On the last day of the G8 summit in Northern Ireland, a number of major world leaders agreed on new measures meant to ensure tax compliance by individuals and companies. The focus on tax evasion was a major part of the agenda set by British Prime Minister David Cameron: tax, trade and transparency, or the three Ts.
According to members of the G8, in the future, those who attempt to avoid taxes by setting up shell companies or sheltering funds offshore will have to answer to taxing authorities.
Archbishop of York John Sentamu went even further, suggesting that those who avoid paying tax would have to answer to an even higher power: God. Sentamu offered a statement to the BBC about tax avoidance, saying:
It is sinful, simply because Jesus was very clear; pay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.
The Archbishop, who ranks second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury within the Church of England, defined tax avoidance as a "moral issue" and accused those individuals and businesses who were not paying their full tax liabilities of "not only robbing the poor of what they could be getting, they are actually robbing God."
The archbishop stopped short of naming names, but it was clear that much of his statement was directed at high profile companies who have made news lately for their tax avoidance (or tax savings, depending on who you talk to) strategies.
Starbucks was the target of public outrage last year when it was revealed that since 1998, the company only paid a total of £8.6m ($11.5 million US) in corporate income taxes. Initially, the company cried poor, citing that it had only made a profit in one of those years. Later, the company admitted to shifting royalty and other intellectual property income to tax-favored Netherlands. Kris Engskov, Managing Director for
Neither company has raised the ire of the public like
Starbucks, Apple and Google join the ranks of other companies - like online retailer Amazon - under fire for controversial (though apparently legal) tax practices. Archbishop Sentamu says that needs to stop. He says that tax avoidance and lower tax revenues result in unfair consequences like poverty and disease:
They (companies) should have a conscience which says that a child is dying tonight because of some of their actions.
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