UK PFI companies should pay windfall tax, say unions, MP
Companies running contracts under the controversial private finance initiative should be forced to pay a windfall tax, trades unions and MPs said on Monday.
The sector has come under intense scrutiny after the spectacular collapse of government contractor Carillion last month.
A study by the Centre for Health and the Public Interest think tank found that PFI operators who had education contracts had made £329m in profits over the last seven years.
Public sector union Unison said it was supporting amendments to the Finance Bill, tabled by Labour MP Stella Creasy, to introduce the levy. Parliament will debate the draft legislation on Wednesday.
Unison said a new windfall tax could “prove a lifeline to under pressure public services”.
“It would mean PFI firms are forced to pay back some of the billions of pounds they’ve been raking in at taxpayers’ expense.”
“Government cuts to spending have placed schools, hospitals and local councils in dire financial straits – a desperate situation made worse by the huge PFI loan repayments they’re locked into over many years.”
The union said that when PFI deals were struck, corporation tax was 30%, but now it had been cut to 19%, providing even more profit to operators.
National Education Union general secretary Kevin Courtney, said the PFI sums were “shocking, particularly in the context of the huge real terms cuts to school funding”.
“The collapse of Carillion has brought into sharp focus the toxic legacy of PFI,” he said. “PFI-related cost is a major problem for many schools, with the expense of PFI compounded by eye-watering charges made by PFI companies to maintain schools," the Guardian quoted him as saying.