[Tax] Oh @Oxfam. Oh @icij.... really?? really?? So Bob Geldof has a private equity company which invests in firms in Africa, and it structures through Mauritius (along with all the DFIs, IFC etcc) ...and....waves hands..."leak exposes multinationals siphoning tax revenues"https://twitter.com/oxfamwestafrica/status/1153602853631602688 …
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So what is the big leak, the smoking gun? Its an email from the lawyers saying they were doing something 'for tax reasons'. Thats it. Companies do things for tax reasons all the time. If you were making a big international investment & not thinking about tax u would be negligentpic.twitter.com/ci6WErN7DN
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Everyone does things 'for tax reasons'. Even Oxfam. Are there more serious things in
@ICIJorg 's analysis than this non-story about Bob Geldof? I don't know, but they chose to run them down the page.2 replies 1 retweet 5 likesShow this thread -
A good time for a retweet of
@CarterPaddy 's paper Why do Development Finance Institutions Use Offshore Financial Centres.https://www.odi.org/publications/10967-why-do-development-finance-institutions-use-offshore-financial-centres …3 replies 2 retweets 5 likesShow this thread -
Replying to @MForstater @ICIJorg
IMO the crucial distinction is between using OFCs to reduce tax liabilities at source (e.g. Uganda) and using them as homes for intermediaries that do not themselves attract tax. Some of the commentary I've seen on this is mixing these up. Former is bad, latter is OK, IMO.
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So was Geldof's fund treaty shopping to reduce taxes payable at source? I don't know but the story is complicated by existence of e.g. UK-Uganda tax treaty. Need to find out what Mauritius offers over and above that.
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I think from the story it was co-invested with DFI(s) that specified it needed to be an African entity, so UK may not have been an option?
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