Wealthy countries that set global tax rules are biggest enablers of corporate tax abuse

Tax Justice Network ranks OECD members and British overseas territories highest in its 2021 corporate tax haven index, advocating for the UN to set standards instead.

The world’s wealthiest countries that help set global tax standards are actually responsible for the majority of corporate tax abuses around the world, a new report has found.

The Tax Justice Network’s 2021 Corporate Tax Haven Index, which ranks the countries “most complicit in helping multinational corporations pay less tax than they are expected to,” pegs six jurisdictions that are part of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development — the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Luxembourg — as the biggest enablers of corporate tax avoidance worldwide.

OECD, an organization made up of high-income countries, collects economic data and uses it to make recommendations on regulatory reforms, corporate governance, and tax policy — not just for its members, but for the entire world.

“To trust the OECD in light of the Index’s findings today is like trusting a pack of wolves to build a fence around your chicken coop,” Dereje Alemayehu, executive coordinator of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice, said in a statement released by TJN Tuesday.

TJN’s State of Tax Justice 2020 analysis found that countries lose $245 billion of tax revenue a year to cross-border tax avoidance by multinational corporations, and the new report attributes 68% of that figure to OECD members and their overseas territories.

TJN also found that the United Arab Emirates climbed to No. 10 in their ranking, in large part due to an infusion of over $200 billion in foreign direct investment — equivalent to more than 50% of the country’s GDP — routed through the Netherlands.

“The world’s richest countries are depriving the rest of the world of $166 billion in corporate tax every year by enabling the biggest multinational corporations to pay less tax than they should,” Liz Nelson, director of tax justice and human rights at TJN, said in a statement.

Article credit: https://www.icij.org/inside-icij/2021/03/wealthy-countries-that-set-global-tax-rules-are-biggest-enablers-of-corporate-tax-abuse-report-finds/

Wealthy countries that set global tax rules are biggest enablers of corporate tax abuse

Tax Justice Network ranks OECD members and British overseas territories highest in its 2021 corporate tax haven index, advocating for the UN to set standards instead.

The world’s wealthiest countries that help set global tax standards are actually responsible for the majority of corporate tax abuses around the world, a new report has found.

The Tax Justice Network’s 2021 Corporate Tax Haven Index, which ranks the countries “most complicit in helping multinational corporations pay less tax than they are expected to,” pegs six jurisdictions that are part of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development — the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Luxembourg — as the biggest enablers of corporate tax avoidance worldwide.

OECD, an organization made up of high-income countries, collects economic data and uses it to make recommendations on regulatory reforms, corporate governance, and tax policy — not just for its members, but for the entire world.

“To trust the OECD in light of the Index’s findings today is like trusting a pack of wolves to build a fence around your chicken coop,” Dereje Alemayehu, executive coordinator of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice, said in a statement released by TJN Tuesday.

TJN’s State of Tax Justice 2020 analysis found that countries lose $245 billion of tax revenue a year to cross-border tax avoidance by multinational corporations, and the new report attributes 68% of that figure to OECD members and their overseas territories.

TJN also found that the United Arab Emirates climbed to No. 10 in their ranking, in large part due to an infusion of over $200 billion in foreign direct investment — equivalent to more than 50% of the country’s GDP — routed through the Netherlands.

“The world’s richest countries are depriving the rest of the world of $166 billion in corporate tax every year by enabling the biggest multinational corporations to pay less tax than they should,” Liz Nelson, director of tax justice and human rights at TJN, said in a statement.

Article credit: https://www.icij.org/inside-icij/2021/03/wealthy-countries-that-set-global-tax-rules-are-biggest-enablers-of-corporate-tax-abuse-report-finds/