Multinational Companies Keeping Poor Countries in Poverty

Christian Aid has started a new campaign called The Big Tax Return that is designed to hold multinational companies accountable to the amount of money that is flowing through their business.

Christian Aid brings to life a startling statistic that multinational businesses are getting by with unpaid taxes somewhere in the realm of $160 billion dollars. Yes, you read correctly $160 billion dollars. While this is great for the companies as their wallets get fatter this is continuing to destroy the growth of impoverished countries struggling to just get the simple necessities. That money that should be going back into their countries infrastructure is floating around in some CEO's mansion and yacht.

Look at more statistics provided by Christian Aid on what $160 billion could do for a poor country:

• Enough to reach the UN millennium development goals several times over.
• Enough to save the lives of 350,000 children aged five or under every year.
• Almost twice the amount poor countries receive in international aid.

So instead of our global economy working to bring each other up apparently our businesses are doing there part to keep people down.

Christian Aid reports that at the UN in 2008 British prime minister, Gordon Brown, said we need 'a new global financial order, [founded on] transparency not opacity.' So that's exactly what Christian Aid is striving for.

They are attempting to mobilize their followers to send letters to their representatives asking for the following:

• support an international accounting standard on country-by-country reporting so that companies have to account for where the make their profits and how much tax they pay on them.
• to use its influence to encourage other world leaders to do the same.
• to help the world's poorest countries pay for schools, hospitals, and road.

What do you think about the tactic?