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Commentators discuss the meaning of the departure of multinational building materials company Wolseley from the UK forÌýlower taxes in Switzerland, the first since the general election.

Director-general of the Institute of Directors [registration required] nine other companies which have left the UKÌýto indicateÌýthatÌýthe tax system is not competitive:

"In all the feedback I get from company directors there is a clear perception that the UK has a growing tax problem. More and more countries are using tax incentives to attract business, capital and skilled individuals. And even if countries do not consciously compete, companies will still head to the more advantageous tax environments.
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"And yes, this does matter. A country that loses through tax competition will lose wealth and employment opportunities. Its citizens will be poorer, and there will be less scope to collect taxes to fund public services - no small consideration given the coalition's huge squeeze on public spending."

Conservative MP that politicians would be hypocritical to complain about companies trying to avoid tax:

"The British political class is indulging in one of its phases of moralising and bashing anyone with a bit more money than the neighbours. We are told they should not seek to minimise their tax bills. They should stay here and help the country pay off its debts. They may not be easily persuaded.
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"All this would be easier to sell if the political classes themselves sought to maximise their own tax bills. There have been cases of prominent Labour, Lib Dem and Conservative MPs, peers and donors who have taken good advice to lower their tax bills legally. I see nothing wrong with them doing that, but the parties should not then turn round and tell people taking sensible precautions to keep their own tax down that such an approach is unpatriotic, immoral or worse."

that the Chancellor George Osborne could be forgiven for feeling betrayed:

"Mr Osborne has, in short, done everything he can to limit the burden of tax on business, even during these straitened fiscal times, and also promised a crackdown on the red tape of regulation, about which many businesses feel even more strongly than tax. The VAT rise will hit certain types of company, notably retailers, but we are still far from uncompetitive compared with the rest of Europe.
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"Still, while the Chancellor will have to take this one on the chin, it might be wise to get on the phone to his pals in the boardroom, just to remind them which side their bread is buttered."

that this doesn't necessarily mark the beginning of anÌýexodus of big companies as there are other incentives to stay in the UK:

"Multinationals in big industries enjoying heavy spending by the stateÌý- such as telecoms, pharmaceuticals and defenceÌý- are unlikely to make the same leap: they are tied by the need to keep the UK government onside as a lobbyist. But that still leaves a sizeable field of companies with foreign earnings that will be doing their own Wolseley-style calculations."

[subscription required] that Wolseley's tax move poses little threat to the UK workforce:

"[B]uilding supply depots are inherently local. Tax residence is irrelevant to their future. Ask the thousands of US staff laid off by the group since the housing crisis hit whether incorporation in, say, Delaware, would have saved their jobs. Hardly. With the exception of a few head office roles that may have to relocate to Zurich, the key to job security is not a company's domicile but its performance. That's dependent on the health of the economies served - which is where the government really needs to concentrate its attention."

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