No, I'm not making a comment about the chancellors budget today. There will be enough on that over the next few days. This is about something that hasn't been said before and I can't believe it is new to me.
I was at a Christian Aid conference today and heard about their campaign called Trace the Tax.
Let me take to to Sierra Leone. They have diamonds aplenty but this is the poorest country in the world. How come? Because the company that removes the diamonds pays no tax in the country but pays it in a tax haven. Try and trace the company who owns the company who owns that company and the company who owns that company etc you'll get no where. It's secret. They are much larger than the countries their work in and no one can find out and they pay no tax.
Sierra Leone meanwhile stays poor and it's natural wealth is removed because their government cannot afford to do anything about it.
Christian Aid estimates US$160 bn is lost to countries because of multinationalist tax dodging. This is zillions more than they would ever receive in aid. But no one knows how much because it is all so secret. No one is accountable.
Christian Aid is calling for a new international accounting standard requiring companies to report on their profits made and taxes paid in every country where they operate. This is called country-by-country reporting and this helping poor countries to collect taxes.
This is just the smallest insight into this campaign. Join up. Now.
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