Over Here And Undertaxed Multinationals Tax Avoidance And You

Tax has rocketed to the top of the news agenda. When Amazon, Google and Starbucks were pulled up in front of the Public Accounts Committee, many were stunned at how little corporation tax they paid (if at all) in a time of austerity and government cuts. How can a tax gap of £12 billion be justified, when a CEO can take home $101 million a year? There is a growing realization that maybe we aren't ‘all in this together’, and what are Google's 'Dutch sandwich' and a 'double Irish' anyway? In this 30,000-word ebook Richard Murphy, a highly respected economic commentator and blogger, explains how we came to this situation, its origins and development after the 2008 economic crisis, who the villains of the piece are, and why. But this ebook also seeks answers and Murphy offers concrete and practical solutions in the face of growing public awareness, which politicians and companies will ignore at their peril as taxpayers vote with their feet. Part of the Brain Shots series, the pre-eminent source for high quality, short-form non-fiction.

The fallout from the financial crisis of 2007-8, HSBC Suisse in 2015, and the Panama Papers in 2016 has generated calls for far more vigorous and punitive responses to tax evasion and greater international co-operation against mechanisms for giving anonymity to the ownership of property. One mechanism to ensure compliance is the use of the criminal justice system. The announcement in 2013 by the then Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, of a policy of increasing rates of prosecution for tax evasion raised squarely the issue of whether increased involvement of criminal law and criminal justice in tax evasion would be justifiable or not. The relationship between tax evasion and the proceeds of crime is taking on increasing importance: treating the 'proceeds of criminal tax evasion' as falling within the 'proceeds of crime' regime inevitably expands the scope of both. In this book, Peter Alldridge considers the development of the offences and the relationship between tax evasion offences and other criminal offences; the relevant rules of evidence; prosecution structures, decision-making processes, and alternatives to prosecution. Specific topics include offshore evasion and the relationship of tax evasion with other crimes and aspects of the criminal justice system. A topical and lively discussion of a heated debate.

What makes the control of corruption so difficult and contested? Drawing on the insights of political science, economics and law, the expert contributors to this book offer diverse perspectives. One group of chapters explores the nature of corruption in democracies and autocracies, and “reforms” that are mere facades. Other contributions examine corruption in infrastructure, tax collection, cross-border trade, and military procurement. Case studies from various regions – such as China, Peru, South Africa and New York City – anchor the analysis with real-world situations. The book pays particular attention to corruption involving international business and the domestic regulation of foreign bribery.

The field of critical accounting has expanded rapidly since its inception and has become recognised?as offering a wealth of provocative insights in the wake of the global financial crisis. It is now firmly embedded within accounting literature and in how accounting is taught. Surveying the evolving field of Critical Accounting, including theory, ethics, history, development and sustainability, this Companion presents key debates in the field, providing a comprehensive overview. Incorporating interdisciplinary perspectives on accounting, the volume concludes by considering new directions in which critical accounting research may travel. With an international array of established and respected contributors, this Routledge Companion is a vital resource for students and researchers across the world.

Public finance is an important branch of economics. Over the years it has become more important, more controversial, and more complex. Much of the academic writing on it is highly theoretical, and it is often done by economists who have had little real world experience. Vito Tanzi has been continually engaged in this field for almost six decades, as a professor of public finance, a practitioner of it in many countries, and as a researcher, and has witnessed first-hand the growing gap between theoretical work and the real life practice of public finance. Public finance has come to be increasingly influenced by the pursuit of multiple government goals and by the growing complexity that now characterizes fiscal policy and government programs in many countries. Notably, the goal of simplicity has played only a small role in the practice of public finance and in academic work. Complexity puts a dense fog around many policies, making it difficult to predict and assess the results. This book aims to highlight to both economists and policymakers the need for simplicity in policies. It also aims to inform students of public finance and public policy about this growing problem and the need to pay more attention to it.

This textbook analyses the drivers of globalization and the diverse range of international environments in which businesses operate. Case studies and examples from around the world connect theory to real-world business decisions, in both emerging and developed markets.

A collection of short, sharp essays exploring the value of shared and accessible public knowledge in the face of its erosion. The Death of Public Knowledge argues for the value and importance of shared, publicly accessible knowledge, and suggests that the erosion of its most visible forms, including public service broadcasting, education, and the network of public libraries, has worrying outcomes for democracy. With contributions from both activists and academics, this collection of short, sharp essays focuses on different aspects of public knowledge, from libraries and education to news media and public policy. Together, the contributors record the stresses and strains placed upon public knowledge by funding cuts and austerity, the new digital economy, quantification and target-setting, neoliberal politics, and inequality. These pressures, the authors contend, not only hinder democracies, but also undermine markets, economies, and social institutions and spaces everywhere. Covering areas of international public concern, these polemical, accessible texts include reflections on the fate of schools and education, the takeover of public institutions by private interests, and the corruption of news and information in the financial sector. They cover the compromised Greek media during recent EU negotiations, the role played by media and political elites in the Irish property bubble, the compromising of government policy by corporate interests in the United States and Korea, and the squeeze on public service media in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the United States. Individually and collectively, these pieces spell out the importance of maintaining public, shared knowledge in all its forms, and offer a rallying cry for doing so, asserting the need for strong public, financial, and regulatory support. Contributors Toril Aalberg, Ian Anstice, Philip Augar, Rodney Benson, Aeron Davis, Des Freedman, Wayne Hope, Ken Jones, Bong-hyun Lee, Colin Leys, Andrew McGettigan, Michael Moran, Aristotelis Nikolaidis, Justin Schlosberg, Henry Silke, Roger Smith, Peter Thompson, Janine R. Wedel, Karel Williams, Kate Wright

What kind of world have we created? Increasing numbers of us live in fear of losing our homes and jobs, many forced to rely on the charity of food banks to feed ourselves and our children. Many of us live on the streets in utter destitution, often with mental health problems, and no-one seems to care. Many more of us live in poor countries where for want of clean water and basic sanitation we must watch helplessly as our children and infants die in their millions every year. At the other end of the scale some of us have wealth that can't be consumed in a thousand lifetimes. Then there are the environmental dangers that we all face - scarcity of fresh water; widespread pollution of the air, sea and rivers; deforestation; loss of biodiversity; and above all climate change - and our governments, severely handicapped by those of us with vested interests, unable to take the decisive action that is necessary to combat them. Why is it that the world's abundant wealth is spread so lavishly for the very few and so thinly for the very many? Why is it that we understand so well the dire consequences awaiting us from environmental catastrophe yet seem unable to do more than a fraction of what is required? This book presents the results of an exploration into these concerns by someone who feels deeply disturbed by them; who feels that people in great numbers are being squeezed beyond breaking point; who feels that we are racing headlong towards a cliff edge with people who claim to be in control but whose hands are tied. The exploration bore fruit. It revealed that the major systems that underpin the modern world maintain themselves by widespread exploitation of the disadvantaged, made possible by equally widespread ignorance of how it happens. It doesn't have to be that way. We can turn a world on a collision course with nature into a world sustainable for the very long term. We can turn a cruel world into a kind world, but to do so requires a broad public understanding of what is really going on. The purpose of this book is to help provide that understanding.