Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Moving Money Offshore
By BEIF Team
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has recently uncovered thousands of individuals in various countries who have resorted to moving money to offshore tax havens in an effort to evade taxes in their home countries. Included in the list are a few Canadians who sought to escape tax rates of 29% at the federal level.
The report is based off of a data dump of 2.5 million files that revealed information about 120,000 offshore companies and trusts and their very rich customers who hired them to move money offshore to escape their domestic tax rates. As the data was so vast, the investigation included many reporters from many different countries including reporters from Canada’s own CBC.
The ICIJ’s work is important as offshore tax havens play a critical role in the increase of income inequality. If tax revenues fall short due to offshore tax havens, it impedes the government’s ability to invest in social services such as education and healthcare. This in turn perpetuates or can even increase inequality as citizens who require these services are left without support.