Updated

A British parliamentary committee has accused the accounting firm PwC of promoting tax avoidance on an industrial scale, and called for the government to step in and do more to regulate the tax industry.

The Public Accounts Committee says in a scathing report Friday that PwC mass-marketed tax avoidance plans, diverting profits to Luxembourg through intra-company loans.

Committee chair Margaret Hodge says "the effect has been to reduce the amount of corporation tax that some multinational companies pay in the countries in which they make their profits."

The committee says the plans show the "government needs to take a more active role in regulating the tax industry, as it evidently cannot be trusted."

PwC says it disagrees with the committee's conclusions, though they agree the tax system is too complex.