News Archives » North America
OIP joins Domini and other Shareholders in urging Google to pay its fair share of taxes May 11th, 2014
Many companies claim they are forced by shareholders to dodge taxes in order to maximize profits, but what would a company do if its shareholders insist that it actually pay its fair share in taxes?
A group of Google shareholders, headed up by Domini Social Investments, may soon find out. The group has filed a proposal for consideration at the shareholder annual meeting asking the company to adopt a set of principles regarding taxes. The shareholders are recommending that the principles include consideration of any “misalignment between tax strategies and Google’s stated objectives and policies regarding social and environmental sustainability.”
The proposal comes after several widely publicized stories about Google’s aggressive tax planning which moves billions of dollars annually to offshore tax havens. In 2012 alone, Google dodged an estimated $2 billion in income taxes by shifting an estimated $9.5 billion to offshore tax havens.
Continue reading this story from Citizen’s for Tax Justice…
End the Quota! May 7th, 2014
CMSM J/P Action Alert
We would like to share this Action Alert from the CMSM, JPIC Office. Please take action today!
TODAY!
CALL IN DAY: Wednesday, May 7th
This Wednesday, May 7, 2014, people directly impacted by detention, advocates, faith communities, and members of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men will take part in an advocacy day on Capitol Hill asking members of Congress to End The Quota.
Amplify their voices by calling your member of Congress on Wednesday, May 7th, and tell them Congress should eliminate the detention bed quota, which ensures funding to keep an average of 34,000 immigrants locked up in ICE detention facilities on any given day.
What You Can Do to #EndTheQuota
1. Call your Senators and Representative
Congressional Switchboard: 202-224-3121
- Click here to find your Senators and their phone numbers
- Click here to find your Representative and then call (202) 224-3121 for the Congress Switchboard. You can also find their direct lines here.
Sample Script:
My name is ________ calling from [CITY, STATE]. As a constituent, I oppose funding for the immigration detention bed quota, which ensures that 34,000 immigrants are incarcerated in ICE detention facilities at any given time. I urge you to contact members of the Appropriations Committee, Homeland Security Subcommittee, and tell them that you oppose the immigration detention bed quota. If the bed quota is included in appropriations, I hope you will support an amendment to strike it from the final appropriations bill.
Background:
The detention bed quota is an unprecedented policy – no other law enforcement agency operates on a quota system. Immigration detention is a huge waste of taxpayer dollars, with ICE’s detention budget nearing 2 billion dollars for Fiscal Year 2014. During a time of fiscal responsibility, it is unacceptable to be spending billions of dollars to needlessly detain immigrants in an inhumane system that is breaking apart families and communities. Meanwhile, for-profit prisons such as GEO and CCA lobby for such legislation to make money off of detaining immigrants and breaking up families.
We encourage you to schedule a meeting either in DC or in the district office) to follow-up after your call.
2. Did you call or meet with your Member of Congress?
Tell us how it went. We need your help in tracking which Members of Congress will help us end the quota!
3. Tweet today about the advocacy day and your opposition to a bed quota with #EndTheQuota.
Sample Tweets:
TODAY @DetentionWatch & @CAMBIOtoday bringing families, faith leaders & advocates @uscapitol to say #EndTheQuota , #stopice & #Not1More , #DWN14
.@RepHalRogers Immigration detention bed quota is wasteful & unnecessary. No other law enforcement uses a bed quota! #EndTheQuota! #Not1More
.@houseappropsgop Immigrants are not numbers to fill a bed quota & line pockets of #privateprisons corporations! #EndTheQuota #2million2many
.@SenateApprops ICE detention & deportations are breaking apart families & costing taxpayers billions #EndTheQuota! ,#Not1More and #2million2many
.@SenLandrieu Detention bed quota costs nearly $2 billion & prevents real immigration reform! Counting on you to #EndTheQuota #2million2many
With Hope,
Eli McCarthy PhD
Office of Justice and Peace
Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM)
8808 Cameron Street, Silver Spring, MD 20910
emccarthy@cmsm.org
Spring/Summer 2014 Issue of JPIC Report Available On-Line April 28th, 2014
The Spring/Summer 2014 issue of JPIC Report is now available on line as a PDF. It will soon be available in print form.
Please contact Mary O’Herron in the JPIC Office if you want to be added to the mailing list.
You can find all issues of JPIC Report on this website in the Resources section. (Download a PDF of the latest issue)
Solitary Nation April 28th, 2014
Last week, PBS FRONTLINE aired Solitary Nation, portraying the brutal reality of solitary confinement in a Maine maximum-security prison. FRONTLINE has made a significant contribution to the work to end torture by revealing, in graphic detail, the heart wrenching inhumanity of isolation.
Viewers meet a young father, desperate to earn his GED, who deteriorates repeatedly under the crushing reality of daily life in solitary confinement. And yet the inhumanity of isolation in this one prison is ongoing in prisons, jails and detention centers throughout the U.S. The full video is free and available for viewing here: http://to.pbs.org/1lNv83j
We invite you to view the video, and share it with members of your community. Thoughts and additional resources to consider when viewing the film are enclosed in a viewers guide below, and available for download here. This material is from the National Religious Campaign Against Torture: www.tortureisamoralissue.org, of which Oblate JPIC is a member.
Click here to read more »
Faith-based and Socially Responsible Shareholders Call on Google to Pay Fair Share of Taxes April 8th, 2014
The Missionary Oblates co-filed with ethical investor Domini Social Equity fund, in a shareholder resolution calling on the multinational firm Google to pay its fair share of US taxes. NEI Investments LP, Robert Burnett, and Investor Voice, SPC joined as co-filers. Google recommended a vote against the shareholder proposal, which argues that “Google’s tax practices have come under scrutiny in the United Kingdom and France, leading to regulatory pressures and reputational damage.” The shareholder proposal cited as one of its arguments for the proposal, a Bloomberg article headed “Google cuts billions off its tax bill each year by sending profits through Ireland to a mailbox in Bermuda.”
The proposal stated, “Although most Google engineers are US-based, where much of product development takes place, Google’s intellectual property is held in Bermuda, which does not levy corporate taxes.” It went on to state: ‘Tax haven’ jurisdictions are characterized by low tax rates, financial secrecy and light regulation. Tax havens facilitate financial opacity and illegal activities including tax evasion and money laundering.”
The proposal has received coverage in The Sunday Times in London and the Independent.ie an Irish news source. Although it is not expected to pass, the proposal will once again attract attention to Google’s low tax outlay against multibillion revenues.
