From Mr Chris Ryecart
Sir, - At a time when multinational companies control half the
world's wealth, some even controlling more than the annual gross
domestic product of some of the world's poorest countries, it is
high time that they were held to account and made to pay their fair
share of tax contributions.
Judging from your article "Trade deal would be a threat to our
democracy" (Comment, 3
October), it is hardly surprising that the part of the TTIP
under negotiation which is causing most controversy is "a proposal
to allow big companies to sue governments over decisions that may
affect their profits", when clearly it would be more appropriate
now for governments to be able to sue the multinationals for tax
avoidance on a massive scale.
It has been reliably estimated that if multinationals were taxed
on their profits like ordinary mortals, instead of siphoning them
off into secret offshore accounts, the taxes generated would amount
to about $12 trillion annually: enough to wipe poverty off the face
of the earth, and fund all the relief operations required by global
catastrophes.
Before any TTIP agreement is reached, let the United States and
the European Union reach an agreement on the the ways and means of
closing down all tax havens and loopholes the world over that
prevent multinationals' paying their fair share of taxes; and of
setting up a mechanism whereby their 25-per-cent standard taxes are
annually transferred into a UN International Poverty and Aid Relief
Fund.
CHRIS RYECART
Weinberg 4, Kefermarkt 4292
Upper Austria, Austria