This is self-explanatory...
"As a veteran tax planner and business expansion adviser, I wholly agree with Polly Toynbee's call for the publication of tax returns (Let every citizen's finances be open to public scrutiny, 10 April). The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development calculates there is $18 trillion in tax havens - enough to pay the fiscal deficits of Greece, the EU, the US, the UK and of all the countries in the world. Publication is a first step to identifying the siphons to tax havens and reversing the flow.
But please get the definitions correct. Ken Livingstone has a limited liability company to limit his liabilities, as most professionals would advise regardless of taxes. Isas and pension premiums etc are not tax-avoidance devices - they are paying £1 to save 40p as directed by the government.
Avoidance is fiddling the books in a quasi-legal way, to not pay taxes. Most of the "avoidance" that journalists fawningly qualify as "... but of course in a legal way" is not legal - as in UK law transactions have to be real, commercial and arm's-length. Putting a brass plate on a wall in Vaud, Switzerland and routing money via it is illegal - whether it is Google, high-street stores, Harley St Dental Inc or Fred the plumber - unless the trade in Vaud is real, with real people and on commercial terms. Most such transactions since 1980 have been illegal in this country and could and should be reversed. Tax evasion usually requires the owner to hide and lie. It is time to get HMRC enforcing the law.
Noel Hodson
Oxford"
As there are 'links' embedded within the above text some may prefer to read it as it was published today...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/apr/11/tax-returns-transparency