Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The Paradise Papers, following on from the Panama Papers and the Luxembourg Leaks, have exposed to the eyes of the world the major tax scams being engaged in by corporations and the wealthy elite in society. They also clearly expose one of the reasons for the major growth in inequality across the globe. There is massive wealth at one pole and massive poverty at the other. This is now the reality of the capitalist system. The annual Oxfam reports have been very revealing. In 2014, 85 people had the same wealth as the poorest 50% of humanity. That is a shocking figure. In 2015 this number had reduced to 62. In 2016 it was eight. What is the Government's position on all of this? This year the number has reduced to just five. The same number of people who would fit into an average car now hold the same wealth as half of the globe.

Tax avoidance scams and tax havens facilitate this inequality and reduce the tax intake of states which, in turn, reduces the funding available for vital public services. While this small elite increases its wealth, luxury and decadence, working class people and the poor across the world experience increased misery. The profits and wealth hoarding of the super rich and big corporations fuel and drive the massive growth in inequality across the globe. Seven out of ten people now live in a country that has seen a rise in the level of inequality in the past 30 years. Between 1988 and 2011, the income of the poorest 10% across the globe rose by just €65 per person, while the income of the richest 1% grew by €11,800 per person. That means that the income of the richest 1% grew by 182 times more than the income of the poorest. This does not just happen in developing countries, it also happens in the most advanced capitalist countries. In America, for instance, the average pay of a CEO rose by 937% between 1978 and 2016. The median wage of the CEO of a Standard & Poor's 500 firm is now $11.6 million, up 6.3% in one year.

However, real wages have stagnated, even in the US. In the US currently, Donald Trump's administration is pushing through a whole range of massive tax cuts which will benefit the rich and corporations. It is known as the so-called "Trump bump" and it will further escalate the inequality in the US where three people now have the same income as the bottom 50%. In Ireland the same is true; in 2016 the CEO of Cement Roadstone Holdings, CRH, one of the largest companies in the country, received a pay increase of 32% to €5.5 million. His pay is 87 times that of the average worker in the company. The CEO of the Kerry Group will receive a pay package which is 84 times that of the average employee.

Developing countries and women are those who are most especially hard hit by tax avoidance. Oxfam estimates that developing countries lose $100 billion a year through corporate tax avoidance while Action Aid estimates that they also lose out on $138 billion through the provision of tax incentives and exemptions. Let us look at how life could be radically transformed in developing countries if this tax was received by the state and spent on vital public services. Up to 8 million deaths could be prevented if just one third of the tax which is avoided was paid; 6 million children could be provided with health care; and 124 million children across Africa could be provided with education. Kenya loses $1.1 billion through tax incentives and exemptions, which is twice the amount of its health budget and it is a country where one in 40 dies during child birth. Nigeria loses $2.9 billion through tax incentives, which is twice its education budget. It is a country where 6 million girls do not go to school. Not only would health and education for women be improved dramatically, but the lives of women and girls would be fundamentally transformed. Women are often in the lowest paid sectors and face the highest levels of discrimination.

In Ireland, we know about corporate tax avoidance because the establishment over decades has created a tax haven for companies, which the Paradise Papers have further exposed. It has been revealed that 90% of the world's largest companies have a tax base in at least one tax haven. In 2012, US multinationals poured $80 billion in profits into Bermuda alone. The same can be said of Ireland, a country which multinationals use to launder their profits. Billions go through the accounts and there is leprechaun economics while at the same time more than 3,000 children are in homeless accommodation and there is consistent poverty despite the recovery. A global race to the bottom is taking place on corporation tax. That will only result in increased profits for the 1% and increased misery for the 99%. If the Government was in any way concerned it would immediately take the money that is owed by Apple without contesting it and invest it in housing and vital public services. It would tax companies such as Starbucks, which in 2014 paid virtually nothing in tax in this country and certainly less than most of its employees have paid individually. The Apple tax scandal showed the sweetheart deals that are available.

We must take note of any developer taking advantage of tax havens such as those revealed in the Paradise Papers, for example, McGarrell Reilly, which is building houses in Hansfield where the Taoiseach spoke about affordable homes for €320,000. Those developers should not be given any further State contracts or benefits from the State such as dole outs from the Irish Strategic Investment Fund, as is the case with McGarrell Reilly.

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