It's about time that the major nations got on top of the so-far all-powerful multinational corporations who seem to behave as if they do not owe taxes to anyone and can pay as much (or as little) as they feel like. Hopefully, these days will be ending and the world will be better for it.
From - The Times - http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/money/tax/article3591278.ece
George Osborne has recruited the world’s largest economies in a drive for tighter global rules to prevent multinational companies avoiding tax.
Finance ministers from the G20 countries called last night for proposals on how to stop big corporations shifting their profits around the world to minimise their tax bills.
They have asked the OECD to accelerate plans to strengthen tax standards and to report in February. The call came after Mr Osborne and his German counterpart, Wolfgang Schäuble, used the G20 summit in Mexico to call for tougher international tax standards and:
• A Tory MP used parliamentary privilege to reveal that Google, Amazon, Starbucks and Pfizer pay between 0 and 2.5 per cent tax in the UK;
• It emerged that more than 1,000 tax evaders who hid millions of pounds in Swiss bank accounts struck deals with Revenue & Customs to avoid prosecution and to stay anonymous;
• MPs accused the Revenue of failing to target multinationals while harassing ordinary taxpayers for small amounts.
The G20 intervention also comes amid mounting anger at the comparatively low rates of tax paid to the Treasury by US multinationals.
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