International

The G8, the club for wealthy industrialised countries, meeting today in Northern Ireland, hit out at tax evasion by multinationals. Yet as SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong points out, ‘these fine words stand in stark contrast with the actual facts. In the EU during the last four years, fully 50,000 tax inspectors have been made redundant, many of them by these same G8 governments who now talk of action. An effective approach to tax evasion and tax avoidance can only be achieved by increasing the numbers of tax inspectors. That’s why the SP supports the European tax inspectors’ week of action for fair and equitable taxation and against extreme austerity policies.’

Tax inspectors will be demonstrating in Brussels tomorrow, following this up with actions in other EU countries. ‘Without effective taxation,’ says De Jong, ‘Greece and Portugal will never emerge from crisis, as has been recognised by the EU task force in Greece. At the same time the Troika, of which the EU forms the major part, is still pressuring the government there to make further cuts.’

The Netherlands is the world leader in the channelling of money by big corporations looking to dodge taxes and is coming under increasing criticism as a consequence. ‘Last week the European Parliament’s special committee against organised crime and money laundering voted to support my proposal that taxes should be levied where companies are really active’ says De Jong, rather than, as is now often the case, where they are registered via a simple postal address. ‘Dutch tax law makes it possible to channel profits to tax havens such as Bermuda.’