[taxcast id=”12467588″] This month we ask – what’s going on with our pre-school childcare and elderly care home services? We take a long hard look at the financialisation of our services and what we can do about it.
Plus: the Conservative party in the UK has won a major victory in the general elections. With major challenges for tax justice, what are the next steps for trade deal negotiations? Will Britain now become a fully fledged Singapore-on-Thames?
“It’s not good for essentially public infrastructure…to have public infrastructure at the whims of companies that we can’t even contact is extremely precarious and unsustainable… that’s why there’s a strong case to be made for politicians and people of all political persuasions to be interested in the sustainability of this industry. Because it needs to be fair and it needs to be sustainable because of the people involved, the people who will be affected.”
~ Vivek Kotecha, Centre for Health and the Public Interest, author of Plugging the leaks in the UK care home industry – Strategies for resolving the financial crisis in the residential and nursing home sector
“The European Union is a colossal export for the City of London and one which the large banks and the major law firms do not want to be locked out from… all sorts of pundits have been flagging up growth opportunities in far East Asia, but with Hong Kong and Singapore already well established as offshore financial centres and the Chinese are now talking about expanding offshore financial services through Macau, offshore China, the growth opportunities in Southeast Asia are unlikely to compensate in any way for the market share losses which arise from a hard Brexit from Europe.“
~ John Christensen, Tax Justice Network
Featuring:
- Vivek Kotecha, Centre for Health and the Public Interest
- Liz Pemberton, early years consultant and nursery manager for Edgbaston Park day nursery in Birmingham, UK
- Immy Kaur, co-founder of Civic Square in Birmingham, UK, a network for innovative social initiatives including #radicalchildcare
- Elderly residents at a care home in the Midlands, UK
- John Christensen, Tax Justice Network
- Produced and presented by Naomi Fowler
Further reading:
- Plugging the leaks in the UK care home industry – Strategies for resolving the financial crisis in the residential and nursing home sector: Report from the Centre for Health and the Public Interest by Vivek Kotecha
- Corporate Tax Avoidance in the First Year of the Trump Tax Law, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
- Google to pay $481.5m in major win for Australian Tax Office, available here
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.
Tax evasion is an illegal – usually criminal – activity, by which a taxpayer escapes tax through deception. Tax avoidance, on the other hand, means getting around (or avoiding) the spirit of the law without actually breaking the law. There is a large grey area between the two poles of avoidance and evasion.
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.