Global tax system ‘programmed to fail,’ says new report on revenue losses

The Tax Justice Network provides country-by-country estimates of losses due to tax abuse and tax evasion by wealthy corporations and individuals.

Countries lose more than $427 billion in revenue each year from tax dodging by companies and wealthy individuals, according to groundbreaking new research by the Tax Justice Network.

The nonprofit published the “State of Tax Justice” report on Friday and estimates that global tax losses could pay for the salaries of almost 34 million nurses around the world. The United States, itself a tax haven that strips money from other countries, lost enough revenue from its own residents and corporations to pay for the salaries of more than 1.1 million nurses paid an average U.S. salary, TJN Found.

“A global tax system that loses over $427 billion a year is not a broken system, it’s a system programmed to fail,” Alex Cobham, chief executive of the Tax Justice Network, said at the report’s release. “Under pressure from corporate giants and tax haven powers like the Netherlands and the UK’s network, our governments have programmed the global tax system to prioritize the desires of the wealthiest corporations and individuals over the needs of everybody else.”

TJN says that its report is the first study to provide country-by-country estimates of losses due to corporate tax abuse and tax evasion. As the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists explains here, traditional definitions hold that tax evasion is illegal (a crime), but tax avoidance uses legal loopholes to reduce or avoid paying taxes.

TJN found that multinational corporations avoid $245 billion while the world’s top 1 percent, who have been growing their wealth during the COVID-19 pandemic, avoid $182 billion.

While rich countries lost the most tax revenue in overall terms, poorer countries lost disproportionately more than wealthier countries, TJN found. Latin America and Africa’s tax losses equal 20.4% and 52.5% of those regions’ public health budgets respectively, according to the report.

Senegal in West Africa, for example, loses $168.2 million in revenue from tax dodging companies and individuals each year, according to the research. The amount is more than 70% of Senegal’s health budget. In 2016, ICIJ revealed as part of its Paradise Papers investigation that Senegal could have lost almost $9 million in taxes on one deal with a Canadian company. TJN’s report also shows Mauritius, the focus of ICIJ’s 2018 Mauritius Leaks investigation, drains other countries of more than $1.3 billion in revenue.

https://www.icij.org/inside-icij/2020/11/global-tax-system-programmed-to-fail-says-new-report-on-revenue-losses/

Over $427 Billion is Lost To Tax Havens Every Year

As governments around the globe face budgetary pressures due to the COVID-19 public health crisis, the urgency to crack down on tax havens – responsible for an estimated loss of over US$ 427 billion each year – has become even more crucial, experts said in response to new findings.

A new annual report, published on Friday by the Tax Justice Network, reveals how much each country loses each year, totaling $245 billion directly lost through tax abuse by multinational corporations, and a remaining $182 billion from wealthy individuals that hide their money from local authorities through the use of secretive offshore assets.

These losses, it says, are equivalent to the annual salaries of nearly 34 million nurses worldwide, or about one nurse’s salary per second.

“The reason corporations and the mega rich abuse billions in taxes isn’t because they’re innovative. They do it because they know politicians will let them get away with it,” said Rosa Pavanelli, general secretary at Public Services International in response to the findings in the report.

“Now that we’ve seen the brutal results, our leaders must stop the billions flowing out of public services and into offshore accounts, or risk fuelling cynicism and distrust in government,” she added.

The reason frontline health workers are brutally understaffed and lack basic protection equipment, she explained, is because governments have spent decades refusing to meaningfully tackle tax abuse by corporations and the mega rich, instead opting for austerity measures that have imposed budget cuts on essential services.

According to the report, while wealthier countries lose a larger amount due to tax havens, the burden is felt most heavily by developing countries in Latin America and Africa, which lose 20.4 percent and 52.5 percent of their public health budgets respectfully.

At the country level, the report found that recouping annual tax losses would lift over three million South Africans out of poverty, pay back over a quarter of Greece’s chronic debt to its various creditors, or almost entirely mitigate the economic damage caused by Vietnam’s most destructive typhoon in the last twenty years.

The Tax Justice called on the leaders of the world’s wealthiest countries, largely responsible for dictating global tax policy, to discuss formative changes that should be made to tackle this issue at the G20 Global Summit meeting, which will be hosted by the Saudi G20 Presidency over the weekend.

An important first step, it said, would be for the G20 and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to make due on its commitment - which it first agreed to in 2013 – to require public country-by-country reporting, which would force multinationals to publish financial information indicating where they are stashing their profits so that the public can hold them to account, along with the jurisdictions that are accepting these funds.

https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/13431-over-427-billion-is-lost-to-tax-havens-every-year

https://ustv247.tv/foxnewslive/

Tucker live he seems agitated, might be interesting

Ethiopia Accuses ‘Criminal’ W.H.O. Director Tedros of Backing Violent Rebels

Ethiopian Army Chief of Staff Berhanu Jula gave a televised address on Wednesday in which he denounced Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a longtime member of the Ethiopian government but currently head of the World Health Organization (W.H.O.), as a “criminal” for supporting the Tigray separatists who are fighting against the government in Addis Ababa.

