https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/08/tax-havens-dodging-theft-multinationals-avoiding-tax
In 2015, Google Alphabet reported $15.5bn in profits in Bermuda, profits generated by workers in other countries, where the corporate tax rate is 0%,
Six European tax havens alone (Luxembourg, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Malta and Cyprus) siphon off a total of €350bn every year. This is the amount of profit generated in mostly EU countries, which ends up – after being manipulated by armies of accountants in Luxembourg or the Netherlands – being taxed at bargain rates, typically between 0% and 5%.
Globally, more than €600bn is artificially shifted by multinationals to the world’s tax havens each year.
Tax havens deprive the EU of the equivalent of a fifth of the corporate tax revenue it currently collects. This represents a cost of €60bn per a year. For the UK alone, the bill adds up to about €12.7bn.
US multinationals now make 63% of all their foreign profits in six havens, the most prominent being the Netherlands.
The equivalent of 10% of global GDP is held offshore by rich individuals in the form of bank deposits, equities, bonds and mutual fund shares, most of the time in the name of faceless shell corporations, foundations and trusts.
A growing share of offshore wealth (more than 60% in the case of that managed in Switzerland) is held through shell corporations, trusts and foundations, all designed to make the ultimate owners of the assets untraceable.
About 50% of the wealth held in tax havens belongs to households with more than $50m in net wealth, a group that private bankers call “ultra-high-net-worth individuals”. These ultra-rich represent about 0.01% of the population of advanced economies.
In the UK, Spain, Germany and France, about 30-40% of the wealth of the richest 0.01% of households is held abroad.
Wealth concealment thus deprives governments of about €155bn a year in revenue.
In Britain alone, annual revenue losses are €6bn, to which must be added almost €12.7bn dodged by multinationals.
Every time tax havens are forced to close a loophole, a new one is exploited. When Ireland announced it would phase out the “double Irish” by 2020, Apple quickly set up similar tax-erasing arrangements in Jersey.
Guernsey is as a more important UK trading partner than China or Japan. The 'trade' involved isn't really trade of course, just financial transactions dignified with the name of 'trade in financial services'. Apparently, quite a high percentage of world trade is that these days, exposing the utter irrationality of the capitalist system.
Rather than take a moralistic position on the fairness of taxation policies and its evasion, the Socialist Party views the situation as sections of the capitalist class disputing over how to share out the surplus value already extracted from the working class, with one side playing the "class war" card to try to get the working class to support it against the other side. As the burden of taxations ultimately falls on the employing class and other property-owners, ending tax havens and closing tax loopholes would benefit only them. Some capitalists want tax loopholes because these put their companies in an avantageous and stronger competitive position vis-à-vis those that aren’t able to hide profits from the taxation auhorities. If a competitor pays less tax that means it has more profits and so can invest more in cost-cutting innovations or make better acquisitions. It has a competitive advantage over firms which can’t get out of paying taxes.
In 2015, Google Alphabet reported $15.5bn in profits in Bermuda, profits generated by workers in other countries, where the corporate tax rate is 0%,
Six European tax havens alone (Luxembourg, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Malta and Cyprus) siphon off a total of €350bn every year. This is the amount of profit generated in mostly EU countries, which ends up – after being manipulated by armies of accountants in Luxembourg or the Netherlands – being taxed at bargain rates, typically between 0% and 5%.
Globally, more than €600bn is artificially shifted by multinationals to the world’s tax havens each year.
Tax havens deprive the EU of the equivalent of a fifth of the corporate tax revenue it currently collects. This represents a cost of €60bn per a year. For the UK alone, the bill adds up to about €12.7bn.
US multinationals now make 63% of all their foreign profits in six havens, the most prominent being the Netherlands.
The equivalent of 10% of global GDP is held offshore by rich individuals in the form of bank deposits, equities, bonds and mutual fund shares, most of the time in the name of faceless shell corporations, foundations and trusts.
A growing share of offshore wealth (more than 60% in the case of that managed in Switzerland) is held through shell corporations, trusts and foundations, all designed to make the ultimate owners of the assets untraceable.
About 50% of the wealth held in tax havens belongs to households with more than $50m in net wealth, a group that private bankers call “ultra-high-net-worth individuals”. These ultra-rich represent about 0.01% of the population of advanced economies.
In the UK, Spain, Germany and France, about 30-40% of the wealth of the richest 0.01% of households is held abroad.
Wealth concealment thus deprives governments of about €155bn a year in revenue.
In Britain alone, annual revenue losses are €6bn, to which must be added almost €12.7bn dodged by multinationals.
Every time tax havens are forced to close a loophole, a new one is exploited. When Ireland announced it would phase out the “double Irish” by 2020, Apple quickly set up similar tax-erasing arrangements in Jersey.
Guernsey is as a more important UK trading partner than China or Japan. The 'trade' involved isn't really trade of course, just financial transactions dignified with the name of 'trade in financial services'. Apparently, quite a high percentage of world trade is that these days, exposing the utter irrationality of the capitalist system.
Rather than take a moralistic position on the fairness of taxation policies and its evasion, the Socialist Party views the situation as sections of the capitalist class disputing over how to share out the surplus value already extracted from the working class, with one side playing the "class war" card to try to get the working class to support it against the other side. As the burden of taxations ultimately falls on the employing class and other property-owners, ending tax havens and closing tax loopholes would benefit only them. Some capitalists want tax loopholes because these put their companies in an avantageous and stronger competitive position vis-à-vis those that aren’t able to hide profits from the taxation auhorities. If a competitor pays less tax that means it has more profits and so can invest more in cost-cutting innovations or make better acquisitions. It has a competitive advantage over firms which can’t get out of paying taxes.
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