions as she prepares to lead the questioning of U.S. companies over their controversial tax arrangements.
Mrs Hodge, a multi-millionaire former Labour minister, has been one of the fiercest critics of tax avoidance by companies such as Starbucks, Google and Amazon.
She is now likely to face questions over the limited tax paid by Stemcor, the steel trading company of which she is a shareholder and which was founded by her father and is run by her brother.
Analysis of Stemcor's latest accounts in today's Daily Telegraph show that the business paid tax of just £163,000 on revenues of more than £2.1billion in 2011.
However, it is not known whether the company – which made profits of £65million – used tax avoidance measures similar to those criticised in the past by Mrs Hodge.
Stemcor's tax bill to the Exchequer equates to just 0.01pc of the revenues it booked through its UK–based business.
In accounts filed with Companies House, Stemcor revealed that, despite generating about one third of its revenues in Britain, its UK tax contribution made up only 2.7pc of the tax the company paid globally.
Corporation tax in Britain currently stands at 24 per cent.
Stemcor, which claims to be the UK's sixth biggest private company by turnover, was founded by Mrs Hodge's father, Hans Oppenheimer, more than 60 years ago.
The majority of Stemcor's shares are still controlled by the Oppenheimer family and Mrs Hodge declares a 'registrable shareholding' in the company, which is run by her brother, Ralph Oppenheimer, the executive chairman.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Mrs Hodge defended Stemcor's behaviour and said the company had 'assured' her it paid 'every penny of tax that is owed,' adding that she was only 'a very small shareholder'.
Mrs Hodge said: 'Clearly, I have asked them the question. They have always promised that they do absolutely nothing to avoid tax. I would be very mad if I found out differently.'
A spokesman for Stemcor defended the company's tax policy and said it paid more than many of its peers.
'In the past three years, a total of £14million of corporation tax has been paid by Stemcor in the UK. Stemcor's effective tax rate internationally in the last three years has been over 30per cent,' he said.
The spokesman added that Stemcor was 'happy' to provide more detail.
Labour MP Margaret Hodge's family business paid just 0.25 per cent in tax on its profits last year, it emerged today.
The chairman of the Public Accounts Committee now faces embarrassing questions as she prepares to lead the questioning of U.S. companies over their controversial tax arrangements.
Mrs Hodge, a multi-millionaire former Labour minister, has been one of the fiercest critics of tax avoidance by companies such as Starbucks, Google and Amazon.
She is now likely to face questions over the limited tax paid by Stemcor, the steel trading company of which she is a shareholder and which was founded by her father and is run by her brother.
Analysis of Stemcor's latest accounts in today's Daily Telegraph show that the business paid tax of just £163,000 on revenues of more than £2.1billion in 2011.
However, it is not known whether the company – which made profits of £65million – used tax avoidance measures similar to those criticised in the past by Mrs Hodge.
Stemcor's tax bill to the Exchequer equates to just 0.01pc of the revenues it booked through its UK–based business.
In accounts filed with Companies House, Stemcor revealed that, despite generating about one third of its revenues in Britain, its UK tax contribution made up only 2.7pc of the tax the company paid globally.
Corporation tax in Britain currently stands at 24 per cent.
Stemcor, which claims to be the UK's sixth biggest private company by turnover, was founded by Mrs Hodge's father, Hans Oppenheimer, more than 60 years ago.
The majority of Stemcor's shares are still controlled by the Oppenheimer family and Mrs Hodge declares a 'registrable shareholding' in the company, which is run by her brother, Ralph Oppenheimer, the executive chairman.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Mrs Hodge defended Stemcor's behaviour and said the company had 'assured' her it paid 'every penny of tax that is owed,' adding that she was only 'a very small shareholder'.
Mrs Hodge said: 'Clearly, I have asked them the question. They have always promised that they do absolutely nothing to avoid tax. I would be very mad if I found out differently.'
A spokesman for Stemcor defended the company's tax policy and said it paid more than many of its peers.
'In the past three years, a total of £14million of corporation tax has been paid by Stemcor in the UK. Stemcor's effective tax rate internationally in the last three years has been over 30per cent,' he said.
The spokesman added that Stemcor was 'happy' to provide more detail.