Paying taxes is no fun, leaving a big hole in our wallets. But it lets us enjoy a quality of life that everyone deserves – even though sometimes it means swapping our glass of premium lager for tap water.
Yet multinationals, like beer giant SABMiller, manage to avoid taxes worth millions of dollars in developing countries.
These companies profit greatly from the community. So it’s a no-brainer that they should pay their fair share of taxes.
How do they dodge tax, and how can we stop them?
ActionAid has done extensive research all over Africa and found that SABMiller, owner of global beer brands Peroni and Grolsch, siphons millions in profits out of its overseas operations into tax havens every year.
Although this tax sidestep isn’t illegal, it deprives economies of much needed tax revenues.
ActionAid has found evidence of SABMiller practicing this kind of tax dodging in Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia and India.
SABMiller is the world’s second biggest brewer. This year alone they’ve pumped out an island-floating 21 billion litres of beer, with an AUD19 billion turnover. But over the last two years, they haven’t paid one Ghanaian Cedi of corporate income tax to the Ghana government at their Accra brewery.
Not one Cedi, even though they control more than one third of the country’s beer market, with Ghanaians pouring over AUD103m into the company’s coffers since 2007.
This is news to Marta Luttgrodt , who sells SABMiller beer just outside the Accra brewery.
“Wow. I don’t believe it”, she says.
Toiling away over 12 hours a day, she makes just enough to support her family – but she pays more taxes than the brewing giant towering behind her.
ActionAid research shows SABMiller would post much larger profits if it didn’t use tax havens – and bigger profits mean more tax. The company actually reported a loss in their Ghanaian operations last year.
SABMiller’s expert tax dodging across six developing country operations has seen them avoid paying an estimated AUD32 million.
Here in Australia, SABMiller half owns a joint venture called Pacific Beverages that operates its premium brands Peroni and Grolsch, and the local brand Bluetongue.
Join beer lovers around the world in sending messages to the CEO of SABMiller – if you do they will have no choice but to pay attention and change their ways.
Tags: africa, campaigns, tax justice
-
This tax dodging bizz is crazy. How do these bigwigs get away with it?? Also, imagine how much more revenue the governments of developing countries would get if they paid their taxes. They’d be far less dependent on foreign aid, that’s for sure.
Getting these cash-spinners to pay their taxes, like the rest of us, will be a huge step to making developing economies more robust and stable. Increased revenue can then go to schools, hospitals, infrastructure, developing markets and the environment, which will benefit everyone.
Comments are now closed.
Additional comments powered by BackType
1 comment