TAX WARS – Script 53’ version

 

TC 01:00:01

MECHANIX FILM

YUZU PRODUCTIONS

ARTE G.E.I.E.

PRESENT

 

TC 01:00:06

WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF

NRK - RADIO-CANADA

RTBF - RTS - YLE

ASHARQ DOCUMENTARY CHANNEL

CO-FINANCED BY THE

CREATIVE EUROPE MEDIA

PROGRAMME

 

TC 01:00:09

Narration

To cope with global warming and its consequences – natural disasters, food insecurity, pandemics and growing inequality – our planet desperately needs money.

But from where?

 

TC 01:00:32

Narration

While governments are drowning in debt, multinational coorporations have never been richer.

Indeed, most of them have mastered the art of avoiding taxes through elaborate tax arrangements.

 

TC 01:00:54

Narration

With multinational corporations now richer than many countries, civil society is organizing an opposition movement.

 

TC 01:01:03

Narration

At the helm of this combat, we find leading international experts, knights of tax justice who are fighting these unfair practices of tax optimization.

 

Economists … lawyers and former elected officials.

 

They embody a new hope.

 

TC 01:01:29

Narration

They have already managed to defeat some of the incredible tax privileges multinationals enjoy today.

 

A first victory in the latest series of wars as old as civilization:

Tax Wars.

 

TC 01:01:45

TAX

WARS

 

TC 01:01:52

A FILM BY

HEGE DEHLI

CO DIRECTED BY

XAVIER HAREL

 

TC 01:01:55

WRITTEN BY

HEGE DEHLI

XAVIER HAREL

LAMIA OUALALOU

 

01:02:00

EDITED BY

SERGE TURQUIER

 

01:02:05

A FILM PRODUCED BY

HEGE DEHLI

FABRICE ESTEVE

 

TC 01:02:12

Narration

In just a few decades, multinationals have taken control of the global economy. They have frequently built their power by using tax havens and depriving governments of precious tax revenue.

 

TC 01:02:47

Narration

A wind of revolt is sweeping the planet. Nothing can justify the all-powerful multinationals and the way they manipulate their accounting.

Like Star Wars, the story we’re going to tell you is about justice, about a group of knights fighting the dark forces of globalization.

 

TC 01:03:10             

Narration

They have founded an Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation, with the acronym ICRICT.

This commission for fiscal justice brings together leading economists like Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, Thomas Piketty, the author of the worldwide bestseller Capital in the Twenty-First Century and Jayati Ghosh specialist on development issues.

 

Their goal is quite clear: to get multinationals to pay their taxes like everyone else.

 

TC 01:03:24

JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ

NOBEL PRIZE IN ECONOMICS

PROFESSOR IN ECONOMICS

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

 

JOSEPH STIGLITZ

Governments all over the world are in desperate need for funds and the increase in corporate profits tells you where the money is: The money is in the pocket of the large corporations, the multinationals.

 

TC 01:03:39

THOMAS PIKETTY

PROFESSOR

PARIS SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

 

THOMAS PIKETTY

On a un système qui est devenu profondément biaisé au bénéfice des multinationales ce qui est catastrophique pour notre contrat social.

We have a system that has become deeply biased in favor of multinationals, which is catastrophic for our social contract.

 

TC 01:03:49

JAYATI GHOSH

PROFESSOR

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST

 

JAYATI GHOSH

Just like a citizen assumes that he or she has to pay tax. Similarly, large corporations, big multinationals also have to assume that they have to pay tax.

 

TC 01:04:04

Narration

With multinationals accounting for half of the world’s commerce, how is it possible that they hardly pay any income tax?

 

TC 01:04:16

CHAPTER 1

THE EMPIRE OF TAX EVASION

 

TC 01:04:31

Narration

The first stop on our journey in the galaxy of tax evasion takes us to Belfort, France.

Eva Joly is one of the founding members of the commission.

Born in Norway, but most of her professional life has been spent in France.

A former magistrate and a former member of the European parliament, today she is a lawyer. She has made the fight against tax evasion her priority.

 

TC 01:04:24

FRANCE

 

TC 01:04:54

EVA JOLY

 

TC 01:05:05

EVA JOLY

LAWYER AND FORMER MEMBER OF

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

 

EVA JOLY

Là je suis en route pour assister à une conférence de presse, ça concerne la façon dont les multinationales minimisent leur base imposable depuis des décennies dans le monde. Il s’agit de l’ancienne entreprise Alstom, qui a été très importante en France, le TGV dans lequel nous sommes est une production d’Alstom. Mais c’est aussi des turbines qui sont importantes dans les centrales d’énergie nucléaire. Et cette technologie de pointe française a été cédée dans des conditions très discutables à General Electric en 2014.

I'm on my way to take part in a press conference. We look at how multinationals have minimised their taxability for decades all over the world. This case is about Alstom, a former major company in France. This TGV train we are traveling on is produced by Alstom. But also turbines, which are important in nuclear power plants. And this cutting-edge French technology was sold under very questionable conditions to General Electric in 2014.

 

TC 01:05:49

Narration

Since Alstom Energie was taken over by the American company General Electric, profits have evaporated.

The company’s union representatives contacted Eva Joly.

Together, they are accusing General Electric of committing tax evasion causing economic harm to its employees.

