Tax avoidance by corporations is out out control. The United Nations must step in

[unhappycamper]

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/30/tax-avoidance-corporations-impacts-the-poor-united-nations-step-in

We cannot close our eyes to the fact that the current global tax system is having a disproportionate impact on those living in poverty

Tax avoidance by corporations is out out control. The United Nations must step in
José Antonio Ocampo and Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona
Wednesday 30 September 2015 04.30 EDT

The rules that govern cross border profits enable systemic tax avoidance, because they allow profits to be shifted away from where they are generated to another country with a lower (or zero) tax rate – all as a matter of accounting rather than real economic activities. These rules frequently serve the economic interests of the largest multinational corporations.

Although this all seems technical and esoteric, the human impact is devastatingly real. When profits are shifted out, the tax revenues from those profits that could be available to fund healthcare, schools, water sanitation and other public goods vanish from the ledger, leaving women and men, boys and girls without pathways to a better future.

We cannot, therefore, close our eyes to the fact that the current global tax system is having a disproportionate impact on those living in poverty. In this sense, a dysfunctional global tax system is also one of the biggest obstacles to the fulfilment of human rights – which includes economic, social and cultural rights as well as civil and political rights.

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Fair taxation is critical to realizing the 2030 development agenda. The rules that allow companies’ to shift profits out of a country should, therefore, change. Multinational corporations should be taxed as single firms and countries should only be able to tax profits generated from business operations that take place in the country—no more and no less.

[daleanime]

1. K&R.....