Tax Haven policies will kill over five million children - claim

Just a week after the Celtic League called for the Isle of Man to
admit its 'tax mistakes' and acknowledge the danger its economic policies
could cause internationally the whole issue of tax avoidance and tax
evasion has come in for wider criticism.

Christian Aid has used its annual appeal week to unveil a report (DEATH
AND TAXES: THE TRUE TOLL OF TAX DODGING) which highlights the disadvantages that tax practices facilitated in offshore centres cause to the worlds poorest people. The charity has calculated that governments in the
poorest countries are being cheated out of at least $160bn (£82bn)
a year in tax revenues. The loss of this revenue, the charity says,
has an immediate and tragic consequence. Christian Aid Director, Dr
Daleep Mukarji, says the charity predicts:

"that illegal trade-related tax evasion alone will be responsible
for the deaths of 5.6 million children under the age of five between
2000 and 2015. That's almost 1,000 a day"

The charity points out that the revenue stream denied to poor countries
amounts to much more than the $40 to $60bn the World Bank estimates
is needed to pay for the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals.

The United Kingdom Government, the charity asserts, has a special
responsibility and influence because so many tax havens are linked
to the Crown. It cites overseas territories or crown dependencies
including Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda
and the British Virgin Islands. Interestingly, unlike many other reports
which highlight the role of 'tax havens', the Christian Aid report
also highlights the nefarious role of financial services centres such
as the City of London and Dublin in the global tax dodging business.

All in all a hard hitting report well worth reading. It can be found
at:

http://christianaid.org.uk/images/deathandtaxes.pdf

There is also a podcast and video about the report at:

http://www.christianaid.org.uk/getinvolved/christianaidweek/cawreport/index.aspx

J B Moffatt
Director of Information
Celtic League

12/05/08


The Celtic League has branches in the six Celtic Countries. It works
to promote cooperation between these countries and campaigns on a
broad range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights
human rights abuse, monitors all military activity and focuses on
socio-economic issues.

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