International

SP Member of Parliament Farshad Bashir describes himself as ‘delighted’ by support from Parliament for his motion calling on the Secretary of State for Finance to work towards international agreements forcing multi-national corporations (MNCs) to declare how much tax they pay in each country in which they are active. Such an obligation would mean that a public discussion could occur on the issue of the tax constructs used by MNCs to enable them to pay less tax.

‘Multinationals are becoming ever more adept in evading taxes by rigging up various international tax constructs,” says Bashir. “More and more often they are succeeding in funnelling profits to tax havens in order to achieve this. It’s developing countries most of all who bear the burden of this, but even our own government loses out on a great deal of tax income. This is money which of course cannot then be spent on such things as health care, education and decent social provision.”

As things stand it is impossible to see how much a multinational active in the Netherlands contributes to the Treasury, because MNCs are not obliged to make such information known. The SP has been fighting for many years to change this situation and bring about greater openness.