It's often said that tax havens are a part of life and there's nothing we can do about them. That's not true, as a new series on the Tax Justice Network's Tackle Tax Havens web site shows.
Take as an example, one of my favourite topics, which is the fact we simply can't find out what multinational corporations do in any particular country in which they trade. As Tackle Tax Havens puts it, suppose a U.S. multinational corporation mines natural resources in Africa and sells them in the United States and Europe and it sets up a complex array of subsidiary companies, each with a different name, in tax havens across the world to do this.
In that case that corporation could shift billions in profits to those tax haven subsidiaries, avoiding tax in countries with stronger tax regimes in the process.
When it publishes its annual report, the multinational rolls up all the information from each country — trading, profits, tax payments and so on — into one big lump.
No-one — governments, the public, even investors and shareholders — knows what happened where in that case.
With this piece of accounting trickery, a huge black hole has been created in corporate accounts that the use of tax havens makes doubly impenetrable because no accounts can ever be obtained from those places.
Then enter Country by Country Reporting!
Under country by country reporting, the multinationals would have to break their information down by country of operation — including in each tax haven — so that citizens and authorities can see what the corporations are doing in their countries.
With this single accounting measure, countries, rich and poor, will be able to call multinational companies to account at last.
Countries could tax the companies properly. They could fund the schools, roads and hospitals their citizens need, without having to beg for aid.
That makes country by country reporting a blast of transparency that could change the world.
There's more on country-by-country reporting here.
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Oh dear!, it never ends…
“Jobs for the boys and girls at the FSA!”
http://rowans-blog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/jobs-for-boys-and-girls-at-fsa.html
If I didn’t know better, I would say our whole system of government was Totally Corrupt, its a good job I know better ???.
I do hope you don’t mind me sending you these links Richard, its just, well, “knowledge is power”, its the way things are going in so many ways…
http://www.firmmagazine.com/news/3049/Exclusive%3A_Prosecution_%E2%80%9Con_the_cheap%E2%80%9D_as_Crown_Office_seeks_prosecutors_on_daily_rates_from_the_Faculty_.html
“Jean-Claude Gandur
(Switzerland)
Owner of Addax Bioenergy”
“I don’t feel guilty of doing anything immoral”
http://www.grain.org/article/entries/4576-slideshow-who-s-behind-the-land-grabs
Don’t worry folks, we still have all our English oil to fall back on…
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2012/01/scotlandengland-maritime-boundaries/
It’s hardly going to make any difference….north sea oil is fast declining, and the most productive areas are outside the region/s likely to be claimed by Scotland. Norway is the most productive north-sea country.
Since Scotland seems likely to keep the UK£ as their currency I fail to see any problem..
The major problem is going to be the disappearing 41 labour seats, giving Cameron a healthy majority, coupled with boundary-change seat increases.
“It’s hardly going to make any difference”
Far from it!, I would point out to you, there are only (approx) five million people in Scotland, it would make a vast difference to them!.
Richard, can a country, let’s say the U.K., run with this (country-by-country) alone? There’s no way they (the multi-nationals) can side-step it can they?
In essence yes
But much moe effective done internationally – and EU is moving that way, albeit slowly, whilst UK accountants fight it tooth and nail
You have to remember that the last thing big firm UK accountants want is to report truthfully and fairly
You may be right about 5 million.
But since they will join the EU they will be flooded with free students, and from here as well.
And as Richard is always pointing-out, the profits will be made by countries in privacy domains and probably minimal taxation will end-up in Scotland.
I expect it will all come down to how much this government slags Scotland off in the few years to go to their referendum.
I expect much in the way of Anti-Scot rhetoric from the Con-Dem_lib side of the house.
While a lot is made [elsewhere] about shale gas/oil I would like to point-out that fields in the US that were opened as short a time ago as 5 years are now declining in production.
So, maybe not such a bonanza ?
“So, maybe not such a bonanza ?”
John,
It doesn’t really matter at the end of the day, the scottish people would’nt see much of it anyway. Let me tell you two true stories, I picked them up from the web…
“Back in the 1980s, Thatcher burnt off most of the UK north sea gas 20/25 years worth into the atmosphere in order to give tax cuts to get re-elected, the money was there to store it. Norway did store their gas and are now selling it to the UK and making a lot of money.
I am old enough to remember three people going into number 10 to BEG Thatcher NOT to burn off all that north sea gas (picture of them going into number 10 was in one of the newpapers at the time). They told her it would soon be needed. It was three days later she came out off number 10 and was asked….”Why are you going to burn off all that gas” she replied…”I have agonised over this but feel it is the best thing to do”…I will remember that until my dying day.
All to give tax cuts to get re-elected. She could not have given those tax cuts and stored the gas.
It should also be pointed out that it was NOT in the interest of some of Thatchers friends for the UK to have that gas (Nuclear industry and others). Who are the others?…The Iraq War was not just about oil, someone has all the maps to where the great uranium fields are in Iraq, they have had them since the times when Winston Churchill was PM…How many people know that?. Some experts predict that uranium may run out in the next 20/30 years.”
January 11, 2010
“Is the United Kingdom facing a natural gas shortage?”…
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6113#comments_top
Story 2…
“Back in the 1920s the railway system of the UK was ready and able to take on the mantel of distribution of goods/passengers to all parts of the UK, and it would have worked very well, all the plans were in place. Most members of Parliament were all for it, then something happened…The road haulage industry that was just beginning to come into being (it was a very small concern then), didn`t think this was a good idea,the motor manufacturers didn`t think it was a good idea, the oil companies didn`t think it was a good idea. So to cut a long story short and a lot of very thick brown paper envelopes later, MPs didn`t think it was a good idea. All that went on is now documented history, a documentary/play about what went on was showing on the TV about twenty or so years ago. We have suffered to this day and how. Everytime you see a lorry on the motorway think of this post.
The sheer criminality of successive UK governments has brought about the state of our transport system. We are about to find out the full extent of the true cost when the oil price goes through the roof. We are TOTALLY UNPREPARED.
The Conservative Party are Politically, Morally, Terminally Diseased.”