Kenya – the world’s newest tax haven?

From Al Jazeera.com

Is Kenya being prepped to become Africa’s flagship tax haven?

If anyone ever doubted the sheer scale of corporate greed, they had the unedifying spectacle of Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, to enlighten them last week. In already infamous evidence to a Senate Committee, he demonstrated there is no limit on what corporations will take from society. With the detachment of a sociopath, Cook said outright that he would not consider repatriating the $100bn they have hoarded offshore if it meant paying standard US corporation tax.

There is an argument to be made that this is just businesses doing what businesses do. However full of moral holes that is, it is a very common logic and unfortunately a compelling one to many politicians. This is why, if the tax-avoiding instincts of companies such as Apple – and Glencore and Google and Starbucks, in fact most large multinationals – is to be neutralised, the only thing to do is tackle the system of tax havens that makes every individual act of looting possible.

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