Helping poor around the world, and so on.
Now , the have come on board the
anti- tax-evasion bandwagon. They realise
that all this offshoring is going to kill the
once-mighty British economy, as it is
quickly doing.
Unfortunately, if Oxfam is giving money to
despots in the Third World, then those
despots will return the money to London.
Great?
No, the City of London. Since it's an
offshore destination, the cash goes to London
to disappear and to be invested.
checkitout: Tax
justice
Nov
27 2012
Oxfam
has joined the tax just debate in the UK. In a new blog Chris Johnes, Director
of its UK Poverty Programme has said:
Against
a backdrop of tax dodging companies who shirk the need to pay into society, the
JRF’s annual ‘state of the nation’ report looks particularly bleak. As the
difficulties facing ordinary people increase, and pressure on Government funds
rise, it is imperative we make our tax system as fair and efficient as
possible.
He
adds:
Not
only does non-payment of tax make austerity worse and distort competition, it also underlines and reinforces wider social
difference and inequality. The damage that extreme inequality does to both
society and economic health has been documented extensively by the academics
Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, and it becomes even more pernicious as tax revenue is removed from society
exactly at the moment it is most needed.
So
far the Government doesn’t seem to be treating the issue with the seriousness
it demands. Apart from signing a derisory tax deal with Switzerland that
does very little to prevent tax abuse and reducing staff numbers in HMRC,
it denies the need for legislation promoting automatic exchange of information
on individual and corporate tax matters.
Without such transparency, it’s hard to see how tax evasion and
avoidance can be effectively tackled.
