Monday, September 2, 2013

ASTRONOMICAL TAX DODGING UNDERMINES SOCIETY, DEMOCRACY

 An  American organisation highlighting the  massive tax  avoidance  by  transnational  companies  recently  stated  that  18 of  the  country’s   biggest  corporations  were using  tax  havens   to “skirt” $92billion  in  US taxes.   These  companies  included  Apple,  Nike  and  Microsoft . There was outrage   in   Britain   when  it was  reported   that  Starbucks  had  paid  no  tax for three years on sales  of   l.2 billion  pounds  ; its  CEO , however , got a  hefty pay increase  .  The   Brits  also  grilled  Google  and  Amason  ( lost   last  letter  of  alphabet ) ;   all kinds of  loopholes  to evade  paying  tax  in large  deals were  attributed   to  Vodaphone .
 

Media  magnate  Rupert  Murdoch  made it into  a  cover story  in  the   New   Internationalist   publication  of  October  2008   headed  WANTED  FOR   DODGING   TAX   JUSTICE . It included   the  graphic  below .

The  article said the Economist  in March 1999 had discovered  News Corporation in the  four previous years  had paid $250 million in corporation taxes  worldwide-a mere  6%  of  its profits. Corporation tax  in  the  US , Australia and  Britain was   more than  30%  at the time . Furthermore , Newscorp Investments main holding company in Britain  had paid no tax at all ,despite  accumulating profits  of $2.8 billion . The report  said  News Corps  some   60 subsidiary companies  used  tax havens such as  the  Cayman  Islands, Bermuda  and  the British  Virgin Islands . 
 
The    British  monarchy, including  QE 11 , the  Queen  of   Australia , were    included  in  the  write  up  because    the   House  of  Windsor    only   agreed   to  pay  tax  in  1990  on  the  $80 million  of   public  money  paid  annually  .  Others   mentioned    were   anti-poverty  campaigner   Bono ,  the  Queen  of   Mean ,  American  Leona   Helmsley   ,  and  the  Prince  of  Liechtenstein ,the  small principality  which  has   one   of    the “most secretive “banking  systems  in  the  world  and   kindly offered  its  services to  the  Nazis  to   stash  their  loot  in   its  vaults.
No  wonder   governments   all  over the  world -including Australia- struggle to   find enough  taxes to   meet  the  community  demand  for  essential services.  The  greed   knows   no bounds   as   many corporations  are  seeking even  more  tax  concessions .  Tax  evasion and  avoidance  will    figure  large  in the   G20  Leaders Summit  in St. Petersburg , Russia , which  starts in a  few days . Whether  anything  positive  comes  out  of  this  gathering  remains  to be seen .After all, when Communism  collapsed  state assets  were  divvied  up  by a  small number of privileged  individuals  who  became  incredibly   rich .