Community Platform

 The Community Platform*, a network of 30 national community organisations today called on those involved in negotiating the new programme for government to pursue an alternative vision for Ireland - an Ireland where policies and actions are based on the values of social solidarity, justice, equality and sustainability.

Debt and Development Coalition recently launched a new book 'Driving the Getaway Car? Ireland, Tax and Development', written on behalf of its member organisations by Dr Sheila Killian of the University of Limerick.

'Driving the Getaway Car?' explains how impoverished countries lose billions of euro through weak domestic tax collection capacities and through unjust international tax structures. Transfer pricing abuse is highlighted as a particular area of concern. This is when subsidiaries of the same multi-national company artificially set the prices of goods and services in order to minimise their tax bills, often through the use of secrecy jurisdictions, popularly known as tax havens. This illegal practice is very difficult to monitor and costs impoverished countries billions in lost tax revenue.