[taxcast id=”12860612″]
The Taxcast kicks off the new decade with:
- the French strikes – tax justice and pensions vs financialisation
- the EU countries who’ve missed the deadline on publishing registers of real corporate owners
- the effect of Brexit on poorer (plundered) countries
- And the IMF’s stark warnings about the finance curse and another Great Depression
Featuring:
- Simon Bowers of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
- John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network
- Dereje Alemayehu of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice
- Marie Antonelle Joubert of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice
- Pascal Debay of the CGT Union Confédération Générale du Travail
- Presented and produced by Naomi Fowler
“If the situation collapses in Europe then I don’t think the tax havens, secrecy havens and the US will be in any rush to try and repair the situation.”
~ Simon Bowers of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists on the failure of some EU States to meet the 10th January 2020 deadline on publishing registers of the real owners of companies
“We are in the longest struggle, the longest social conflict in France. Imagine it’s something that is longer than what happened in 1968. What we are afraid of is that it’s a strategy to weaken our system. In France, the social security, all the money in the system of social security is more important than the state budget of France – imagine what some people of the financial place would like to do with that money.”
~ Pascal Debay of the CGT Union Confédération Générale du Travail on the French strikes
“It’s really a question that arises now in France how all those governments and presidents that we have are not chasing tax avoiders, the big multinationals. The big multinationals, people know them and when they find out that those multinationals pay virtually no taxes in France they think it’s appalling. Whether its public schools, public health, public infrastructures, the justice system, and pensions, Macron could fund them with a proper tax justice policy.”
~ Marie Antonelle Joubert of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice on the French strikes
“I’m afraid with the massive victory they got on Brexit, they are emboldened to be the capital of international secrecy. And I’m afraid they will make things worse for the rest of the world without benefiting the UK economy.”
~ Dereje Alemayehu of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice on the City of London finance sector and British government policy post-Brexit
“There’s ample evidence that inequality harms the economy…inequality is now actually threatening to topple the whole thing and turn the whole thing over.”
~ John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network on the head of the IMF’s warnings on another Great Depression
The finance curse identifies a paradox at the heart of financial sectors. While it is common to think of a finance centre as the engine of an economy, an oversized financial centre can make a country poorer and destabilise economies, and actually delivers a range of harms. For instance, oversized finance boosts inequality, undermines democracy and people’s faith in the rule of law. It damages national security. It corrupts markets, makes businesses more fragile, less resistant to shocks, and harms good governance. It also has powerful geographical, racial and gender effects.
A tax haven or secrecy jurisdiction is a place that deliberately provides an escape route for people or entities who live or operate elsewhere. They shield them from whatever taxes, criminal laws, financial regulations, transparency or other constraints they don’t like. Ordinary people whose lives are affected by tax haven laws are not consulted on these laws because they live in other countries: they have no say in how those laws are made, thus undermining their democratic rights.
A tax haven or secrecy jurisdiction is a place that deliberately provides an escape route for people or entities who live or operate elsewhere. They shield them from whatever taxes, criminal laws, financial regulations, transparency or other constraints they don’t like. Ordinary people whose lives are affected by tax haven laws are not consulted on these laws because they live in other countries: they have no say in how those laws are made, thus undermining their democratic rights.
A tax haven or secrecy jurisdiction is a place that deliberately provides an escape route for people or entities who live or operate elsewhere. They shield them from whatever taxes, criminal laws, financial regulations, transparency or other constraints they don’t like. Ordinary people whose lives are affected by tax haven laws are not consulted on these laws because they live in other countries: they have no say in how those laws are made, thus undermining their democratic rights.
Revenue, to fund public services, infrastructure and administration.
Redistribution, to curb inequalities between individuals and between groups.
Repricing, to limit public “bads” such as tobacco consumption and carbon emissions.
Representation, to build healthier democratic processes, recognising that higher reliance of government. spending on tax revenues is strongly linked to higher quality of governance and political representation.
Reparation, to redress the historical legacies of empire and ecological damage.