Berhanu called on Tedros to step down from his position at W.H.O., which did not immediately respond to his allegations.

Ethiopian President Abiy Ahmed launched a military operation against the Tigray region in early November after growing animosity between the powerful Tigrayan minority and the national government came to a head with the Tigray occupation of a federal military base.

The increasingly vicious civil war threatens to expand into a regional conflict, as the Tigrayans accused neighboring Eritrea of supporting Abiy’s campaign against them and launched rockets into Eritrea this week.

The Ethiopian military said on Thursday it is preparing to invade Mekelle, the capital city of the Tigrayan region. The dominant regional political party and militant organization, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), vowed to make the battle for Mekelle a bloodbath as painful for Abiy’s forces as “walking on a burning flame.”

Outside observers believe the campaign could become a quagmire, as TPLF fighters are experienced at guerrilla warfare, they have favorable terrain for conducting such operations, and many members of the Ethiopian armed forces are Tigrayans. The national government issued 76 arrest warrants on Wednesday for army officers accused of having ties to the TPLF.

The conflict has already produced troubling humanitarian crises, including widespread hunger and refugees. Both sides have been accused of human rights violations.

https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2020/11/19/ethiopia-accuses-criminal-w-h-o-director-tedros-of-backing-violent-rebels/

Future House Colleagues Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ilhan Omar Trade Jabs On Twitter

Future House colleagues Republican Georgia Representative-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene and Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar got into it on Twitter Friday after Republican Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler tweeted about Omar.

The back-and-forth began after Loeffler tweeted about her opponent in the Georgia Senate runoff race, Raphael Warnock.

“It’s no wonder The Squad fully supports @ReverendWarnock: He totally supports their dangerous & extreme agenda. And @IlhanMN completely agrees with his disgraceful comments about our active service members, veterans, and their families.”

Loeffler was referring to comments Warnock made in 2011 during a sermon during which he reportedly said there is a conflict of interest between serving God and the military, and that one can’t do both, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

Omar defended Warnock in a tweet Wednesday, saying he was quoting the Bible.

Omar responded to Loeffler’s Friday tweet, calling Loeffler a fear monger.

“Blatant lies from the disastrous, insider trading, Qanon conspiracy supporting, fear mongering, appointed Kelly. Pro tip: to win an election you run on ideas, debate your actual opponent and defend your record, not run against the Squad. Ask Trump, he f#%d around and found out.”

Loeffler responded, calling Omar an “unabashed anti-Semite” and suggested she be expelled from Congress.

Greene shot back at Omar, who is from Somalia.

“Don’t even get me started on where you come from. We don’t marry our brothers here in America, so I’m not sure who you’re calling crazy.”

https://dailycaller.com/2020/11/20/ilhan-omar-marjorie-taylor-greene-kelly-loeffler-twitter/

National Library of Australia now have a copy of Australia’s Paedophile Protection Racket and a review from a UK Barrister

The National Library of Australia, QLD State Library and QLD Parliamentary Library now have copies of my new book Australia’s Paedophile Protection Racket and the book has now gone international as per the book review by UK Barrister Phillip Taylor.

This article is an update of the book’s progression since it was published on the 28th of September 2020. As I wrote in the last update, I sent copies to Prime Minister Scott Morrison and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and told them the book was a formal complaint regarding government and judicial corruption. (Click here to read more) At this point, I haven’t had a response from them.

Below is the latest book review by Phillip Taylor who is a barrister in the UK. He has done hundreds of book reviews mostly on legal books. (Click here to see on Phillip Taylor’s Flickr page)

“SAILING EXTREMELY CLOSE TO THE WIND”:

A COURAGEOUS STATEMENT WHICH ILLUSTRATES WHY WE NEED FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN AN ERA OF CORRUPTION ACROSS THE WORLD

An appreciation by Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Richmond Green Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister”, and Mediator

Sides are not being taken in the quest by author Shane Dowling who seeks to uncover points of view about what he calls “Australia’s Paedophile Protection Racket”. This is a paperback book published by Shane which should be viewed in both its historic and its jurisdictional perspectives by both Australian and Commonwealth lawyers.