 

TC 01:06:09

PHILIPPE PETITCOLIN

NATIONAL COORDINATOR

CFE-CGC UNION AT GENERAL ELECTRIC

 

PHILIPPE PETITCOLIN

Jusqu'en 2015, nous avions des centaines de millions de bénéfices et les salariés touchaient une prime de participation qui pouvait représenter 1 à 2 mois de salaire. Avec l'évasion fiscale et le déficit artificiel, c'est devenu un élément de rémunération que les salariés ne touchent plus. Donc ça, ça a un impact direct dans le pouvoir d'achat des salariés.

Until 2015, we had hundreds of millions in profits. Employees received a profit-sharing bonus of up to 1 or 2 months of salary. With the tax evasion and artificial deficit, employees no longer receive this compensation.

So it directly affects the purchasing power of employees.

 

TC 01:06:12

PHILIPPE PETITCOLIN

NATIONAL COORDINATOR

CFE-CGC UNION AT GENERAL ELECTRIC

 

TC 01:06:33

Narration

Union representatives discovered that General Electric had transferred Alstom Energie’s profits outside of France to several tax havens.

It’s a classic practice used by all multinationals.

 

First, product marketing was relocated to Switzerland.

As a result, all of the profits made in France are now booked in Switzerland.

How?  Thanks to a tax optimization technique called transfer pricing.

Let’s take a turbine replacement part made in Belfort with a production cost of 100 euros.

Before it was relocated to Switzerland, the Belfort site sold this part to its end customer for 400 euros. Thus making a profit of 300 euros.

 

Now, Belfort sells the same spare part to its Swiss General Electric subsidiary for 110 euros, which then sells it to its end customer for 400 euros.

As a result, the Belfort factory only makes 10 euros whereas General Electric posted a profit of 290 euros in Switzerland.

The same factory made the same spare part but now nearly all of the profits are located in Switzerland where they are virtually untaxed.

 

TC 01:07:58

PHILIPPE PETITCOLIN

Et donc tous les profits sont localisés en Suisse alors qu'il n’y a aucune substance économique en Suisse, il n'y a pas d'usine, il n'y a pas d'ouvriers, il n'y a personne qui travaille sur le sujet.

All the profits are registered in Switzerland, even though there is no substantial economic activity there. There is no factory, there are no workers, no one works there.

Narration

The second trick revealed by the unions, General Electric moved the Belfort factory patents to Switzerland. Now, each time the Belfort plant produces a turbine, it must pay a royalty to the entity holding the patents…in Switzerland.

 

TC 01:08:25

And, finally their third trick, Belfort must now pay for the right to use the General Electric brand that is registered in the tiny state of Delaware, a tax haven inside the United States.

TC 01:08:37

PHILIPPE PETITCOLIN

Il est maintenant temps de dire stop à tout ça. Donc, face  à l'immobilisme de Bercy contre la lutte dans l'évasion fiscale, les syndicats ont choisi de saisir la justice pour faire respecter des règles.

The time has come to put a stop to all this. And since French authorities are not doing anything to stop tax evasion, the unions have decided to take legal action.

 

TC 01:08:51

EVA JOLY

On voit qu'en réalité, le groupe a un déficit complètement artificiel. Le plus choquant, c'est que on fait payer des redevances à Belfort pour des brevets qui sont tombés dans le domaine public. C'est n'importe quoi. Si on ne truquait pas les comptes, Belfort est à l'équilibre.

In reality, the group's deficit is completely artificial. The most shocking is that Belfort has to pay royalties for patents that have fallen into the public domain. It's ridiculous. If they didn't cook the books, Belfort would be in the black.

 

TC 01:09:17

Narration

A complaint for money laundering and tax fraud has been filed, and General Electric’s Belfort site was searched by France’s financial prosecutor. Unfortunately, General Electric is not an isolated case. All major companies use this type of practice.

 

TC 01:09:36

JOE BIDEN

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS, 2023

 

JOE BIDEN ARCHIVE

In 2020,  55 of the largest corporations in America, the Fortune 500, made $40 billion in profits and paid zero in federal taxes. Zero ! folks, it's simply not fair.

 

TC 01:09:55

Narration

No country is spared. Globally, the revenue loss is colossal: nearly 600 billion dollars per year according to the International Monetary Fund.

 

TC 01:10:07

THOMAS PIKETTY

PROFESSOR

PARIS SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

 

THOMAS PIKETTY

On a reconstitué une sorte de système fiscal privilégié, enfin, fait de privilèges, qui n'est pas sans rappeler les privilèges fiscaux qui pouvaient exister dans l’Ancien Régime, en France ou dans d'autres pays européens à la fin du XVIIIᵉ siècle où vous aviez en gros, c'était l'aristocratie et le clergé qui échappaient légalement à l'impôt.

We built a privileged tax system, not unlike the tax privileges that could exist in pre-revolutionary France or in other European countries at the end of the 18th century, where you basically had the aristocracy and the clergy who legally avoided taxes.

 

TC 01:10:33

Narration

Thomas Piketty is French and a professor at the Paris School of Economics. A specialist in income and wealth inequalities, his work has inspired a whole generation of economists.

 

TC 01:10:40

THOMAS

PIKETTY

 

TC 01:10:46

THOMAS PIKETTY

Donc on est censé être dans un monde très différent, mais de facto, on a on a un système fiscal où ces acteurs économiques les plus puissants parviennent à échapper à l'impôt de droit commun, ce qui est évidemment catastrophique pour notre contrat social en général.

