From Americans for Tax Fairness, a major new report about corporate taxes in the United States. It's called Corporate Tax Chartbook: How Corporations Rig the Rules to Dodge the Taxes They Owe, and it contains many useful facts, such as this: Corporate profits are way up, and corporate taxes … [Read more...]
Tax and corporate responsibility
Public procurement — the next frontier for tax justice campaigning?
This guest blog by Matti Ylönen is partly based on an academic article Cities as World Political Actors: “Tax haven free cities” initiative and the politics of public procurement. Public procurement — the next frontier for tax justice campaigning? The international movement for tax justice and … [Read more...]
Norway’s oil fund: a minor victory for tax ethics
*Big new update* under this guest blog. Norway's Oil fund, which says it is worth $7.1 trillion Kroner last year (about US$860 billion at current exchange rates), is so important in world markets that a cottage industry of fund-watchers has sprung up. Several civil society bodies have sought to … [Read more...]
Irish Times: US taxpayers growing tired of Ireland’s one big idea
That one big idea isn't corporate tax avoidance - though one might be forgiven for thinking so. It's Foreign Direct Investment, or FDI. As we've shown, FDI into Ireland, and the so-called "Celtic Tiger, was primarily not driven by tax and corporate tax avoidance. Really, it wasn't. Now Fintan … [Read more...]
KPMG: are they really masters of the universe?
A guest blog by Atul Shah of Suffolk Business School. Also published at Tax Research. Are KPMG really masters of the universe? The growing size and influence of Big 4 global accounting firms, and their supermarket of business consulting and advisory services, is generating alarm among scholars … [Read more...]
Image of the day: IKEA
From the European Green Party: The full report finds that IKEA structured itself to dodge €1 billion in taxes over the last 6 years using onshore European tax havens. … [Read more...]
Google’s taxes and the economic illiteracy of the Mayor of London
No, not the Lord Mayor of London, but the Mayor of London, a certain Boris Johnson, who's frequently tipped to be Britain's next Prime Minister. Given that Britain is arguably the most important player in the global offshore system, this man's opinions deserve close scrutiny. The topic at hand is … [Read more...]
Apple CEO Tim Cook: wilfully not understanding tax
From the Financial Times: "Apple’s chief executive said accusations the company was avoiding paying taxes by holding more than $180bn of its cash balances outside the US were “total political crap. Apple pays every tax dollar we owe”. To which there is a very simple answer. They don't owe it … [Read more...]
Time to investigate the Big 4 over the financial crash
A guest blog by Dr. Atul K. Shah, Senior Lecturer, Suffolk Business School. As background to this, it is useful to quote from the work of Prem Sikka, cited in Shah's research: "Successive governments have failed to investigate the firms, or prosecute their partners. Instead, the partners of … [Read more...]
Wealth management: tax avoidance is just the tip of the iceberg
Recently we wrote a blog about some rather unique research carried out by Brooke Harrington, an Associate Professor at Copenhagen Business School who trained to become a wealth manager in order to study it properly. This week, Naomi Fowler interviewed her for our latest Taxcast. We think it is worth … [Read more...]
Tax havens and the role of multinationals running care services
Guest blog: an opportunity to Fight Tax Havens in the EU By Johannes Kananen, Thomas Wallgren, Matti Ylönen, and Matti Kohonen The EU’s new Directive on public procurement (2014/24/EU) is currently being implemented in many countries, and the fate of one small article in the directive may … [Read more...]
Lazonick: tax cheating is just part of Pfizer’s corrupt business model
Recently the U.S. pharma giant Pfizer announced a merger with the drugmaker Allergan, in a deal heavily motivated by tax cheating via a 'corporate' inversion - a corporate relocation to take advantage of (in this case Ireland's) lax tax regime. Much has been said on the topic, with U.S. … [Read more...]
The chaser’s guide to tax havens: a simple 1,413-step guide
Some offshore humour for a Monday morning: The Chaser's Guide to Tax Havens, from Australia. The magazine has an interesting history: "Ever since The Chaser started, back in 1999, we have strived to build our company on a solid foundation of inexplicable and highly technical tax losses." Back … [Read more...]
Quote of the day – on Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘charitable donation’
For those who don't know, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg this week pledged, on the birth of his daughter, to donate 99 percent of his billion-worth of Facebook stock to good causes. Which has generated adulation and love, from around the world: just look at the Great and the Good lining up to … [Read more...]
Guest blog: sun, sea, sand, tourism and fantasy finance
Where are you going on your next holiday? The chances are if you are flying to a Sun&Sea destination, it will be with a tax-dodging company. A guest blog by Linda Ambrosie. Listen to her on the Taxcast here. Do you recognize any of these names: Barceló, TUI or Melía?. In … [Read more...]
