LOUGH ERNE DECLARATION #G8
Private enterprise drives growth, reduces poverty, and creates jobs and prosperity for people around the world. Governments have a special responsibility to make proper rules and promote good governance. Fair taxes, increased transparency and open trade are vital drivers of this. We will make a real difference by doing the following:
1. Tax authorities across the world should automatically share information to fight the scourge of tax evasion.
2. Countries should change rules that let companies shift their profits across borders to avoid taxes, and multinationals should report to tax authorities what tax they pay where.
3. Companies should know who really owns them and tax collectors and law enforcers should be able to obtain this information easily.
4. Developing countries should have the information and capacity to collect the taxes owed them – and other countries have a duty to help them.
5. Extractive companies should report payments to all governments – and governments should publish income from such companies.
6. Minerals should be sourced legitimately, not plundered from conflict zones.
7. Land transactions should be transparent, respecting the property rights of local communities.
8. Governments should roll back protectionism and agree new trade deals that boost jobs and growth worldwide.
9. Governments should cut wasteful bureaucracy at borders and make it easier and quicker to move goods between developing countries.
10. Governments should publish information on laws, budgets, spending, national statistics, elections and government contracts in a way that is easy to read and re-use, so that citizens can hold them to account.
Source
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Now let's read this reaction "a chaud" from the UK-based NGO ActionAid:
ActionAid spokesperson Soren Ambrose said: "Today the G8 has shuffled a few inches towards progress on tackling tax dodging but there is still a long way to go before poor countries will be able to access the resources that are rightfully theirs.
“The G8 has talked a good game on tax dodging, and there has certainly been a breakthrough in the leaders’ recognition of its impact on developing countries. It’s good to see that our campaign on the damage done by tax havens has at least pushed rich countries to start helping themselves with systematic collection and sharing of information.
“But actions speak louder than words. We had high hopes that this G8 Summit would deliver significant reforms to the broken tax system which would help poor just as much as rich countries. Developing countries lose billions of dollars in vital revenues to tax dodging every year. But instead of making sure that they can hold on to this badly needed revenue, the G8 has helped itself and left the rest of the world without the rapid advance it needs.
"The G8 insists their new tax information sharing deal needs to include all countries including the poorest, and this is a welcome shift from cosy tax deals for rich countries alone. But they’ve made no concrete commitments yet to ensure that this will really happen or that tax havens will sign up. We still risk a two tier tax system emerging, with developing countries left trailing.
“On ending secret company ownership we have been told that black is white – more secrecy is really more openness. Some countries will gather more information on who really owns what, yet this may still be kept secret from those that need the information most. This strays very far from what Thabo Mbeki and his African Union panel are calling for to help reverse the illicit financial flows from the continent. It is vital that such information is made publicly accessible.
“We are heartened, however, that the G8 has taken steps toward requiring companies to report on the profits they make and the taxes they pay in each country where they operate. If this is taken forward in an enforceable, public way, developing countries will realize real benefits.
"There remains a mountain to climb when it comes to ending the global scourge of tax dodging. We have inched into the foothills but have not yet begun the ascent. World leaders must now increase the pace and we look to the G20 Summit in St Petersburg in September as the next port of call in the path towards progress."
Ends
Editors' notes
Jane Moyo | Head of Media Relations | ActionAid UK
TEL: +44 (0)20 3122 0635 | MOB: +44 (0)7734 023347
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My question of course is: what impact would this have on the resource curse in the DRC? I end this post with a good read from Dr. Aikande's website: The #G8 changed agenda from "Aid" to "Tax Reforms" is what Africa needs.
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