Fee, KJ and Chris wonder whether we're open for business, or just funny business..
Former science minister Lord Sainsbury has launched a blistering attack on Pfizer's £63bn takeover move on AstraZeneca, calling on the government to block its attempt to "dismember" a strategically important British company. His intervention came a day after Astra's former boss Sir David Barnes branded Pfizer a "praying mantis" that "sucks the lifeblood out of their prey". Michael Arthur, provost of University College London and a member of the UK's Medical Research Council,and professor David Nutt, the government's former drug advisor who now runs neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College, also voiced their concerns over the impact of a Pfizer takeover on UK science research. Pfizer's Scottish boss Ian Read has indicated that a deal with Britain's second biggest drugs firm would allow it to save on American corporate taxes, and that AstraZeneca would be broken up and its assets put into Pfizer's three divisions, one or more of which could be sold off. Read, who earlier this week reported sharply falling sales at Pfizer, has been summoned to appear in front of two parliamentary committees next Tuesday and Wednesday.
SOURCE DAILY MAIL: Given £184 million by the Treasury... but US predator Pfizer paid just £118 million in tax in three years
US drugs giant Pfizer took £67million more from the UK Government than it paid in tax over a three-year period. The firm shelled out £118million in corporation tax between 2010 and 2012 – but received a whopping £184million in tax credits. The rebate comes despite it making almost £5billion in sales from its British operations over the period. The figures, revealed in documents filed at Companies House, come as the multinational was criticised for building up £43billion in tax havens across the world. The US company has already admitted that moving its tax base out of the US is 'one of the key drivers' of its £63billion plans to buy British drugs giant AstraZeneca. The group has almost 200 offices registered in tax havens across the world where it has an estimated £43billion nestled away. Some 40 per cent of its subsidiaries are based in offshore shelters or low tax regimes such as the Cayman Islands, the Netherlands, Jersey and the US state of Delaware – a highly controversial tax shelter. Tax expert Richard Murphy said: 'At a time when the world needs new antibiotics, Pfizer is investing in tax avoidance.'
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