We are supposed to live in a different world now, but in reality, we have a tax system where the most powerful economic players manage to escape taxation, which is catastrophic for our social contract.

 

TC 01:11:01

JAYATI GHOSH

PROFESSOR

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST

 

JAYATI GHOSH

Basically, this is a big con globally and nationally, but if enough people realize it's a con, only then can you change it.

 

TC 01:11:10

Narration

Jayati Ghosh is Indien. She teaches economics in India and the United States.

The UN regularly consults her on tax issues.

 

TC 01:11:17

JAYATI GHOSH

 

TC 01:11:19

JAYATI GHOSH

And at the moment, because it's made so technocratic and in such a jargonistic and complicated fashion, people say, Oh, we don't understand it, we can't deal with it. And so we leave it to the experts.

 

 

 

TC 01:11:32

Narration

In order to understand, we need to go back in time, to the beginning of the 20^th century and the origins of the world’s tax system.

 

TC 01:11:41

DANIEL BERTOSSA

The current multinational corporate tax system was built almost 100 years ago. Capitalists would build things in their country. The workforce from that country. And then they would sell things into that market. Or they put them on boats and move them somewhere else.

 

TC 01:12:00

Narration

American automaker Ford produced its Model Ts on the assembly line. And  exported its auto parts by boat. The cars were then assembled in Europe.
The globalization of the economy was taking its first steps. Just like multinational companies..

 

They were essentially American or European companies, and they complained that their foreign profits were being taxed multiple times.

 

TC 01:12:26

GABRIEL ZUCMAN

DIRECTOR

EU TAX OBSERVATORY

 

GABRIEL ZUCMAN

Taxer les multinationales, c'est une question compliquée. Est ce qu'on taxe dans le pays du siège social ? Est ce qu'on taxe dans le pays de consommation, là où les consommateurs sont situés ? Est ce qu'on taxe dans le pays où la production a lieu ?

 

TC 01:12:41

Narration

Gabriel Zucman is French. He is the director of the European Tax Observatory, whose work has revealed the extent of multinationals' tax evasion.

 

TC 01:12:47

GABRIEL ZUCMAN

 

TC 01:12:50

GABRIEL ZUCMAN

Dans les années 20, la Société des Nations, qui est l'ancêtre de l'ONU, commissionne quatre économistes pour qu'ils écrivent un rapport sur la meilleure façon de taxer les sociétés multinationales pour éviter les risques de double taxation.

In the 1920s, the League of Nations, precursor to the UN, tasked 4 economists to write a report on the best way to tax multinationals to avoid double taxation.

 

TC 01:13:06

Narration

In Geneva, at the League of Nations headquarters, envoys from the world’s richest countries agreed to create the first international tax system.

 

In 1928, treaties were signed which gave the subsidiaries of multinationals an autonomous tax status. Considering them independent from their parent company.

For multinationals, this is the beginning of a tax jackpot. They can now manipulate their accounting to declare their profits wherever they please.

In other words, where there is little or no taxation.

 

TC 01:13:44

GABRIEL ZUCMAN

On a réussi à éviter ces doubles impositions, ces triples impositions. On a tellement bien réussi qu'en fait, dans beaucoup de cas, aujourd’hui, il y a plutôt une non-imposition, une imposition zéro. Parce que ce que les multinationales ont fait, c'est qu'elles ont délocalisé, de façon artificielle, leurs bénéfices dans des territoires où la fiscalité est faible ou nulle.

We managed to avoid double or even triple taxation. We managed so well that in fact in many cases today there is no taxation at all. What the multinationals did was to artificially relocate their profits to areas where taxation is low or nil.

 

TC 01:14:05

Narration

In the aftermath of World War Two, taxes rose sharply. The few multinationals of the time had even more incentive to offshore their profits.

In the United States, tax rates were over 50% for companies and even higher for the wealthiest individuals.

 

TC 01:14:23

THOMAS PIKETTY

Aux États-Unis en moyenne, de 1930 à 1980, le taux supérieur de l'impôt sur le revenu appliqué sur les plus hauts revenus atteint 81 %. Non seulement ça n'a pas tué le capitalisme étas-unien, on s'en serait rendu compte, mais c'était même la période de prospérité maximale des États-Unis.

Pourquoi ? Parce que, en fait, la clé de la prospérité, c'est d'abord l'éducation. En l'occurrence, les États-Unis avaient une avance éducative considérable : 80 à 90 % d'une classe d'âge qui allait dans l'enseignement secondaire long dès les années 50. À un moment, on était à 20 /30 % en France, en Allemagne, au Japon et donc cette très forte progressivité fiscale observée au milieu du XXᵉ siècle, non seulement elle n'a pas tué la croissance, mais au contraire elle a accompagné ce processus de construction de l'Etat social qui demande de la justice fiscale.

In the US, from 1930 to 1980, the highest average tax rate on revenue reached 81%. It did not kill US capitalism; it was rather a period of high prosperity in the US.

Why? Because the key to prosperity is first of all education. And the US had an advantage: 80-90 % of a certain age group completed secondary education even in the 1950s. At a time when it was 20 or 30% in France, Germany, and Japan. The progressive fiscal policies of the mid-20th century did not kill growth. In fact, it helped build a social pact that requires fiscal justice.