For those readers unfamiliar with what Dowling submits, these are his main points from his book:

“Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on the 3rd September 2019 that 28% of paedophiles convicted of federal laws do not go to jail so the government is introducing mandatory sentencing laws. By June 2020 when the new laws were passed by the government it had risen to 39%. The minimum inference that can be drawn is that Australian judges and magistrates are running a paedophile protection racket otherwise they would be doing their jobs and jailing the convicted paedophiles.”

This is strong stuff with substantial implications for the law of defamation should the allegations be untrue. It must be for the individual to draw his or her own conclusions on what is a clear political policy.

Dowling offers two disturbing examples:

Judge John North gave a confessed paedophile who abused two young girls a suspended sentence due to the paedophile suffering high cholesterol, sleeping problems, having had no sex education and then protected his identity with a suppression order in November 2017; and

Convicted paedophile Robert Crick who sexually abused his 5-year-old grandson avoided jail in May 2020 after the Court of Appeal in NSW felt sorry for him because of his claimed health issues and they were worried he might catch the Coronavirus in jail.

The book follows campaigning journalist Dowling, who specialises in judicial and government corruption, as he submits names: 15 judges, 2 registrars and 1 magistrate as either known paedophiles or suspected paedophiles in an email sent to all the judges of the Supreme Court of NSW and relevant authorities. In this review I am intending throughout to be extremely careful to avoid any form of defamation, intentional or implied.

https://kangaroocourtofaustralia.com/2020/11/21/national-library-of-australia-now-have-a-copy-of-australias-paedophile-protection-racket-and-a-review-from-a-uk-barrister/

Fifteen Senators (Including Fauxcahontas and Bernie) Want Facebook to Ban ‘Anti-Muslim Hate’

Democrats who want to browbeat (or worse) Trump supporters in Truth and Reconciliation Commissions and silence all dissent from the hard-Left’s agenda know better than to come before America and say, “We want to destroy the First Amendment and stifle the freedom of expression that is the indispensable foundation of any free society.” Instead, they strike a pose of unassailable piety and tell us how victimized groups need to be protected from “hate,” and that “hate speech” must be eradicated. That approach works like a charm: after all, who wants to speak out in favor of “hate speech”? But George Orwell’s 1984 has become the Democrats’ playbook, and the “hate speech” shell game is a quintessential example of how they manipulate language to hide their authoritarian agenda.

Nevertheless, that agenda was unmistakable Monday, when Middle East Eye reported that “Democratic senators are calling on Facebook to ‘do more’ to mitigate the spread of anti-Muslim bigotry, after the social media giant was criticised for failing to address attacks against the faith group on multiple occasions, including the aftermath of the Christchurch shootings.” Fifteen Senators, including Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, penned a strongly-worded letter to Facebook top dog Mark Zuckerberg, telling him that Facebook “needed to immediately enforce its community standards to address anti-Muslim hate and ban the use of event pages for the purpose of ‘harassment, organizing, and violence’ against the Muslim community.”

Who could be against such a thing, right? No one is in favor of bigotry, particularly when these “attacks against the faith group” have led to violence, as in the Christchurch shootings. No one is in favor of “harassment, organizing, and violence,” whether against the Muslim community or anyone else. So these fifteen Senators are on the side of the angels, are they not?

The letter graciously acknowledged that “Facebook has announced efforts to address its role in the distribution of anti-Muslim content in some of these areas.” However, not enough has been done: “Nevertheless, it is not clear that the company is meaningfully better positioned to prevent further human rights abuses and violence against Muslim minorities today.”

Farhana Khera of the activist group Muslim Advocates stated that more needed to be done: “Since 2015, Muslim Advocates had warned Facebook that the platform’s event pages were being used by violent militias and white nationalists to organize armed rallies at mosques. We need to know what Facebook plans to do to end the anti-Muslim hate and violence enabled by their platform – and end it now.”

https://pjmedia.com/culture/robert-spencer/2020/11/20/fifteen-senators-including-fauxcahontas-and-bernie-want-facebook-to-ban-anti-muslim-hate-n1164891

Navy Investigation of Pensacola Shooting Points to ‘Toxic’ Command Climate as Factor

A U.S. Navy investigation has determined that the Saudi pilot who killed three people when he opened fire on Florida's Naval Air Station Pensacola last year was self-radicalized.

However, it also found that Navy leaders could have picked up on a pattern of negative behaviors exacerbated by the "toxic" command climate at the base.

In a 260-page investigation released Friday, investigators concluded that, while 2nd Lt. Mohammed Alshamrani, a 21-year-old Royal Saudi Air Force member, was motivated by anti-American and “jihadist” sentiment, the aviation training climate "likely increased" his chances of successfully carrying out the Dec. 6, 2019 attack that killed three sailors and injured eight others.

The three who died were Ensign Joshua Watson and Naval Aircrewmen (Mechanical) 3rd Class Mohammed Haitham and Cameron S. Walters.

