The Prime Minister has vowed to crack down on tax avoidance if the Conservatives get in at the next General Election.
Speaking ahead of the May vote, he said he wanted to see Britain “living within its means” and the crackdown would raise a further £5bn in avoided tax every year.
“We will crack down on tax avoidance and ensure that those who can afford to pay the most do so,” Cameron said.
He stressed a Conservative government would ensure the UK maintained “the most competitive” rates of corporation tax in the G20. However, Cameron also warned businesses that if they wanted to take advantage of generous rates, they had to ensure the tax was properly paid.
He said: “The deal is this; if we cut your taxes, you have got to pay those taxes.
“If large corporations think they can come here, use our public services, take advantage of all the benefits of operating in Britain, and then use all manner of weird schemes to avoid paying tax, they are wrong.”
Cameron’s pledge was welcomed by the anti-poverty charity, ActionAid, which said it would be examining the detail of the promise “carefully”.
ActionAid’s head of advocacy, Barry Johnston, said: “While today’s announcement of a manifesto pledge to tackle tax avoidance is welcome news, we will be carefully examining the detail.
“In order to be properly fair, it must tackle tax dodging by UK firms in poor developing countries. These countries lose hundreds of millions of dollars every year to tax avoidance, which could otherwise be used to lift those countries out of poverty.”
In recent years there have been a number of high-profile tax avoidance cases, prompting public outrage and political condemnation.