Pointing the finger at multinationals for tax minimisation won’t change things – international tax law needs to changed.
The UK’s satirical political magazine Private Eye is carrying a new special report by investigative journalist Richard Brooks (no affiliation to TJN), on how Britain has, at high speed, been turning itself into ever more of a global tax haven for multinational corporations, helping them ever more easily strip income out of taxpayers’ pockets elsewhere.
Tax havens have made the press recently after the G20 have announced plans to stop businesses funnelling their profits offshore. How did we get to this stage where some companies are paying an effective 0% tax on their profits?
Since the turn of the year UK Prime Minister David Cameron has placed great emphasis on finding ways to deal with tax avoidance and offshore secrecy.
An investigation by the ICIJ and media organisations across the globe has uncovered widespread use of covert companies inplaces such as the British Virgin Islands and the Cook Islands for tax evasion and other purposes by billionaires, politicians, and professionals around the globe