George Osborne's deeply disappointing article on tax avoidance in the Observer on Sunday suggested he thought commitment to a very limited form of country-by-country reporting for the extractive industries alone and only with regard to their activities in developing countries would be sufficient to tackle tax avoidance. That is, of course absurd, if only because
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George Osborne has written in the Guardian saying he is committed to ending tax abuse by multinational companies. I welcome that; I just wish I was convinced by it, but I am not, as yet. I'll ignore the politics in the piece; they diminish it and that is unfortunate. Much of what he says implies
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I love this, from Christian Aid’s IF campaign web site: Please support the campaign if you can!

As the Guardian notes today: In 13 Red Nose Days since that first brave venture in 1988, we have raised £660m. And as the Guardian also notes today: The cost to UK banks of providing redress for mis-selling mounted on Tuesday, when Barclays set aside another £1bn to compensate its customers. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not
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Will you help this campaign in 2013? Please?

Christian Aid and a host of other development agencies launch a major new campaign today, which I warmly endorse. As they say (including a massive endorsement for country-by-country reporting in the process): The world produces enough food for everyone, yet one in eight people on this planet are living with the pain of hunger. IF we all act together, we
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Microsoft’s tax avoidance by use of now familiar sales operations in places like Ireland, Puerto Rico and Singapore saves them $4.68 billion in tax a year. The best estimate of the world aid budget that I can find is $133.5 billion a year. So Microsoft avoids a sum in tax equivalent to 3.5% of the world aid
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This letter was in the Guardian this morning: The Guardian’s investigation into offshore secrecy highlights a significant problem that is global in its impact. Developing countries lose vital resources for development through illicit capital flight, to such an extent that Africa is actually a net creditor to the rest of the world. Ending financial secrecy
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Have you heard about the miners in Zambia who pay more tax than the multi-national mining company they work for? How do these corporations get away with it? And how does it affect life for ordinary Zambians? This is a special report from the Taxcast, the monthly 15 minute podcast from the Tax Justice Network.
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