 

TC 01:15:14

Narration

The election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 radically changed the post-war fiscal and social pact.

 

TC 01:15:22

RONALD REAGAN ARCHIVE

“ Government is not the solution to our problems. Government is the problem”.

 

TC 01:15:32

Narration

According to the American president, they needed to reduce government spending and cut taxes to boost the economy.

 

TC 01:15:45

Narration

It was the start of a global race to the bottom in terms of taxation. Governments competed fiercely to attract business investment.

As a result, in 40 years, the average tax rate on profits has been cut in half.

 

TC 01:16:02

JOSEPH STIGLITZ

It's a zero sum game. I lower my taxes, neighbor lowers his taxes. Who's the winner? The corporations. Who's the loser? Ordinary people who have to pay more in their taxes because the corporations aren't paying their fair share.

 

TC 01:16:20

Narration

Joseph Stiglitz is American. A Nobel Prize winner in Economics, he is one of the founding members of the commission. For him, tax competition is the most toxic aspect of globalization.

 

TC 01:16:25

JOSEPH STIGLITZ

 

TC 01:16:32

JOSEPH STIGLITZ

 And of course, if we don't have public money, our society can't function.

 

TC 01:16:38

CHILE

 

TC 01:16:42

Narration

Second stop on our trip: Chile. A country that for decades has waged war on taxes.

 

In the 1970s, even before the election of Reagan or Thatcher, a handful of economists convinced dictator Augusto Pinochet to privatize most public services. They were known as the Chicago Boys.

 

TC 01:17:06

They were trained at the University of Chicago by Milton Friedman, whose shock therapy approach is enshrined in the Chilean constitution.

 

TC 01:17:16

MAGDALENA SEPÚLVEDA

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

GLOBAL INITIATIVE FOR ECONOMIC,

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

 

MAGDALENA SEPÚLVEDA

In Chile, we have been the laboratory of neoliberal policies in which everything is privatized, from education to health to social protection.

 

TC 01:17:28

Narration

Magdalena Sepúlveda is Chilean. She is a lawyer and was a special UN rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.

 

TC 01:17:33

MAGDALENA SEPÚLVEDA

 

TC 01:17:39

MAGDALENA SEPÚLVEDA

We still have the Constitution that was drafted during the Pinochet regime. So the Constitution said that first it’s the private sector that should provide for education, health, social protection or water.. and only when they can not do it or they don’t want to do it, then the public sector comes in. And this is extremely damaging as you can imagine. If public services are only for the poor, they are poor public services.

 

 

TC 01:18:12

Narration

The lack of investment from the government has made Chile one the most unequal societies in the world.

 

In the hills above Valparaiso, 200 families have established themselves over the years in what has eventually become the Mesana shantytown, a place abandoned by the public authorities.

 

TC 01:18:30

MAGDALENA SEPÚLVEDA

El país ha crecido, hay un Chile más próspero, pero la prosperidad ha sido acaparada por unas elites, y no ha llegado de manera justa a toda la población.

The country has developed, Chile is more prosperous, but this prosperity has been monopolized by a part of the elite; it has not fairly benefited the whole population. 

 

TC 01:18:48

CELIA DURÁN

Acá se reparte el agua una vez por semana en camión aljibe. ¿ Ves los tanques allí? Eso son los que se llenan de agua por el camión aljibe, y de allí, las mismas familias han puesto cañería y tienen un poquito de comodidad dentro de la casa.

Lo más difícil de vivir en este campamento es el acceso. Nos queda muy retirado del centro, muy retirado de la locomoción. El mismo hecho de tener la tierra, es complicado.

Here, water is distributed  once a week in tank trucks. See those tanks over there? These are filled by the water tanker. And from there, the  families  laid pipes themselves, it gives them some comfort in their homes.

The hardest part of living  in this community is getting there. We are very far from downtown,  very far from public transportation. The very fact that we live  in the dirt is complicated.

 

TC 01:19:16

CELIA DURÁN

RESIDENT OF MESANA

 

TC 01:19:41

MAGDALENA SEPÚLVEDA

Queremos democratizar la política fiscal. Queremos decirles a las personas: si las transnacionales no pagan lo que corresponde, nos afecta en la vida diaria, nos afecta en la forma que vivimos. Crea desigualdad, crea desazón social, y crea violación de derechos.

We also want to democratize tax policies. We want to tell people:  if multinationals don't pay their fair share it affects our daily lives,  it affects the way we live.  It creates inequality,  it creates social unrest  and it creates violation of rights.

 

TC 01:20:03

2019

 

TC 01:20:05

Narration

At the end of 2019, an increase of a few cents on a subway ticket inflamed the country.

Faced with inequality, Chileans exploded in anger.

The richest 1% grab 25 % of the country’s revenue.

Given the scale of the demonstrations, the army was sent in.

 

TC 01:20:24

MAGDALENA SEPULVEDA

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

GLOBAL INITIATIVE FOR ECONOMIC,

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

 

MAGDALENA SEPÚLVEDA

En octubre del 2019, la población, harta de más de 30 años de políticas neoliberales, exige el cumplimiento de los derechos económicos, sociales y culturales. Hay una demanda por salud, una demanda por mejor educación, por unas mejores pensiones.

