Danny Alexander

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

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 & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

Braun gives ITR an exclusive insight into WTS Digital’s UK launch of its AI product, which can free up more than 1,500 hours per month by reducing routine tasks
Long tells ITR about her varied role, why curiosity is a key characteristic for the tax professional, and what she’d be doing if she wasn’t working in tax
The choice facing governments is not whether to adopt AI in taxation, but how to do so in a way that upholds the principles of tax fairness, writes Neil Kelley
As ITR’s client data reveals discontent with German tax advisers’ cost management, Grant Thornton’s local TP head insists it’s a two-way street
Uncertainty isn’t always a bad thing, but it’s easy to see how the Trump administration’s IRS commissioner merry-go-round may serve to undermine business confidence
The EU defended its ‘sovereign right’ to impose the tax in the face of US tariff threats; in other news, the US deputy Treasury secretary resigned after just five months
Ascoria’s chief revenue officer shares her career wisdom garnered from the disparate worlds of tax technology, electric cables, radio DJing and more
Businesses no longer have a choice when it comes to tax technology transformation. Pavlo Boyko of TMF Group says the question is simply: sink or swim?
The firm is hunting for a senior TP manager in its quest to build a full-service practice in Indonesia, A&M Tax’s Jakarta head Jaap Zwaan tells ITR
With a new government in place, the evolving tax landscape presents both opportunities and challenges for taxpayers
Gift this article