A few days back the ICIJ (The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists) or "The Usual Misguided Suspects" as we prefer to call them, published yet another ridiculous article titled "OECD's Tax Crackdown Calls for Global Profit Reporting". The article is ridiculous because it is grossly one sided and simply serves as bullhorn for socialistic politicians. The ICIJ who call themselves "The World's Best Cross-Border Investigative Team" has failed (again) in their investigative task. Sure, why take the time to really take any investigation to its final conclusion if skimming the surface is so much easier. Especially if such skimming agrees with the socialistic views of many of their funders (they used to call them "donors") particularly the little known Adessium Foundation (whose funding originates from the private, mysterious and well-funded Multifund from Holland). We wonder if the Multifund invests and operates with the criteria of creating a "balanced society characterized by integrity, a balance between people and nature, and social harmony" as the Foundation does…but we will never know. Strange… the ICIJ does not seem concerned where their money comes from… but we digress.
TAX AVOIDANCE
Note: for an inkling as to what the OECD is and what it does please see The OECD A Bureaucratic Organization You Should Know.
According to the article, the OECD "announced…major overhaul of international tax systems". Now let's stop and consider this for a second. The OECD is a bureaucratic organization top to bottom. It is not staffed nor managed by elected officials but by bureaucrats. How is it possible that a bureaucratic organization that does not represent you can "announce" sweeping tax changes that will affect you? Does this smell rotten? Of course it does.
This suspicion is confirmed latter on when the same article states that the plan was "Endorsed by a total of 44 countries…". Oh… so the so-called Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan from the OECD was simply a plan created by bureaucrats who cannot overhaul international taxation by themselves at all. We see…
This BEPS plan is aiming "at curbing aggressive tax schemes used by multinational companies to avoid paying taxes." Well… where do we start? Oh, yes, let's start by declaring (for the umpteenth time) that taxation is theft. Plain and simple. You may wish to take a look at the following articles Taxed To Death No Just Into Slavery or Taxes And Myths or perhaps this one The Illogic Of Taxation Thievery At Its Best ).
Also, last time we checked "aggressive tax schemes" may be aggressive but they are still legal. Same goes for "tax avoidance". Even within this ridiculous so-called justice system (see for example In-Justice In The Democratic System and Justice in the Austro Libertarian System ) doing the best you can -within the constraints of the law to pay less taxes- is by definition… well… legal!
Yet, this brilliant piece of expose by the ICIJ paints a legal activity as undesirable (while hinting and suggesting at something worse). Well…again, last time we checked anything that is not forbidden by a law is actually… permitted!!! Take for example this ICIJ article. It is a biased piece of so-called journalism which should have been rejected yet, it is still legal!!! Go figure.
Here is a lesson for the ICIJ: tax avoidance is perfectly legal, tax evasion is not. See the difference? No? Strange. With a budget of several millions the ICIJ should be able to afford at least a dictionary... apparently not.
WE DON'T WANT TO PAY TAXES
Consider this. Most people do not want to pay taxes. Most people (regardless of their income) believe that they are paying too much already in taxes. Taxes are universally hated and despised. Yet, what does the OECD do? Find ways to squeeze more taxes out of everybody who it is not a politician (see This Is The End )… because politicians do not pay taxes. Remember that politicians are paid from our taxes. When they so-call "pay taxes" they are simply receiving less of our taxes. But if taxes are not desired by the majority of the population and if a democratic system of government is supposed to represent the majority, how is it possible that taxes go up and up and up time and time again throughout the world? Simple. Politicians do not represent us and the democratic system is irrevocably broken. Yet, people like the journalists from the ICIJ somehow have a blind spot for reality. So much for their investigative skills.
MORE BUREAUCRACY IS NOT THE SOLUTION
The article goes on explaining that this new OECD plan will eliminate the situation where "a company uses treaty arrangements to avoid paying tax in two jurisdictions". Well zippitty do! So, these evil, evil corporations are using treaties that were signed by politicians against them? Geeee…. Don't know about that but it would seem to us that politicians are to blame for creating such treaties in the first place!
The OECD plans to do this by forcing corporations to fill-in more useless reports to detail "multiple levels of comprehensive information on incomes, earnings and taxes paid for every jurisdiction in which the company operates." What this means is that if corporation X operates in countries A, B and C it will have to provide detailed reports of all its operations in all countries to… all countries! Yet, there is a tiny problem here. Why should the corporation do this? Country A taxes the corporation differently than country B or C. Different laws apply. Different standards apply. Country A is not under the jurisdiction of country B or C and vice versa. What X does in A does not necessarily impact what it does in B or C. Furthermore, X already pays taxes in A, B and C and all its employees pay taxes in A, B and C. If A has less taxes than B or C, that's A's problem, not corporation X's problem. It is actually corporation's X right to choose A, B or C! What this new reporting standard implies is plain and simply that tax competition between countries will eventually be eliminated. This means more money for the government to waste and less for corporations to use productively.
Then, the article quotes a so-called taxation expert stating that "no multinational corporation can ever argue ever again that it does not have this data or that it would be too costly to publish it." Well… considering that government bureaucracy towards business is already an incredible burden (see for example The Trillion USD Year Waste Machine or The High Costs Of Government Benefits ) it is obvious that this "expert" has a very strange idea of real bureaucratic costs in the real world.
Note: please see the Glossary if you are unfamiliar with certain words.
