My friends at Christian Aid issued this press release today:
Christian Aid welcomes Ed Miliband's determination to tackle the tax havens which are harming UK public finances but it urges him to go further, because financial secrecy is a curse for poor countries too.
‘It's great that Mr Miliband has recognised that tax haven secrecy is damaging people in the UK, by providing a cover for people and companies to hide their wealth and avoid paying the taxes that are so urgently needed,' said Dr David McNair, Christian Aid's Principal Adviser on Economic Justice.
‘But we hope the Labour leader will also recognise that financial secrecy has devastating effects on public services and people's lives across the world, especially in poor countries.
‘Christian Aid estimates that tax dodging costs poor countries $160 billion a year, which is much more than they receive in aid. So they, too, need action to shed light on offshore accounts and other wealth which may be liable for tax.
‘This is an international problem and it demands international solutions, starting with a global end to tax haven secrecy.
‘It would be fantastic to see the Labour party join the campaign to End Tax Haven Secrecy, demanding that G20 countries commit to a global deal under which all tax havens have to reveal that information to all tax authorities. Only then will tax dodgers have nowhere to hide.'
In 2011, Christian Aid and its partners delivered a petition to G20 chair Nicolas Sarkozy, which was signed by 40,000 people, and 52 organisations from more than 20 countries.
Dr McNair added: ‘As a first step, we encourage Mr Miliband to doing all he can to reverse the UK's shameful deal with Switzerland, one of the most globally harmful of all tax havens, which effectively rewards offshore tax evaders and undermines the global call for tax haven transparency.'
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No doubt Christian Aid would also welcome an end to the wars that the labour government has declared in Iraq and Afghanistan whilst in power. These wars have cost the UK tax payer £20bn to date and cost the lives of many of our servicemen and women together with the lives of thousands of innocent civilians.
This is a bit unfair on Christian Aid, implying, as it does, that they have had no position on these issues. I did a quick bit of research on Iraq:
The following are taken from CA statement on website, dated 4th October 2002
For full statement which is detailed and based on Christian Aid’s close knowledge of the situation in Iraq, see http://reliefweb.int/node/110854
“Christian Aid believes that military action must be the very last resort, after all other approaches – diplomatic and political – have been tried, pursued and have failed. Non-military strategies must be pursued in earnest and as a matter of urgency, without the assumption that military action is a foregone conclusion. Any decision to declare war on Iraq must be multilateral and should be taken through the UN’s Security Council, in accordance with international law.” …………………..
“Our concerns about a full-scale war are shared by a wide range of church people and other religious leaders, both in the UK and internationally. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, in a recent interview with the BBC, said
‘ I personally believe that we shouldn’t take action without first going to the UN and getting a very strong consensus. This is the position of my church and many churches in the land.’ (Church Times 13.9.02)”
………………………………
“Above all, Christian Aid believes that military action will not solve the fundamental causes of conflict and insecurity across the Middle East: poverty and inequality combined with social, economic, cultural and political injustice and the denial of basic human rights”
………………………
“Christian Aid believes the UN and the international community at large must address a potential breakdown in social order in the immediate aftermath of any regime change in Iraq”
I cannot find, in a brief search, any outright condemnation of the war on the basis that CA’s preconditions had been broken, but would not be surprised if both they, and the churches also, had not taken such a position.
Then after the war, CA wrote a report for the Madrid Conference: “Iraq: the missing billions – Transition and transparency in post-war Iraq. Briefing paper for the Madrid conference on Iraq. 23-24 October 2003
For full report see http://www.christianaid.org.uk/Images/iraq_the_missing_billions.pdf
“What this report most shockingly reveals, however, is that the billions of dollars of oil money that has already been transferred to the US-controlled Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) has effectively disappeared into a financial black hole. For all the talk of freedom and democracy for the Iraqi people — before, during and after the war which toppled Saddam Hussein — there is no way of knowing how the vast majority of this money has been spent. ”
“This situation is in direct violation of the UN resolution that allowed Iraqi assets to be transferred to the CPA. Indeed, the body that is supposed to oversee how Iraq’s assets are used has not even been set up yet. Just as disturbingly, if this lack of transparency is perpetuated it could well hold the seeds for future disaster in Iraq. The very oil revenues that are potentially the country’s greatest asset could, on all available evidence, prove to be a curse.”
Seems to me that CA were on the case, and pointing out exactly the right things.
It would be great if people could also email their MP and get them to sign an EDM asking that government undertakes more stringent ethical screening of companies awarded public contracts.
http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/latestnews/tabid/62/entryid/833/tax-havens-and-public-service-providers.aspx