The Twin Insurgency The American Interest "The postmodern state is under siege from plutocrats and criminals who unknowingly compound each other’s insidiousness." Bangladesh: Anti Poor Tax Policy in Budget 2014-15 denies Redistributive Justice equitybd … [Read more...]
Race to the Bottom
The UK’s ‘open for business’ tax regime: investment falls
We were going to do a job on this report but Tax Research got there first, so we'll cut and paste: UK corporation tax policy fails to attract new business as Foreign Direct Investment falls From the time that the current government came into power corporation tax reform has been one of their … [Read more...]
Campaign: Ireland’s tax model must stop hurting the global south
In 2012 ActionAid published a report estimating that a huge new tax loophole deliberately created by the UK government - which it seems is bringing in precious little in terms of jobs or tax revenues - is also likely to cost developing countries some £4 billion (US$6 billion) a year. Ireland's … [Read more...]
Links Jun 20
Why big time tax dodgers love Mr Juncker Private Eye See also recent blog Architect behind Eurozone’s biggest tax haven wants to be EC president EU closes tax loophole for multinational firms Reuters See also: Anti-Money Laundering: Commissioner Barnier welcomes progress in Council European … [Read more...]
Links Jun 19
G8 Has Yet To Live Up To Its Promises On Tax And Transparency Financial Transparency Coalition Blog Swiss Cabinet to examine tax deductible bank fines swissinfo … [Read more...]
Links Jun 18
The True Cost of Hidden Money - A Piketty Protégé’s Theory on Tax Havens The New York Times "What’s beyond question is that there is no economic, political or moral justification for tax evasion - it exists only because of the political influence that wealth buys. A society that fails to fight … [Read more...]
Links Jun 17
Editorial - Corporations and their tax shell games: Time for a global crackdown Los Angeles Times Israel to tax Google and Facebook on profits i24 A lower rate of corporation tax – that’s what Japanese companies will get for not paying it The Independent … [Read more...]
Euro Commission probes corporate tax arrangements of Apple, Starbucks and Fiat
From Europa.eu "The European Commission has opened three in-depth investigations to examine whether decisions by tax authorities in Ireland, The Netherlands and Luxembourg with regard to the corporate income tax to be paid by Apple, Starbucks and Fiat Finance and Trade, respectively, comply with … [Read more...]
Reuters report: the UK’s “new” corporate tax policies have failed
That's the impression you get from reading the latest story by Tom Bergin of Reuters, who has done a detailed and excellent exploration of the UK's recent moves to become more of a tax haven for multinational corporations. The harm inflicted on taxpayers elsewhere? Enormous. Just look at the … [Read more...]
Links Jun 4
Anonymous Shell Companies Are Part of the Problem, Too: Often Used to Inject Dark Money Into Campaigns FACT Coalition New Zealand: the Shell Company Incorporation Franchises (V) (and Panama and Switzerland) naked capitalism … [Read more...]
Tax haven Britain: Boots Alliance and the use and abuses of Limited Liability Partnerships
Last year our friends at War on Want published a report revealing that Boots the Chemists - a fixture of most U.K. high streets - had dodged over £1 billion in the six preceding years since it was taken over by the Alliance group. War on Want have now sent a letter to HM Revenue and Customs (which … [Read more...]
How ‘competitiveness’ became one of the great unquestioned virtues of contemporary culture
This headline is drawn from an important article at the London School of Economics website by Will Davies, Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London. We've not had contact with Davies, but it seems we have been thinking along similar lines. … [Read more...]
Links May 13
U.S. Congress Moves To Strengthen US Anti-Inversion Rules Tax-News See also: Want Ad: 'Foreign Corporate Spouses Needed For U.S. Companies, Preferably From Low Tax Country' Forbes, and A Deal to Dodge the Tax Man in America Dealb%k Countries slow race to bottom on tax competition Financial … [Read more...]
Report: the black hole at the heart of London’s FTSE100
From Christian Aid, a press release: "The secrecy surrounding thousands of subsidiaries created in tax havens by leading UK companies has created a black hole at the heart of the FTSE100, a new Christian Aid report warns today. … [Read more...]
Stop press: large U.S. multinational decides to pay some tax
As expert after expert - and citizen after citizen - agrees: the international tax system is broken. Multinational corporations run rings around even the most sophisticated and well-resourced tax authorities, producing democracy-killing results such as the fact that General Electric paid a minus 11 … [Read more...]
