Irish taxes and Christian hypocrisy

Bristolscale7

In the Guardian's article on the Apple/Ireland tax ruling there is an interesting statement by Toby Qunatrill of the organization Christian aid:

Toby Quantrill, Christian Aid’s principal adviser on economic justice, said: “The staggering amount of money at stake here suggests that millions of citizens are paying a painfully high price for multinationals’ cosy tax deals with certain governments.

“This is not a one-off situation – it is part of a damaging race to the bottom in which governments are competing on who can offer multinationals the lowest tax bill. It’s time to get multinationals’ tax affairs out in the open, so we can all see how much they are actually contributing to the rest of society.”

Why is Quantrill's position not mainstream? Have any of the religious groups in this country called for a recouping of the €13 billion to ameliorate homeless or improve healthcare?

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/30/apple-pay-back-taxes-eu-ruling-ireland-state-aid

robindch

Bristolscale7 wrote: »

Why is Quantrill's position not mainstream?

Because it's easier to get people on board for a campaign against abortion and against the gheys than it is to get them in favour of paying taxes?

Also, I can't imagine that too many people in churches are all that much in favour of organizations being liable for tax.

NIMAN

The church and their cohorts haven't even paid out the compensation they said they would for all the people they abused.

I bet the church would owe some taxes if we started to delve into their financial dealings.

Absolam

Bristolscale7 wrote: »

Why is Quantrill's position not mainstream? Have any of the religious groups in this country called for a recouping of the €13 billion to ameliorate homeless or improve healthcare?

I don't think Atheist Ireland have called for it either, have they? Maybe it is a mainstream view but no one else has had an article published about it yet. I'd say it's more likely though, that it's not a mainstream view, as most organisations would realise that there's probably more nuance to this than grabbing a windfall and throwing it at a favourite cause. But give it a week and I'd guess we'll see lots of opinions about how we should spend it all the same.

Hotblack Desiato

NIMAN wrote: »

I bet the church would owe some taxes if we started to delve into their financial dealings.

There's no reason why the promotion of religion should in itself be a charitable purpose.

It's a bit like a pyramid scheme that needs to keep finding new victimsmembers, but somehow all of its activities are tax-free even the considerable proportion spent on doing nothing better than keeping the pyramid racket going.

lazybones32

So you want the Archbishop to deliver a statement telling the Govt. what to do? Thought you guys wanted limited 'interference' in the public sphere by religious groups... Maybe the other religious groups have issued statements but they haven't been picked up by the Media? I can't say.
The RCC has been ameliorating homelessness and hunger and assisting in healthcare for a long time already. They've been doing it while others talk about it.

Even if 1.5 Billion was paid, do you think it'd be spent for our benefit? We don't exactly control our own finances anymore.

beach_walker

Wait, so you're quoting a rep of Christian Aid and using that as a basis for attacking religious groups supposed silence on the matter? :pac:


If you're actually interested OP the Vatican have been coming out with stuff on this for the past few years e.g.

It is a message sent from on high to the world's financial and political elite. The Roman Catholic Church is calling for the effective closure of secretive tax havens as a 'necessary first step' to restore the global economy to health.

In a policy paper from the Holy See, Pope Benedict pins the blame for the international financial crisis largely on 'offshore centres', many of which, such as the Channel Islands, are British dependencies.

In language that barely conceals the Vatican's anger at the effect of the credit crunch on the world's poorest people, the reflection paper argues that tax havens, which banks use to escape the gaze of international financial watchdogs, facilitate the transfer of wealth from poverty-stricken nations to the rich world.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/dec/07/pope-benedict-vatican-tax-havens-credit-crunch

lazybones32 wrote:

So you want the Archbishop to deliver a statement telling the Govt. what to do?

Anything less is hypocrisy apparently.

robindch

Guardian wrote:

The Roman Catholic Church is calling for the effective closure of secretive tax havens as a 'necessary first step' to restore the global economy to health.

Perhaps the Vatican should first clean its own house, before it complains about the mess in others'.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/13/can-pope-francis-clean-up-gods-bank

beach_walker

robindch wrote: »

Perhaps the Vatican should first clean its own house, before it complains about the mess in others'.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/13/can-pope-francis-clean-up-gods-bank

Wait so you're now disagreeing with the premise of the thread?? Or do you disagree with the comment quoted? You're not one of these AA Ayn Rand types that seem to swell forums such as this are you?


But yes, your article from a year ago describing the changes taking place then towards the accounting practices are a clear indication that something should happen. Or well started to happen...