Extract-A-Fact: To stop losing mining revenues, dig the details
This post originally appeared on politicsofpoverty.oxfamamerica.org on September 29, 2017
How detecting and deterring “transfer mispricing” in Zambia’s billion dollar mining sector can boost government coffers in a time of fiscal crisis.
Corporate tax dodging is not a victimless act. When corporations employ aggressive means to avoid paying tax in developing countries, citizens inevitably foot the bill. Corporate tax avoidance deprives governments of desperately needed tax income for the provision of public goods and services forcing governments to choose between cutting public services or collecting additional tax from citizens. So, while companies report eight and nine figure profits, citizens face eroding hospitals and schools and struggle to pay higher prices for basic goods. However, when companies do this while in the process of extracting a high value, exhaustible commodity from beneath citizens’ feet, the offense is all the more egregious.