"The self-radicalization of 2nd Lt. Alshamrani was the primary cause of this fatal attack," according to the incident summary of the report, which was signed off by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday in July. "However, his actions and behaviors, along with the organizational environment inherent in the aviation pipeline, likely increased his probability of committing an insider attack. Military leaders, government employees, contracted employees, peers and civilians knew of isolated events and indicators, but all remained unaware of a complete picture of 2nd Lt. Alshamrani's potential threat indicators."

On Friday, the Navy Office of Information, or CHINFO, said that these contributing factors "will be addressed by a special working group, organized by the Navy's Security Coordination Board," but added that the Defense Department and Navy have already taken steps to improve safety, security and vetting processes for all military students.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/11/20/navy-investigation-of-pensacola-shooting-points-toxic-command-climate-factor.html

The Pentagon and the CIA Are in Charge of Foreign Policy

President Trump has announced that he is ordering a partial withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Iraq during the waning days of his administration.

Why only partial? And why now in the waning days of his presidency? After all, when Trump campaigned in 2016, his expressed aim was to bring all the troops home from those two countries. He repeatedly vowed to bring an end to America’s “forever wars.”

There is a simple explanation for Trump’s failure, one that unfortunately so many Americans are loathe to consider: It’s not the president who is in charge of foreign policy. Instead it is the Pentagon and the CIA that are in charge.

Trump had four years to bring home those troops. Clearly he wanted to. The reason he didn’t — the reason he still can’t — is because the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the CIA won’t let him.

https://www.fff.org/2020/11/19/the-pentagon-and-the-cia-are-in-charge-of-foreign-policy/

Sidney Powell: “We’ve Got a Number of Smoking Guns, May Have to Get Witness Protection for Them — 7 Million Votes Stolen from Trump!

Sidney Powell joined Howie Carr on Friday for a lengthy interview on the 2020 election and where the Trump defense team stands today.

During the explosive interview Sidney claimed millions of dead people (also known as Democrats) may have voted this year and 7 million votes were likely stolen from President Trump.

If true, that would mean President Trump received over 80 million votes and nearly twenty million more than 2016. President Trump’s total currently stands at 73,750,000 votes.

More from Sidney Powell:

** There are many smoking guns and we are going to need federal protection for many people

** 3 million dead people voted

** A lot of the evidence of fraud is coming out next week. We have more evidence coming in every day. It only gets worse and worse.

** The fraud was very widespread, very deliberate and very well funded.

** Everybody and their pet rock is trying to stop me from exposing it.

** I think the fraud went much further than just President Trump. I think they did it to John James and others.

** We have data out of California in 2016 that Hillary Clinton did it to Bernie Sanders there.

** We have a number of smoking guns and we may have to get witness protection for them.

** We have a lot of evidence, it’s beyond impressive and absolutely terrifying.

** These are federal court lawsuits. They’re paramount to any future life of our republic.

** We ‘ve got evidence of people being paid. We got check studs from people being paid.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/11/sidney-powell-got-number-smoking-guns-may-get-witness-protection-7-million-votes-stolen-trump-audio/

"Super Emitters": 1% Of People Cause Half Of Global Aviation Emissions

You've heard of "super spreaders" but what about "super emitters"?

According to the woke vernacular, that a term reserved for those frequent-flyers who a recent study found represent just 1% of the world’s population yet who have caused half of aviation’s carbon emissions in 2018. This excludes the "wokest" of virtue-signalling super emitters - those who fly around the globe in ultra-emitting private jets, lecturing the rest of the world about the dangers of global warming. We can only imagine that if those were also included, then the number would be revised from 1% to 0.01%.

According to a study by Stefan Gössling at Linnaeus University in Sweden, only 11% of the world’s population took a flight in 2018 and 4% flew abroad, and predictably US air passengers have by far the biggest carbon footprint among rich countries. Its aviation emissions are bigger than the next 10 countries combined, including the UK, Japan, Germany and Australia, the study reports (it wasn't clear if China was excluded because of a far backroom exchanges of yuan/bitcoin).

The research, published in the journal Global Environmental Change, collated a range of data and found large proportions of people in every country did not fly at all each year – 53% in the US, 65% in Germany and 66% in Taiwan. In the UK, separate data shows 48% of people did not fly abroad in 2018. Yet it is these people who will be hit just as hard by whatever "green" tax is coming by our new socialist overlords.

On average, North Americans flew 50 times more than Africans in 2018, 10 times more than those in the Asia-Pacific region and 7.5 times more than Latin Americans. Europeans and those in the Middle East flew 25 times further than Africans and five times more than Asians.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/super-emitters-1-people-cause-half-global-aviation-emissions