News Archives » corporate tax avoidance
FACT Launches Podcast Series August 11th, 2014
New Program to Examine Issues, Promote Work of Partners
Looking to more widely broadcast its message, the FACT (Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency) Coalition, of which the Oblate JPIC Office is a member, is launching a podcast series to focus on its core issues of corporate tax avoidance, transparency in corporate ownership, and combatting money laundering.
The FACT Podcast will be released initially on a monthly basis, and more frequently as policy developments and the news of the day as events warrant.
The first podcast, Who We Are, What We Do, and Why It Matters, is available on the FACT website, provides an introduction to the FACT Coalition and the work that it does on corporate tax avoidance, more transparency in corporate ownership, and combating money laundering. Upcoming podcasts will examine these issues individually and in more detail. Later podcasts will feature interviews with subject-matter experts and highlight the work that their organizations are doing.
“This is an exciting new addition to the FACT arsenal of information on these vital issues,” said Nicole Tichon, Executive Director of FACT. “The FACT podcast provides a new way to reach even more people and that’s a good thing.”
As mentioned above, the podcast is available on the FACT website. Users can also receive it via an RSS feed.
IMF Paper: Corporate Tax Avoidance Hurts Global Economy and Poor Countries June 25th, 2014
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a staff paper noting that corporate tax avoidance negatively impacts all economies, but hurts developing countries the most. The IMF’s release comes as the G20, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and United Nations bodies seek vehicles to diminish corporate tax avoidance.
“The developing world loses more in corporate tax avoidance than it receives in aid from developed countries,” stated Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious anti-poverty group, Jubilee USA Network. “The paper shows that when multinational corporations shift their profits to another country to pay less taxes, we see higher levels of global inequality.”
The IMF paper is entitled “Spillovers in International Corporate Taxation.” “Spillovers” are the impact of one country’s policies on another country. By shifting profits to countries with low tax-rates (often so-called “tax havens”), corporations avoid paying their taxes in the countries where they make those profits. The paper notes that this is a particularly large problem in developing countries, which need corporate taxation to fund social services. The paper argues that “many developing countries…need to be better protected against the avoidance of tax on capital gains on natural resources.”
“These ‘spillovers’ are more like a flood,” noted LeCompte. “For every $1 poor countries are receiving in official aid, nearly $10 is leaving through corruption and tax avoidance.”
Thanks to Jubilee USA for this information.
