tailieunhanh - Accounting for poverty - How international tax rules keep people poor

The first half of 2009 brought with it an extraordinary and unexpected burst of activity concerning international tax matters. Tax havens found themselves in the eye of a proverbial perfect storm. A new US president with a track record of seeking to “stop tax haven abuse”; an unprecedented banking crisis with some of its roots in offshore finance; a global recession and a Keynesian response to it that meant governments needed to eke out every last pound of tax revenue; high-profile examples of tax evasion uncovered in Liechtenstein and Switzerland – all seemed to coalesce around the sequence of G20 meetings and in particular the London Summit in April 2009. But the London Summit represented another important milestone. It was the. | actionaid Accounting for poverty How international tax rules keep people poor Contents Foreword 2 Executive summary 4 1. What better tax rules could do 10 2. Stealing from the poor 18 3. Taxing across borders 30 4. The great tax giveaway 36 5. Tax authorities a worthwhile investment 44 6. A rich man s club why all countries need to be involved 46 7. Recommendations 48 Susan Agondeze at Katasenywa primary school Masindi Uganda. Globally 18 million new teachers are needed by 2015 to meet the goal of universal primary education - with more tax revenue governments could pay for all of them. PHOTO Georgie Scott ActionAid 1 Foreword The first half of 2009 brought with it an extraordinary and unexpected burst of activity concerning international tax matters. Tax havens found themselves in the eye of a proverbial perfect storm. A new US president with a track record of seeking to stop tax haven abuse an unprecedented banking crisis with some of its roots in offshore finance a global recession and a Keynesian response to it that meant governments needed to eke out every last pound of tax revenue high-profile examples of tax evasion uncovered in Liechtenstein and Switzerland - all seemed to coalesce around the sequence of G20 meetings and in particular the London Summit in April 2009. But the London Summit represented another important milestone. It was the first time that the governments of the major economies - following the lead taken by the UK - acknowledged the impact of international tax rules on developing countries. This began with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown s promise in advance of the summit that we will set out new measures to crack down on the tax havens that siphon off money from developing countries - money that could otherwise be spent on bednets vaccinations economic development and jobs. Until this point few would have predicted the summit s ensuing commitment to developing proposals by end 2009 to make it easier for developing countries to secure .