Financial Transparency Coalition

A recent report from ActionAid made headlines when it accused SABMiller, the world’s second largest beer company, of avoiding millions of pounds worth of tax in India and the African countries in which it operates. ActionAid argues that through financial transactions with subsidiaries located in tax havens, SABMiller shifts its profits largely via royalty and management fees to firms in developed countries with lower tax rates. As a result, lower local profits mean less taxable income, and that denies governments the revenue needed to build key infrastructures such as schools, roads, and ports. On the other hand, Zahid...

On 9 December 2010, the European Parliament’s Committee on Development will vote on the Draft Report on Tax and Development led by Member of the European Parliament Eva Joly. The report aims to present the European Parliament’s views on the initiatives set forth by the European Commission in the Communication on Cooperation with Developing Countries on Promoting Good Governance in Tax Matters. This report is good news for civil society organisations such as Eurodad that are advocating to effectively clamp down on tax havens and stop more than USD 600 billion of tax-related illicit flows bleeding the...

Christian has just released a new video highlighting the important link between poverty and tax evasion in Guatemala. Check it out: Hannah Richards, Christian Aid's communications and information officer for Latin America and the Caribbean, recently wrote about this problem in a blog post on the Christian Aid website after witnessing the devastating effects of tax-dodging on the ground in Guatemala. Hannah writes:

Taxation News & Information—Worldwide tax changes and transparency measures need to be implemented soon in order to fight capital flight from poverty-stricken nations and worldwide tax evasion.