Tax rules are bananas!
Our two-part video guide explains why.
Take action now
We need the G20 to take tax dodging seriously. Write to UK chancellor, Alistair Darling, and ask him to urge world leaders to take on unscrupulous multinationals that deprive poor countries of billions every year.
Find out more - and take action now.
Part two of our video guide
Doing it by the books?
Multinational companies are really good at finding new ways to make money – that's what they are there for. But some go to unethical, even illegal, lengths.
By reporting just a fraction of the profits they make in poorer countries, and hiding the true amounts offshore, these unscrupulous businesses reduce their tax bills – and cost the developing world billions.
$160bn, in fact.
Enough to reach the UN millennium development goals several times over.
Enough to save the lives of 350,000 children aged five or under every year.
Almost twice the amount poor countries receive in international aid.
In the West, tax revenue pays for basic healthcare, roads and schools.
Many poorer countries struggle to do the same – sometimes because lack of infrastructure prevents them collecting revenue efficiently, and sometimes due to corrupt and unaccountable government.
However, the cloak of silence under which so many corporations are able to operate means billions of dollars leave developing countries without anyone noticing.
What do we want? No more secrets
While the rich world counts the cost of the global economic crisis it is glaring that the collapse of international markets and the drain on poor-country riches share a common cause: secrecy.
Secrecy allowed banks to hide their toxic assets until it was too late.
And secrecy continues to prevent us from knowing in which countries multinational firms truly make their profits – and how.
Call multinationals to account
If the West is serious about poorer countries helping themselves out of poverty, the secrecy has to stop.
We need a new global financial culture. The G20 needs to ensure that every multinational declares in which countries it makes its profits and how much tax it pays.
Email Chancellor Darling
We also need the biggest auditing firms to help change the accounting rules which companies must abide by.
Email the Big Four accountancy firms, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG