How much tax #DirtyEnergy companies pay is largely irrelevant to the question we were discussing, since a company that is both taxed and receives significant subsidies will do better than a competitor (e.g. a renewable energy company) that is taxed and doesn't receive those subsidies. I probably should have said something like that. (I could also have made a point about government funds not being derived from taxation, but I really didn't get the vibe that that was going to be particularly fruitful approach for this gentleman.)

Instead I replied that dirty energy companies pay relatively little tax due to exploiting tax loopholes (that they also lobby to put in). He scoffed in disbelief and changed the subject.

With that context, now you'll understand how embarrassed I was to have just stumbled across this table for 2020–21 and realise I was wrong.

Of the twenty-four largest dirty energy companies in Australia, only one of them paid “relatively little” income tax that year.

#TaxAvoidance #TaxJustice #Auspol #DirtyEnergySubsidies #DirtyEnergyDirtyPolitics

What's happening with Scotland's "Green Freeports"?

Here's my overview of why the Scottish and UK Governments created them, how and where they'll operate and, in particular, what the Scottish Government is doing to support them with devolved tax cuts.

#Economy #Trade #TaxAvoidance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTLy6e6NuJc

🔟 reasons to #BoycottAmazon courtesy of @ethicalconsumer

1. Its flagrant #TaxAvoidance

2. It has got a horrific reputation for #WorkersRights.

3. It threatens small #independent businesses.

4. It profits from #OilandGas.

5. It has failed to address its #Environmentalimpacts.

6. It is repeatedly accused of #racism.

7. It creates a hostile environment for #unions.

8. It has faced questions over #spying on politicians, trade unions, and consumers.

9. Stand in #solidarity with other campaigners all over the world.

10. Amazon workers say abuse comes at a high price for workers in the #CostOfLivingCrisis.

Read more about each on the Ethical Consumer website 👇

https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/retailers/ten-reasons-avoid-amazon

#AmazonFreeAugust

Remember #MickFuller in #NSWpol?

He was formerly the NSW Police Commissioner, neighbour to former PM #ScottMorrison (who gave him a quick call when a cabinet member was credibly accused of committing fraud), co-owner of a racehorse in the corruption-plagued racing industry along with other senior police figures as well as with some shady businessmen (two of whom were suspects in criminal cases; one of whom also had lucrative contracts with police) in a massive #ConflictOfInterest for which Fuller was (eventually) heavily criticised by the police watchdog (the critically underfunded #LECC).

Where has he ended up? As a partner at the scandal-ridden #PwC, a major consulting firm recently revealed to have been selling government secrets to plutocrats and corporations to facilitate massive #TaxAvoidance.

And now today's story is that Fuller has been in frequent contact with his old mate Reece Kershaw, the Australian Federal Police (#AFP) Commissioner. Kershaw didn't declare this as a #ConflictOfInterest now that the AFP have been investigating PwC. Maybe Fuller might know a thing or two about what ought to be included on such declarations...

Today: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-04/sms-messages-afp-commissioner-kershaw-pwc-fuller-revealed/102683338

And the racehorse story last year: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-13/lecc-withdraws-findings-on-former-nsw-police-commissioner-fuller/101763338

And the PwC tax scandal: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/02/the-mysterious-case-of-pwc-and-the-misuse-of-confidential-government-tax-information

' It’s a simple bargain: The rich get huge tax breaks by donating art, property and company shares to benefit the public. But some donors collect millions while offering little or no public access. '

#PrivateFpundations #TaxAvoidance #scams #grifting

https://www.propublica.org/article/how-private-nonprofits-ultrawealthy-tax-deductions-museums-foundation-art

My article in this week's @common_weal newsletter.

We appear to be the lone voice of dissent against the Scottish Government's plan to offer devolved tax cuts to Freeports...but only because they appear to have silenced trade unions and other activists (while keeping secret the views of the Freeports themselves).

#ScottishPolitics #Freeports #TaxAvoidance

https://commonweal.scot/a-deal-with-the-devolved-part-two/

#PWC #sharing #Taxavoidance

https://www.afr.com/companies/professional-services/off-the-record-other-pwc-partners-also-shared-tax-information-20230623-p5dize

PwC Australia vows 'severe' consequences for tax leak staff

https://www.dw.com/en/pwc-australia-vows-severe-consequences-for-tax-leak-staff/a-66029096?maca=en-dipa_news_mstdn-34613-xml-mrss

#Australia #PwC #PricewaterhouseCoopers #tax #taxavoidance #conflictofinterest #consultancy

Time for the Council to shell out some justice and fight tax avoidance https://www.euractiv.com/section/economy-jobs/opinion/time-for-the-council-to-shell-out-some-justice-and-fight-tax-avoidance/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #taxavoidance #Unshell

Time for the Council to shell out some justice and fight tax avoidance https://www.euractiv.com/section/economy-jobs/opinion/time-for-the-council-to-shell-out-some-justice-and-fight-tax-avoidance/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #taxavoidance #Unshell

Felted fabric - The investigation has just begun.
"And so have the bigger questions about the billions spent by government with #consulting firms, the sharing of confidential information and just how much #taxpayers may have been played"
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-29/tax-confidences-broken-and-billions-at-stake-how-pwc-has-upended/102398798
#TNCs #TaxAvoidance #VestedInterests external #Consultants. #Governance

"PwC scandal shows consultants, like church officials, are best kept out of state affairs.
The cost to Australian taxpayers (through lost revenue from Australian companies using tax havens) is estimated to be about A$6 billion a year (US$5 billion)."

https://theconversation.com/pwc-scandal-shows-consultants-like-church-officials-are-best-kept-out-of-state-affairs-205560
#TNCs #TaxAvoidance #VestedInterests external #Consultants. #Governance

Website: Gabriel Zucman (includes links to complete papers, other publications, contributions to policy debates) https://gabriel-zucman.eu/
#WealthInequality #IncomeInequality #Inequality #TaxAvoidance #TaxEvasion #WealthTax #IncomeTax #wealth #income #data

"This is tax evasion, plain and simple...
...

The result has been a nation where working-class Americans are left with underfunded public schools and hospitals as the wealthy board rocketships to outer space."
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/07/07/opinion/minimum-corporate-tax.html Gabriel #Zucman and Gus Wezerek

#WealthInequality #IncomeInequality #TaxAvoidance #TaxEvasion #data

"This is tax evasion, plain and simple. When a company logs billions of dollars in profit in a shell company, it violates the spirit of the Internal Revenue Code’s economic substance doctrine, which states that a transaction must have a purpose other than to reduce tax liability."
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/07/07/opinion/minimum-corporate-tax.html Gabriel Zucman and Gus Wezerek

#WealthInequality #IncomeInequality #TaxAvoidance #TaxEvasion #data

Corporate tax breaks have helped business owners amass inconceivable amounts of money over the past few decades. Meanwhile, middle-class Americans have footed the bill, as Congress has propped up the budget by raising taxes on wages.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/07/07/opinion/minimum-corporate-tax.html Gabriel Zucman and Gus Wezerek

#WealthInequality #IncomeInequality #TaxAvoidance #TaxEvasion #data

"In the decades after World War II, close to 50 percent of American companies’ earnings went to state and federal taxes. Economically, it was a golden period. Middle-class incomes grew at roughly the same rate as those of the richest Americans."
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/07/07/opinion/minimum-corporate-tax.html Gabriel Zucman and Gus Wezerek

#WealthInequality #IncomeInequality #TaxAvoidance #TaxEvasion #data

For everyone beating up on economists and the discipline, this should provide solace. Now all we need to do is get legislators and policymakers to change the laws and eliminate loopholes.

"Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman wins prestigious Clark Medal" https://news.berkeley.edu/2023/05/02/berkeley-economist-gabriel-zucman-wins-prestigious-clark-medal/

https://www.nber.org/news/gabriel-zucman-wins-john-bates-clark-medal

https://www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/honors-awards/bates-clark/gabriel-zucman

#WealthInequality #IncomeInequality #TaxAvoidance #TaxEvasion #data

Other historical mass trespasses include the 17th century Diggers who attempted to reclaim common land in Surrey, Kent, Northamptonshire, and Buckinghamshire (and they claimed in at least six further counties), where they were met with murderous violence from land-lords and the state. Their presence was erased so thoroughly that historians are unable to trace exactly where Diggers lived. Today St George's Hill is a 4 square km (965 acre) private gated community with some of the most expensive housing in the UK - in 2014 at least 72 properties, £282+ million of assets, were registered offshore in tax havens.

Before the Diggers squatted St George's Hill it was probably "Crown land" acquired by the monarchy through invasion, conquest, confiscation, English "clearances", the Harrying of the North, and evictions from newly enclosed "Crown land" such as "royal hunting forests". Which brings us back around to the 1932 Kinder Scout mass trespass on land kept exclusively by the ruling classes for hunting and intensive farming of birds for shooting. /end thread

In 1649, to St. George's Hill,
A ragged band they called the Diggers came to show the people's will.
They defied the landlords. They defied the laws.
They were the dispossessed reclaiming what was theirs.
"We come in peace," they said, "to dig and sow.
We come to work the land in common, and to make the waste land grow.
This Earth divided we will make whole so it will be a common treasury for all."

Nancy Kerr sings The World Turned Upside Down, by Leon Rosselson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJlWymJFY7k

#FolkMusic #FolkSong #Folk #music #rambling #hiking #RightToRoam #trespass #UK #England #Surrey #WorkingClassHistory #EnglishHistory #diggers #commons #TaxAvoidance #TaxEvasion #TaxTheRich #AbolishTheMonarchy #NotMyKing

Prize winning author refuses to sell her next book on Amazon

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/19/lydia-davis-refuses-to-sell-her-next-book-on-amazon

I applaud her for trying, but they'll still win, because although she says, "They do not play by the rules and they do not pay anywhere near their proper tax burden", they don’t break any rules or laws.

we need to be talking to our politicians about changing the rules. They surely break conventions – but that's a different thing

#Amazon #TaxAvoidance #tax #publishing #books