Support for the Tax Dodging Bill is growing, with a letter appearing in today’s Times from nearly 70 economists and academics backing our call for the next government to introduce a new law to tackle tax dodging in the first hundred days after the election.
You can join over 20,000 people who have already supported the growing call for a Tax Dodging Bill by signing the petition to all the political parties now.
Here’s their letter in full:
Dear Sir,
It has become starkly clear that the global tax system enables multinational corporations to avoid huge sums in tax, both in developed countries like the United Kingdom and in developing countries. All too often, as the recent scandals in Luxembourg have shown, tax avoidance is made possible by the collusion of governments.
The baleful result is a massive loss of public revenues which could be used to fight poverty in the developed and developing world, as well as a loss of public trust in large companies and governments, coupled with the growth of a corrosive short-termism in parts of the private sector which attempts to avoid as much tax as possible on corporate profits.
The biggest losers from the status quo are those countries least able to protect themselves. The International Monetary Fund has found that tax competition has harmful effects on the corporate tax bases of all countries, but these effects are more than twice as harmful for developing countries, which depend on corporate taxes to a greater extent than developed countries.[1]
So we believe that the United Kingdom, as an avowed supporter of sustainable development and as the home jurisdiction of many multinational companies, needs to take a strong approach to the problem which sets an example to other countries and catalyses firm international action.
This is why we are supporting the call by a coalition of non-governmental organisations, including Oxfam, Christian Aid, Tax Justice Network and ActionAid, for legislation to strengthen the United Kingdom’s rules against tax avoidance at home and abroad.
This legislation should reform any UK tax rules with harmful effects on developing countries and ensure that multinational companies publish detailed reports on their turnover, profits and tax payments in each country where they do business, so as to give the public a much clearer picture of these companies’ tax practices and deter the shifting of profits into tax havens.
Yours sincerely,
Academics Stand Against Poverty, Thomas Pogge
Global Financial Integrity, Raymond Baker
Tax Justice Network, John Christensen
Professor Julio Boltvinik, El Colegio de México
Professor Sarah Bracking, University of Manchester
Dr. Angus Cameron, University of Leicester School of Management
Dr. Ludovico Carraro, Oxford Policy Management
Professor Martha Chen, Harvard University
Professor Jean Comaroff, Harvard University
Anna Coote, New Economics Foundation
Professor Olivier De Schutter, University of Louvain
Professor Bob Deacon, University of Sheffield
Enrique Delamonica, UNICEF
Professor Danny Dorling, University of Oxford
Dr. Jean Dreze
Steph Eldridge, King’s College London
Professor Diane Elson, University of Essex,
Professor Rita de la Feria, Chair in Tax Law, Durham Law School
Professor Tim Ensor, University of Leeds
Carlos Fortin, University of Sussex
Professor Des Gasper, International Institute of Social Studies, Amsterdam
Professor Jayati Ghosh, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Wouter van Ginneken
Professor Ilene Grabel, University of Denver
Dr. Jo Marie Griesgraber, New Rules for Global Finance
Professor George Irvin, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Professor Stefano Harney, Singapore Management University
Dr Michael Jennings, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Professor Sir Richard Jolly, University of Sussex
Dr. Inge Kaul
Dr. Majid Kazemi, University of London
Peter Knewell, University of Sussex
Gabriele Koehler
Professor John Langmore, University of Melbourne
Stewart Lansley, University of Bristol
Valerie Leach
Tomas Lievens, Oxford Policy Management
Ian MacAuslan, Oxford Policy Management
Andrew MacGregor, LLM, LLB, UN Resident Coordinator’s Office
David McLachlan-Karr, UN Resident Coordinator & UNDP Resident Representative
Fred Merttens, Oxford Policy Management
Professor Ruth Merttens, Hamilton Trust
Butch Montes, South Center
Mick Moore,University of Sussex
Richard Murphy, Tax Research
Dr Ann Mumford, King’s College London
Jonathan Perraton, Department of Economics, University of Sheffield
Christine Pagnoulle, University of Liege
Professor Ronen Palan, City University, London
Professor Martin Parker, School of Management, University of Leicester
Professor Alicia Puyana Mutis, FLACSO México
Professor Kunibert Raffer, University of Vienna
Dr. Uma Rani, ILO
Nils Riemenschneider, Oxford Policy Management
Ewan Robinson, University of Sussex
Charles Sampford, Foundation Dean of Law and Research Professor of Ethics at Griffith University and Convenor of the Global Integrity Summit
Malcolm Sawyer, Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds
Professor Gita Sen, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore
Professor Prem Sikka, Essex Business School, University of Essex
Professor Guy Standing, University of London
Professor Frances Stewart, University of Oxford
Dr. John Toye, Oxford University
Professor Rolph van der Hoeven, Erasmus University
Hugh Waddington, Development Economist
Dr. Richard White, Sheffield Hallam University
Professor Rorden Wilkinson, University of Sussex
Dr. Sophie Witter, Queen Margaret University
[1] IMF Policy Paper. Spillovers in International Corporate Taxation. 9th May 2014. Page 20. “And what is notable is that the spillover impacts which emerge from this exercise are more than twice as large in non-OECD as in OECD countries. These losses are in many cases substantial: more than 50 percent of current [corporate income tax] revenue in several cases.”
