Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Theatre of Absurd Tax Avoidance

Welcome to the land of hidden billions, where anyone looking for more than a mailbox gets an absurd theater
The intercom in this Luxembourg City office park crackles a bit as a spokesman for the German energy giant Eon takes a breath. He’s in a really bad mood after being asked just a few questions about the company’s billion-dollar transactions that shifted profits out of Germany. He says he can’t say anything on the topic, and refuses to allow anyone inside the office.
“Forget it,” he says, “there’s no way you’re coming up.”
“No way.”
Then—just silence. Until he asks, “What do you want?”
When your nose has been stuck in tax documents for weeks, a couple questions come to mind.
The secret documents which make up the Luxembourg Leaks hint at the fact that there might not be much behind these corporations’ offices in Luxembourg other than a mailbox

“Our support to the launching of pilot mechanisms is set in the wider framework of calling for the implementation of a real international taxation system. We do not consider pilot mechanisms as mere innovative tools to fund development but as an embryo for global redistribution mechanisms.”
GATCA

Data science: 'Machines do analytics. Humans do analysis' Humans do analysis