George Osborne in pledge to help world's poor fight tax abuse

Source: Observer

George Osborne in pledge to help world's poor fight tax abuse

Chancellor reaffirms promise on aid and pledges to join forces with the developing world to help beat 'corporate cheats'

Daniel Boffey, policy editor
The Observer, Saturday 16 February 2013 14.55 EST

The chancellor George Osborne has pledged to join forces with the developing world to crack down on multinationals avoiding tax in some of the world's poorest countries.

Fresh from the G20 meeting of finance ministers in Moscow, Osborne reveals in the Observer that the UK wants to rewrite the rules of the corporate game to help developing countries collect the tax that is due to them.

In remarks hailed by anti-poverty campaigners, he promises to drive forward a "new agenda of transparency" and to force oil, mining and gas giants to publish key financial data project-by-project wherever they operate.

He also reasserts the UK's goal of being the first country to spend 0.7% of its gross national income on aid next year, and reveals that a major spending focus is on improving the capacity of developing countries to hold corporate giants to account.


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/feb/16/george-osborne-pledge-tax-abuse