Leijten: “Zambia treaty is theft through taxation dressed up as something new”
Leijten: “Zambia treaty is theft through taxation dressed up as something new”
“Depriving a country of its natural resources for the sake of grabbing a few cents,” was how SP Member of Parliament Leijten described her fellow MPs’ vote to adopt the taxation treaty with Zambia.
The Secretary of State talks in terms of the modernisation of the treaty, but it’s really old-fashioned sucking dry of a country which doesn’t have much to start with,” says Leijten. “Multinationals will soon be able, as soon as they’ve extracted any kind of raw materials, simply to declare their profits in the Netherlands and thus avoid having to pay almost any tax at all. I call that shameless.”
Leijten accuses the Netherlands of exploiting the weaker position of developing countries when it comes to concluding tax agreements. “All sorts of taxes on multinationals in Zambia will be eliminated on the grounds of this treaty, yet they get almost nothing in return,” she adds. “With treaties like this we keep poor countries poor.”
Leijten is calling on the Secretary of State not to conclude any further tax agreements which lower taxes on multinationals. In addition, she wants to see measures in the treaty designed to combat tax evasion significantly strengthened.