Ministers appear to be losing their nerve in their battle against dangerous secrecy in UK tax havens, in a shift that calls into question Theresa May’s seriousness about tackling tax dodging, Christian Aid is warning.
The UK’s aid watchdog has highlighted how the Department for International Development could more effectively help poor countries to tackle the tax avoidance and evasion that rob them of billions, in a new report welcomed by Christian Aid.
Impoverished country governments could be up to $61 billion worse off in 2016 as a result of the crash in global commodity prices and strengthening of the US dollar. This is reducing government revenue and increasing the relative size of debt payments in foreign currencies.
In May 2010 the incoming coalition government seized upon a silly, ill-advised note left in the Treasury by the outgoing Chief Secretary Liam Byrne. It said, "I'm afraid there is no money".
New European Commission proposals, intended to curb Google-style tax avoidance by multinationals, do not go far enough in helping developing countries keep track of, and tax, the financial manoeuvring of major international companies operating within their borders, warns Christian Aid.
A growing number of UK councils are taking companies’ tax records into account when deciding how to award contracts worth tens of billions of pounds, in a trend welcomed by Christian Aid