FuzzyLumpkins
01-18-2016, 05:10 PM
Tax dodging by the super-rich is one of the main drivers of global income inequality and must be sharply curtailed, according to a new report from the global nonprofit Oxfam.
Citing research by Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman — a protégé of Thomas Piketty, author of the global bestseller on inequality, Capital — Oxfam estimates that wealthy households around the world had as much as $7.6 trillion squirreled away in offshore accounts at the end of 2013. Another recent analysis by the groups Citizens for Tax Justice and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund projected that the United States would be owed $620 billion in federal taxes if its largest 500 corporations did not engage in offshoring.
“There’s growing evidence that this is playing a significant factor in the accelerating wealth of the top one percent,” said Oxfam U.S. policy director Gawain Kripke. “The ability that they have to use maneuvers like parking their money in offshore jurisdictions is exacerbating the growing inequality around the world."
Oxfam’s report, titled “An Economy for the One Percent,” does not attribute growing inequality solely to tax avoidance. Other drivers include political corruption and the widening compensation gap between employees and executives, according the report. But Oxfam gives tax avoidance the strongest emphasis, and its policy recommendations include “a global approach to end the era of tax havens” as a top priority.
Tax avoidance is pernicious because it often deprives governments of the funds they need to provide basic services, said Kripke.
“It’s starving key programs that help everybody, but especially poor people, get on their feet,” said Kripke. “This is true in both rich and poor countries, but you see it most acutely where poor countries have no health care system, where large numbers of students are either getting no education or a very poor quality education. That’s where it becomes a moral issue."
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2016/1/17/to-reduce-inequality-we-must-end-the-era-of-tax-havens-says-oxfam.html
Citing research by Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman — a protégé of Thomas Piketty, author of the global bestseller on inequality, Capital — Oxfam estimates that wealthy households around the world had as much as $7.6 trillion squirreled away in offshore accounts at the end of 2013. Another recent analysis by the groups Citizens for Tax Justice and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund projected that the United States would be owed $620 billion in federal taxes if its largest 500 corporations did not engage in offshoring.
“There’s growing evidence that this is playing a significant factor in the accelerating wealth of the top one percent,” said Oxfam U.S. policy director Gawain Kripke. “The ability that they have to use maneuvers like parking their money in offshore jurisdictions is exacerbating the growing inequality around the world."
Oxfam’s report, titled “An Economy for the One Percent,” does not attribute growing inequality solely to tax avoidance. Other drivers include political corruption and the widening compensation gap between employees and executives, according the report. But Oxfam gives tax avoidance the strongest emphasis, and its policy recommendations include “a global approach to end the era of tax havens” as a top priority.
Tax avoidance is pernicious because it often deprives governments of the funds they need to provide basic services, said Kripke.
“It’s starving key programs that help everybody, but especially poor people, get on their feet,” said Kripke. “This is true in both rich and poor countries, but you see it most acutely where poor countries have no health care system, where large numbers of students are either getting no education or a very poor quality education. That’s where it becomes a moral issue."
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2016/1/17/to-reduce-inequality-we-must-end-the-era-of-tax-havens-says-oxfam.html