NZ economy $270m poorer due to multinationals exporting earnings, think tank says
The economy missed out on hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes in the past year because of unequal international tax settings, according to a new report.
The global Tax Justice Network’s report said multinationals shifted about $2.5 billion earned in New Zealand overseas last year, and in doing so the country missed out on about $270 million in taxes.
The non-profit group argued the international tax system was unjust and allowed multinational concerns to make unfair profits.
The chairperson of Tax Justice Aotearoa, an affiliate of the network, Glenn Barclay, said multinational companies shifted their profits around the world to minimise their tax bills, thereby hoarding unfair profits.
“[In] US dollars $1557 million generated in NZ by multinational companies is shifted off to other countries,” he said.
“We lost $US167.6 million in tax revenue that could have been spent on the things we need such as education, health, and infrastructure, as well as responding to climate generated environmental disasters such as Cyclone Gabrielle.”
The report demonstrated the losses incurred by lower income countries were proportionately much greater than for higher income countries.
It called for an end to global tax abuse that deprives countries of tax revenue, saying greater transparency was needed on the activities and behaviour of multi-national companies and rich individuals who hid their money offshore in tax havens.
The report recommended a UN tax convention as a basis for an independent body to set standards and rules for global tax policy and law.
“Tax Justice Aotearoa supports these recommendations and calls on the New Zealand government to support the proposal for a UN tax convention, which is due to be voted on in December,” Barclay said.
“It is time for the government, whoever wins the election, to take a stand on international tax abuse.”
The price maker corporations use NZ like a monopoly rental and extract profits for themselves at our cost!
Our purposely under funded state doesn’t have the capacity or tools to actually challenge these corporate interests!
The obligation of the Government is to regulate Capitalism so that we the people benefit from the competitive dynamics of competition!
The disgusting right myth is that NZ is an over taxed, over regulated economy when that is total bullshit!
Max Rashbrooke highlighted the horror of NZs under regulated market…
The bad news is that, to investigate 200,000-300,000 terrible rentals, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has employed a frontline inspectorate numbering … 37. Each inspector will have to check somewhere between 5000 and 8000 rentals.
…there is only 37 inspectors of rental properties for 300 000 terrible rentals?
Similar poorly funded regulation is apparent in the 82 labour inspectorates who are supposed to police hundreds of thousands of migrant worker exploitations!
Time and time and time again in New Zealand we see an old boy matrix of vested interests who occupy market dominance and act like a monopoly, duopoly or oligopoly raking in vast wealth while leaving the local small and medium sized operators outside the cosy relationships!
Up and down NZ, small and medium enterprises are unable to compete because of the lack of basic regulation in the market!
We’ve seen it with the Supermarket duopoly, the medicinal cannabis oligopoly, the Gib Board monopoly – each time under regulated and poorly regulated capitalism continues to screw over us the consumers at a time of a cost of living crisis!
Frustration inside the drainage industry has reached boiling point recently with anti competitive practices and crony capitalism that would make your average South American Drug Cartels blush, so much so that the Commerce Commission is investigating.
We are not an over taxed, over regulated economy!
Our top tax rate is the 39th highest in the world behind all the Scandinavian countries plus Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France and South Africa!
Australia’s top tax rate is 47cents!
Our GST rate doesn’t even get us into the top 50 and our corporate tax rate is 40th while Government spending against GDP ranks 56th!
And we are voted easiest to do business by the World Bank!
I’m not looking for socialism here folks, just basic garden variety regulated capitalism!
We can’t drain the swamp because the crocodiles have learnt to shoot machine guns at anyone who attempts it.
That’s why David Parker is such a threat to the establishment, why Chloe’s Wealth Tax is attacked and why the Māori Party’s new tax policy that would specifically target transnationals needs to be championed!
The wealthy are sinking millions into National and ACT to stop their interests from being taxed and the public service we deserve being properly funded!
This election is not about bilingual signs or alienating Trans nonsense or co-governance or get tough on crime cheerleading, this election is about taxiing the mega wealthy to combat the cost of living crisis.
Stop being manipulated by the wealthy into culture war grievances the woke help feed!
TAX. THE. RICH!!!!
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