In October 2019, the population fed up with more than  30 years of neoliberal policies  demanded the fulfillment of economic, social and cultural rights.  There is a demand for health, a demand  for better education, for better pensions.

 

TC 01:20:47

Narration

In Chile, like elsewhere, government withdrawal has had a devastating impact on public services, destroyed social cohesion and fueled extremism.

 

TC 01:20:59

GABRIEL ZUCMAN

DIRECTOR

EU TAX OBSERVATORY

 

GABRIEL ZUCMAN

Sans impôt, il n’y a pas de société. La question de l’impôt c’est vraiment la question sans doute, philosophique, démocratique, principale, c’est à dire que sans impôt, c’est le chacun pour soi, c’est l’absence de lien social, l’absence de société. Tous les pays qui ont réussi à se développer, à devenir riches, ce sont des pays qui ont réussi à construire des systèmes fiscaux avec des taux de prélèvements obligatoires élevés et des ambitions élevées en matière de redistribution.

Without taxes, there is no society. Taxation is really a basic philosophical and democratic principle. Without taxes, it's every man for himself, no social ties, no society. All countries that have managed to develop and prosper have built tax systems with high rates of compulsory levies and ambitious redistribution goals.

 

TC 01:21:29

Narration

The tax wars are a clash between two world views.

One side claims that taxes put a break on economic development, the other side that taxes are the driving force.

 

What is certain is that the number of multinationals increased dramatically at the end of the 1980s with the globalization of the economy.

 

In 40 years, they’ve increased from a few thousand to over 120,000 today. They make trillions of dollars in profits each year, and most of them pay virtually no taxes.

 

In 2008, a financial crisis of unprecedented magnitude forced governments to finally wake up.

 

TC 01:22:17

CHAPITRE 2 

THE AWAKENING

 

TC 01:22:27

DAVID PUJADAS ARCHIVE

Dans l'actualité ce soir la tempête sur les marchés financiers. La célèbre banque d'affaires américaine Lehman Brothers se déclare en faillite, victime de la crise des subprimes.

Tonight's headlines: Storm in the financial markets. The famous US investment bank Lehman Brothers declares bankruptcy, a victim of the subprimes crisis.

 

TC 01:22:38

Narration

The world’s economy lurched into the most severe crisis since the crash of 1929.

 

TC 01:22:43

DANIEL BERTOSSA

GENERAL SECRETARY

PUBLIC SERVICES INTERNATIONAL

 

DANIEL BERTOSSA

When the global financial crisis hit, a lot of myths were cracked and people became very angry and they started to question the basis upon which the global economy was built and in whose interests it was built. And that anger translates into political pressure. So we had David Cameron, who was a right wing conservative in the UK.

 

TC 01:23:05

DAVID CAMERON

UK PRIME MINISTER

2013

 

DAVID CAMERON ARCHIVE

I am a low tax conservative, but I'm not a “companies should pay no tax” conservative.

 

TC 01:23:13

DANIEL BERTOSSA

Nicolas Sarkozy in France.

 

TC 01:23:16

NICOLAS SARKOZY

FRENCH PRESIDENT

2011

 

NICOLAS SARKOZY ARCHIVE

Nous ne voulons plus de paradis fiscaux, le message est très clair : nous n’en voulons plus.

We want no more tax havens.

The message is clear: We want no more of that.

 

TC 01:23:23

DANIEL BERTOSSA

They were forced for political reasons to begin to talk about the need to raise taxation. And that's how it was kicked off through a series of quite conservative and right wing governments feeling political pressure to raise revenues.

 

TC 01:23:40

Narration

Governments turned to the OECD, an organization whose members are the world’s richest countries.

 

Pascal Saint-Amans was the Director of the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration at the OECD.

 

For 10 years, he led negotiations against the tax evasion practices of multinationals.

 

TC 01:23:59

PASCAL SAINT-AMANS

DIRECTOR

CENTER FOR TAX POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION OECD

(2012-2022)

 

PASCAL SAINT-AMANS

Quand la crise est intervenue, les chefs d'Etat et de gouvernement du G20, qui se sont réunis pour la première fois le 15 novembre 2008, ont dit “la taxation des multinationales a besoin d'une réforme”. Les règles internationales ont été élaborées dans les années 1920 et donc elles ne sont plus adaptées et il a fallu la crise financière internationale pour que l'ensemble des pays se réveillent et disent “il faut changer les règles, il faut mettre fin aux paradis fiscaux”.

When the crisis hit, the G20 heads of state who met on 15 November 2008, said the taxation of multinationals must be reformed. The international regulations were drawn up in the 1920s and no longer fit. It took a global financial crisis for the international community to wake up and say: "We must change the rules and put an end to tax havens."

 

TC 10:24:28

Narration

Strengthening tax transparency and preventing the most aggressive schemes … The OECD’s intentions are noble, but they lack ambition.

 For several NGOs, the OECD’s inaction is unacceptable. They decide to form a group of internationally renowned experts to promote their ideas. Hence, ICRICT, the independent global commission for fiscal justice was formed.

 

It’s the beginning of a new hope.

 

TC 01:24:59

SOL PICCIOTTO

COORDINATOR

BASE EROSION AND PROFIT SHIFTING MONITORING GROUP

 

SOL PICCIOTTO

In 2013, we had identified the OECD was setting up this project, which was supposed to reform international corporate taxation.

