Danny Alexander

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2024

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Danny Alexander

Chief secretary to Treasury, UK

Danny Alexander

The chief secretary to the UK Treasury, the number two minister in the department, often is to be found in the shadows, negotiating sometimes painful spending cuts or tax rises with his Cabinet colleagues. The fact that Danny Alexander has had a bigger profile than most in his position is because of the coalition government in the UK since 2010 and the fact that he comes from the junior partner - the Liberal Democrats - in that government, unlike his boss, George Osborne, the chancellor of the exchequer, who is a Conservative. It has meant he has had to be more public in defending his party’s views on fiscal and monetary issues. The government has created a favourable tax climate for companies based in the UK, introducing measures such as cuts to the corporate tax rate, which will reach 20% in April 2015, and the Patent Box, which taxes income that derives from patented inventions at 10%. At the same time, it has banged the anti-avoidance drum hard, reasoning that the least taxpayers could do in return for a favourable tax climate is not to engage in aggressive tax avoidance.

Alexander has certainly been far more vocal than most in the government on tax and tax avoidance.

In October, he told the BBC he was “livid” about tax avoidance by energy companies by availing of interest deductibility rules on debt.

"My message to any company that is engaged in aggressive tax avoidance is to stop it," he said.

"People are rightly livid about companies and individuals avoiding paying the proper amount of tax. I'm livid about that. It's something which is not acceptable at any time, but particularly at a time when we are going through tough spending choices. Everybody needs to pay their fair share."

And in his speech to the Liberal Democrats’ annual conference in September, Alexander highlighted that the government expected to raise far more than expected from a deal with Liechtenstein that gives UK taxpayers until 2016 to come clean about any undeclared assets held there.

These and other examples are about marking out territory for the government and the Liberal Democrats, with a general election less than two years away. As a senior member of the Treasury team, Alexander’s words undoubtedly carry impact.

The Global Tax 50 2013

« Previous

Tom Adams

View the complete list

Next »

Joaquim Barbosa

more across site & bottom lb ros

More from across our site

ITR’s most interesting stories of the year covered ‘landmark’ legal battles, pillar two, AI’s relationship with transfer pricing and more
Chinwe Odimba-Chapman was announced as Michael Bates’ successor; in other news, a report has found a high level of BEPS compliance among OECD jurisdictions
The tool, which will automatically compute amount B returns, requires “only minimal data inputs”, according to the OECD
The rules are intended to implement the substance of an earlier OECD report in its entirety
While new technology won’t replace the human touch, it could help relieve companies’ staffing issues, EY’s David Helmer and Daren Campbell tell ITR
The firm said the financial growth came from increased demand for its AI services and global tax reform advice
Chrystia Freeland had also been the figurehead of Canada’s controversial digital services tax adoption, which stoked economic tensions with the US
Panama has no official position on pillar two so far and a move to implement in Costa Rica will face rejection, experts tell ITR
The KPMG partner tells ITR about Sri Lanka’s complex and evolving tax landscape, setting legal precedents through client work, and his vision for the future of tax
Overall turnover at the firm also reached a record £8 billion; in other news, Ashurst and Dentons announced senior tax partner hires
Gift this article