Facebook tax bill highlights Osborne’s ‘diverted profits’ levy Financial Times (paywall) Cites TJN's research director @alexcobham: “it is simply not credible that Facebook is unprofitable in one of its more mature and active markets such as the UK. Examples like this simply serve as a reminder as … [Read more...]
Corporate Tax
Links 12 Oct
Tax avoidance fuels global inequality CNN Opinion piece by Joseph Stiglitz. Tax reforms are small beer when big firms are denying poor countries billions The Guardian See also our recent press release: OECD’s BEPS proposals will not be the end of tax avoidance by multinationals India: … [Read more...]
Finance Uncovered: how Africa’s biggest cell phone firm shifts billions offshore
From Finance Uncovered, a TJN-founded project, a press release about a story that is (among other things) front page of South Africa's influential Mail & Guardian newspaper. Finance Uncovered reveals how Africa’s biggest cell phone firm shifts billions offshore The Finance Uncovered global … [Read more...]
Links Oct 8
Why India should defend this whistleblower from the Swiss justice system Scroll.in "Hervé Falciani, who exposed the global offshore industry with the HSBC data leak, is facing prosecution under skewed Swiss laws for data theft and espionage." See also: Guest blog: how Switzerland corrupted its … [Read more...]
So: what kinds of corporate tax schemes won’t BEPS stop?
There have been a few inquiries from people in the media looking at our (and others') recent critiques of the OECD's recently-released BEPS project proposals to tackle international corporate tax avoidance. One pertinent question is this: which schemes, specifically, won't BEPS stop? Prof. Sol … [Read more...]
Links Oct 7
Dirty Money UK BBC Radio 4 More taxes will help fight inequality: economist BusinessTech Piketty "promotes wealth redistribution as key to development". See also Piketty's address to the 2015 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture EU agrees greater transparency on tax deals after LuxLeaks scandal … [Read more...]
New study: U.S. Fortune 500 cos have $2.1 trillion offshore
From Citizens for Tax justice, via email: "Today Citizens for Tax Justice and the U.S. PIRG Education Fund released, "Offshore Shell Games," a new study which found that nearly three-quarters of Fortune 500 companies maintained at least one tax haven subsidiary in 2014, with just 30 companies … [Read more...]
Links Oct 6
Turkey: AKP should see taxation as a tool for development, not punishment Hurriyet Interview with Leyla Ate?, a member of the BEPS Monitoring Group (BMG) The Rise of Europe’s Unlikeliest Tax Haven Ozy Cites TJN'S Nicholas Shaxson, author of Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men who Stole … [Read more...]
GATJ: OECD tweaks to tax rules for multinational corporations fall short on transparency, inclusivity
From the Global Alliance for Tax Justice, a press release on the OECD's BEPS process, which we wrote about yesterday: "The Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ) is urgently calling for a United Nations-based follow-up process to the “flawed” OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project, in … [Read more...]
Press release: OECD’s BEPS proposals will not be the end of tax avoidance by multinationals
PRESS RELEASE EMBARGOED: 14:00 CET See this press release in pdf form here. See the BEPS Monitoring Group's longer technical evaluation here (or in condensed form here.) See links to further statements by others below. OECD’s BEPS proposals will not be the end of tax avoidance by … [Read more...]
World Bank president: corporate tax dodging ‘a form of corruption’
From a speech by World Bank President Jim Yong Kim: "Some companies use elaborate strategies to not pay taxes in countries in which they work, a form of corruption that hurts the poor." That is a powerful statement from a powerful individual. This is indeed something that we've been arguing … [Read more...]
Tax avoidance by corporations is out of control; the UN must step in
Earlier this summer we blogged about how the powerful OECD bullied their way at the Addis Ababa financing for development summit to block developing country requests for a proper inter-governmental body to establish the groundrules for international tax cooperation. Now, writing in The Guardian, … [Read more...]
How ‘competitive’ tax and incentive policies hurt small U.S. businesses
Cross-posted from the Fools' Gold site: Recently we have written about how supposedly 'competitive' national policies on tax and the financial sector in Britain tend to favour large multinational firms over smaller, more locally-based ones, and how they also tend to lead to less competition in … [Read more...]
Links Sep 24
Why dirty money still plagues Switzerland swissinfo “The problems arise only from the moment the PEP becomes a persona non grata in the eyes of the Swiss government or other international organisations.” Why the German tax authority is protecting Apple Zeit (In German) By TJN's Markus … [Read more...]
Links Sep 23
Finance ministers call for minimum EU tax rate Politico Australia: Tax office did not go to police over fears wealthy would be kidnapped – inquiry The Guardian See also: Do you want Australia's megarich to be kidnapped? Do you? Then let them hide their tax First Dog on the Moon via The … [Read more...]