 

TC 01:25:08

TOBY QUANTRILL

OPERATIONS COORDINATOR

CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL CORPORATE TAX

ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESEARCH

 

TOBY QUANTRILL

So the concern, as I recall, was that because it was being developed in the OECD and the OECD is effectively a club of rich countries, that it would be heavily dominated by the interests of rich countries.

 

TC 01:25:21

SOL PICCIOTTO

So then a meeting was called because we needed some kind of process to shadow the OECD and develop a critique of the OECD.

 

TC 01:25:30

TOBY QUANTRILL

And it was a meeting in some of the worst meeting rooms in the city, and there were 15 people in a tiny basement room, 15 sweaty activists in a basement versus the entire G20, and the OECD. It didn't seem very equal. So you needed to bring in some people who have a global profile to help develop the ideas, alternative ideas.

 

TC 01:25:54

Narration

It took two years to recruit knights capable of fighting the empire of the multinationals. But in 2015, the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation was born.

 

Currently, Joseph Stiglitz and Jayati Ghosh are its co-chairs.

 

TC 01:26:12

JAYATI GHOSH

My dream would be the multinational corporations would not be in a position to dictate to governments about what they do, how they do it, and what damage they can do to economies.

 

TC 01:26:23

JOSEPH STIGLITZ

My dream is actually very simple: that every corporation pay its fair share of its taxes. Some basic principles of social justice.

 

TC 01:26:36

Narration

Ideas are weapons and the commission has plenty. For them, there’s no point in reforming a failing system. They propose to revolutionize it.

 

Rather than trying in vain to tax multinationals in each individual country, why not tax their total world-wide profits as a whole?

 

This is called unitary taxation.

 

TC 01:26:59

JAYATI GHOSH

PROFESSOR

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST

 

JAYATI GHOSH

The idea is actually very simple, the idea of unitary taxation. Basically a multinational behaves like it's one company. It doesn't say, Oh, I am Google India and I am completely different from Google, Netherlands or Google Ireland. It behaves as Google. So we should actually tax them as one company.

Facebook, for example. It's getting, I think, 25% of revenues in India, but 2% of profits. So we say, well, wait a minute, you're getting this much revenue, we are employing so many people, we are going to charge you this much of your global profits.

 

TC 01:27:32

Narration

Since its creation in 2015, the commission has been fighting to implement unitary taxation on a global scale.

 

Despite resistance from multinationals, they must convince world leaders that a fiscal reform is needed. But first, they must mobilize citizens.

 

TC 01:27:51

INDIA

 

TC 01:27:57

Narration 

The next stop on our trip in the universe of tax evasion is India, An attractive country for multinationals. Digital giants like Apple earn astronomical profits.

Unsurprisingly they pay almost no tax there.

 

TC 01:28:16

Jayati Ghosh is traveling across the country to expose the devastating effects of tax evasion and share the ideas of the commission.

 

 TC 01:28:24

JAYATI GHOSH

Some of us definitely feel the need that it's very important to bring economics to ordinary people. That economic policies are too important to be left just to policy makers or those who are seen as technocrats.

 

TC 01:28:38

JAYATI GHOSH

Thank you very much, I’m very happy to be here. We have to create a situation where the government cannot respond only to cronies and to big corporations. It has to respond to the people, to the demands of the young, to the demands of ordinary people, to the demands of youth who insist that they have a right to employment. The government doesn't have the political will. We have to force it to have that political will. Thank you.

 

TC 01:29:10

JAYATI GHOSH

Governments don't sort of turn good just because they suddenly, you know, see the light and decide to be nice. You know, governments do good things when they're forced to do good things, when public pressure makes them change.

 

TC 01:29:26

JAYATI GHOSH

Profit shifting…It's obviously very strong in many different sectors, but it's really strong in digital companies because digital companies can provide services without even having a physical presence. You don't even need to have an office there. You can provide, a streaming service, you can provide software, you can provide other kinds of entertainment all digitally. And so who is going to tax you?

 

TC 01:29:53

JAYATI GHOSH

There is a very very simple solution. Amazon, Google, any multinationals, they behave like one company. Treat them like one company.

 

TC 01:30:01

JAYATI GHOSH

This is something that is so simple and easy and it will make such a massive and fundamental difference to all the tax revenues that get leaked out.

 

TC 01:30:15

Narration

The Indian government spends barely 2% of its GDP on healthcare, which is one of the lowest budgets in the world.

 

Those who can’t afford the private sector often have to wait in line for days just to see a regular doctor.

 

The consequences of this two-tier system are tragic. The life expectancy of an untouchable is 15 years shorter than higher castes.

 

TC 01:30:40

JAYATI GHOSH

Inequality is bad everywhere, and inequality creates unpleasant societies and injustice and all of that everywhere. But one of the problems the developing countries face is that the poor are really poor, and that's terrible because you have minimum things that you need for survival and the slightest increase in insecurity or the slightest change in your employment conditions is the difference between living and dying.

 

TC 01:32:08 

Narration

When the commission for fiscal justice was established the hope of ambitious international tax reform remained a distant prospect. But in the decade from 2010, a growing number of scandals was about to shake up governments.

 

TC 01:31:24

CHAPTER 3

A DECADE OF SCANDALS

 

TC 01:31:30

Narration

The first scandal occurred with the LuxLeaks. Journalists revealed that over 340 multinational corporations had made secret deals with Luxembourg to drastically reduce their taxes.

