Oxfam launched this hard hitting campaign video this morning. Some may find it distressing. But the reality is that in developing countries lost tax revenues do have direct consequences on people's lives in an even more direct way than they do in a country like the UK. And that's why I initially went into this work. this film is tough. But it faces reality:
We need multinational corporations and others who deny these countries the revenues they need to pay what they owe, now. And public country-by-country reporting would help deliver that. That's why I developed it.
As Oxfam say of this film:
When companies are transparent about where they pay tax, we can start holding large global companies to account if it looks like they are making big profits from a country that is seeing little tax in return. Until this happens, many people living in poverty will continue to go without the vital services they need and are entitled to.
Fair tax is vital to ending poverty
Through our work fighting the injustice of poverty around the world, we've seen the devastating impact that missing out on education, or medical treatment, or even the basics of clean water and sanitation can have on the lives of hundreds of millions of people.
The world's poorest people need a fair chance to overcome inequality and poverty - and that starts with fair taxes being paid in the countries where profits are made.
Just a third of the $100bn [approx. £78bn] tax that companies dodge in poor countries annually is enough to cover the bill for essential healthcare that could prevent the needless deaths of eight million mothers, babies and children.
We're calling on everyone to help by signing this petition pushing the government to lead the way in making sure companies are upfront and honest about the taxes they pay - in all the countries they operate in. UK government must make good on its promise
Over a year ago the UK government promised to make this happen, but we are still no closer to seeing it as a reality. Together we can make sure they deliver on that promise.
If you can help by just signing the petition, please do.
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Very moving. I’ve just signed and hope many of your readers will do so too.
Raymond W Baker, in Capitalism’s Achilles Heel wrote about this in 2005 and highlighted the huge amount of “dirty” money flowing to the west from criminals and using the exact same tax-dodging structures put in place by Western corporations and with the connivance of our governments. These structures need to be dismantled.
Oxfam’s behaviour is appalling. Their press release is full of innuendo, but they won’t name any company they believe is breaking the law.
What they won’t tell you is that the issues they raise, the access of people in poor and developing countries to sanitation, education, medical care are an all time high. They won’t give a citation to their claim that fair taxes are the starting point to addressing the issues that globalisation seems to be well down the road to tackling. But that would be to hold Oxfam to western standards, the region of the world that gave us wikipedia and evidence in preference to assertion.
I bet the directors of Oxfam are unaware of the work of economists like Djankov and Reynal-Querol who have found that foreign development aid undermines the development of institutions needed for a country to flourish, and I suspect that Oxfam would downplay the benefits of genuinely free trade, perhaps because they are on the EU payroll, perhaps because they want the poor to get rich more slowly so there is always a need for Oxfam.
First, the loss of revenue is an accepted fact
Second, the findings of the likes of Djankov et al are deeply suspect, in my opinion.
Third, there is no such thing as genuinely free trade. The term makes no sense at all. All trade is subject to regulation and cannot exist otherwise.
Fourth, no one is suggesting anyone broke the law. Avoidance costs billions but is not necessarily illegal.
Fifth, so what if access to some things is at at an all time high. It is still far too low.
Your claims reveal a deeply distasteful attitude.
The fact tô have intermediary make in certain way increase Taxes and as a consequence have low revenues on each transaction.
That make you reformulated your taxes in Units Taxable (UT) went you see your Balance Sheet in combination of your Balance of Good and Lost.
In that case how much a Corporate or Company apply an Units of Investment that is taxable in proportion of short term and Long term.
Some industries is not afected by any technology perce, they no need to do big Investment . But that do not generated any additional Job. Do not make any changes for that. Just have what they have before without any remarcable change . In fact they are the one tô do avoidance that it is allow by law.
Signed.
The film sums the situation up well in my view and calls a spade a spade.
An issue of concern is how the tobacco companies have broken in to these new markets with their lethal products. Some of these countries are going to start having higher incidences of lung cancer and other respiratory diseases and you wonder how they are going to cope.
Richard, you might consider redefining underdeveloped in the context of tax losses. Ireland is a country where housing, medical services, telecommunications, amongst other underfunded services, are the result of tax losses created by multinationals.
Recently, our PM refused to discuss M.Macron’s digital tax proposal, a clear indication of the policy of not pressing for proper tax payment by foreign companies.
The Irish government owned entity set up to buy stressed assets following the ridiculous policies of Irish banks, sold the assets at firesale rates to funds who paid tiny amounts of tax on their profits.
Oxfam are right, but it is not just “poor” countries that are affected. Some countries stay poor through their own policies.
Love you blogs, Barry
Interesting idea Barry