 

 

TC 01:31:44

DANIEL BERTOSSA

People were seeing that their politicians and their rich business friends were making enormous profits and not paying their fair share on that. And so the LuxLeaks and the Panama Papers, created a public awareness about what wasn't happening, about who wasn't paying their fair share.

 

 

TC 01:31:46

DANIEL BERTOSSA

GENERAL SECRETARY

PUBLIC SERVICES INTERNATIONAL

 

TC 01:32:01

Narration

LuxLeaks, Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, the Pandora Papers, the Panama Papers, these revelations were the turning point because they confirmed that tax evasion was massive.

 

TC 01:32:13

Narration

In the spring of 2019, the hope of a reform of  the taxation of multinationals materializes for the first time.  In Strasbourg, the members of the European parliament prepared to vote on an ambitious report on tax evasion.

 

TC 01:32:30

EVA JOLY

C’est un très bon rapport qui reprend aussi les acquis Luxleaks et Panama Papers. Pour la première fois nous critiquons les Etats membres de l’Union qui ne jouent pas le jeu et qui ont une politique de défiscalisation agressive.

It's a good report, built on the findings of LuxLeaks and Panama Papers. For the first time, we criticize the EU member states who are not playing fairly and have an aggressive tax exemption policy.

 

TC 01:32:49

Narration

The text calls for the implementation of the unitary taxation of multinationals within the European Union. It reflects the willingness of the parliament to end the status quo.

 

TC 01:33:00

PRESIDENT  EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

Colleagues. We will now proceed with the report on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance.

 

TC 01:33:07

JEPPE KOFOD

DANISH MEMBER

OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

(2019)

JEPPE KOFOD

Tax evasion and avoidance. It costs about €1 trillion a year. It means €2,000 per citizen, European citizen per year.

 

TC 01:33:16

Narration

The text passed by a large majority.

This could be a blow to European tax havens like Luxembourg and Ireland, already in the crosshairs of Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

 

TC 01:33:32

Narration

In 2016, she targeted Apple's practices in Ireland. The commissioner argued that the exorbitant tax benefits which the company received in effect constituted state aid from the Irish government and were therefore in violation of competition rules.

 

TC 01:33:48

MARGRETHE VESTAGER  

The European Commission has today adopted a decision that Apple's tax benefits in Ireland are illegal. They allocated the profit between the Irish branch and the company's head office. The head office was subject to no tax in Ireland or elsewhere because this so-called head office only existed on paper. This was possible under Irish law, which until 2013 allowed for so-called stateless companies.

 

TC 01:34:30

Narration

A company without a tax address that earns profits everywhere but doesn’t pay taxes anywhere.

Multinationals dreamed of it. Ireland did it.

 

Seeing the enormous potential of phantom structures, Apple created several subsidiaries based on this model.

ASI, AOE and AOI are registered in both Ireland and Bermuda, a place in the middle of the Atlantic that doesn’t exist and where no tax can be collected.

 

Apple files the majority of profits generated outside the USA into the accounts of two phantom companies: ASI and AOE, who then transfer nearly all their worldwide profits to a third company: AOI.

 

This setup enables Apple to pay virtually no taxes outside of the United States.

 

In 2011, AOI’s combined profits were taxed at just 0.05 per cent, meaning almost a total tax exemption that shocks Europe and the USA.

 

TC 01:35:37

Narration

Flanked by his lieutenants, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook was summoned to appear before the American Senate’s committee.

 

TC 01:35:38

HEARING OF APPLE EXECUTIVES

US SENATE, 2013

 

TC 01:35:46

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN

(R)

 

JOHN MCCAIN

Can you please state for the record where AOI, ASI and AOE is a tax residence?

 

TC 01:35:55

TIM COOK

CEO APPLE

 

TIM COOK

Yes, Sir. My understanding is there's not a tax residence for either, for any of the three subsidiaries that you just named.

 

TC 01:36:03

JOHN MCCAIN

Can you understand there's a perception of unfair advantage here? Mr. Cook?

 

TC 01:36:08

TIM COOK

Sir, I see this is a very complex topic. Honestly speaking, I don't see it as being unfair I'm not an unfair person.

 

TC 01:36:15

SEN. CARL LEVIN

(D)

 

CARL LEVIN

About 70% of the profits worldwide now end up with those three Irish corporations in these companies that don't exist  anywhere except on the water. And we got to understand what is going on. 

And what is going on is that three Apple employees decided  where these profits are going to be taxed or non taxed. Folks, it's not right.

 

TC 01:36:45

Narration

In Europe, Margrethe Vestager called for the American giant Apple to pay 13 billion euros for unfair competition.

 

TC 01:36:52

MARGRETHE VESTAGER

EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER FOR COMPETITION

(2014-)

 

MARGRETHE VESTAGER

The 13 billion euros that we asked Apple to pay back to the Irish state was in our view the taxes that they had not paid.

 

TC 01:37:04

Narration

But in 2020, Apple and Ireland challenged the decision in the European court of justice, who overturned the ruling. For Margrethe Vestager it was a major disappointment.

 

TC 01:37:17

Narration

Eva Joly also experienced a rude awakening. The text on tax evasion voted for by almost 90% of the European parliament was sidelined. Torpedoed by the European Commission chaired by former Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean Claude Juncker.

 

TC 01:37:34

EVA JOLY

C’est avec stupéfaction que j’ai appris que la commission baissait les bras. Je sais bien qu'au sein de cette commission il y avait de la résistance mais je sais aussi qu’ils n'ont pas vraiment essayé . Et c’est ça qui n’est pas pardonnable.

I was dumbfounded to learn that the commission was giving up. I know there was resistance inside the commission. But I also know that they didn't really try. And that is unforgivable.

 

TC 01:37:59

Narration

At the OECD, negotiations on taxation of multinationals have stalled.

In the absence of an agreement, some governments decided unilaterally to tax the digital giants.

And it’s Paris who led the way in 2019 by adopting a 3% tax on their French revenue.

 

TC 01:38:16

JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ

NOBEL PRIZE IN ECONOMICS

PROFESSOR IN ECONOMICS

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

 

JOSEPH STIGLITZ

Many of the European countries said the American digital giants were robbing us of revenues and we have to tax them. And America responded by saying, if you tax them, we'll tax your wine. And it became an old style fight.

 

TC 01:38:39

DONALD TRUMP

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

2019

 

DONALD TRUMP ARCHIVE

So France put on a tax on our companies. You know that and. Wrong, wrong thing to do.

And I told them, I said Don’t do it, because if you do it, I am going to tax your wine.

I have always liked American wines better than French wines.

Even if I don't drink wine. I just like the way they look.

 

TC 01:39:02

BRUNO LE MAIRE

FRENCH MINISTER OF THE ECONOMY AND FINANCE

2019

 

BRUNO LEMAIRE

Nous appliquerons quoiqu’il arrive une taxation aux géants du digital en 2020 parce que c‘est une question de justice. Et, je veux dire à nos amis américains que nous ne serons pas les seuls à le faire.

Whatever happens, we will impose a tax on digital giants in 2020. It's a matter of justice. And I will say to our American friends that we will not be the only ones to do so.

 

TC 01:39:12

PASCAL SAINT- AMANS

Les entreprises, les grandes entreprises américaines notamment, se sont dit ces mesures unilatérales, ce n'est pas bon, ça va nous coûter beaucoup plus cher qu'un accord multilatéral et donc elles se sont mises à soutenir un accord multilatéral.

The large companies, US companies in particular, realized that unilateral measures would cost a lot more, so they began supporting a multilateral agreement.

 

TC 01:39:29

Narration

In 2019, tensions surrounding the taxation of multinationals escalated. Even multinationals were no longer clinging to the old tax system. It was time to reinvent global taxation.

 

TC 01:39:42

CHAPTER 4

THE VICTORY OF IDEAS

 

TC 01:39:49

In 2020, negotiations on the taxation of multinational corporations accelerated. The commission sees this as an opportunity to promote a second idea that went beyond unitary taxation. An idea as simple as it is effective: the creation of a global minimum tax.

 

TC 01:40:08

Gabriel ZUCMAN

Ça, c'est révolutionnaire parce que c'est effectivement un changement profond dans le mode de régulation de la mondialisation. Ce que ça va changer, c'est que ça ne va plus être possible pour des entreprises d'enregistrer des milliards de bénéfices aux Bermudes, taxés à 0 %. Tous les taux d’imposition ne sont pas acceptables : 0%...pour les profits aux Bermudes ? Non, C’est trop faible !

That's revolutionary. It represents a profound change in the way we regulate globalization. Companies will no longer be able to book billions of profits in Bermuda at zero tax. Not all tax rates are acceptable: Zero per cent for profits in Bermuda? That's too low!

 

TC 01:40:30

Narration

The OECD member countries are now advocating for a global minimum tax on the profits of multinationals. They just have to agree on a rate that will ensure a broad agreement. In order to convince the most reluctant countries, France proposed a particularly modest rate.

 

 TC 01:40:48

BRUNO LEMAIRE

S’agissant du taux, nous proposons comme point de référence 12,5%.

When it comes to the rate, we propose 12.5 % as a minimum corporate tax rate.

 

TC 01:40:53

Narration

For the commission, this is clearly not enough. But how can they convince the member states to agree on a higher rate? Commission members are honing their arguments for the OECD.

 

 TC 01.41:05

MAGDALENA SEPÚLVEDA

We're going to provide a tool for them to negotiate. So if we're going to provide a tool for them to negotiate, we have to go high because they're going to adopt a lower standard.

 

TC 01:41:14

JAYATI GHOSH

We believe that a minimum rate of around 25% is a reasonable rate.

 

TC 01:41:20

JAYATI GHOSH

It's a bargaining position: if you say 15, you'll get 12.

 

TC 01:41:23

JOSEPH STIGLITZ

And it means that multinationals are getting away with lower rates than domestic firms who are actually paying a much higher effective tax rate.

 

TC 01:41:32

THOMAS PIKETTY

I mean this is not our job to say  Ireland is the new norm. This is crazy !

 

TC 01:41:38

JAYATI GHOSH

So say 25. I mean, it's a bargaining position.

 

TC 01:41:42

GABRIEL ZUCMAN

DIRECTOR

EU TAX OBSERVATORY

 

Gabriel ZUCMAN ARCHIVE

Pour la première fois en mars avril 2021, on a entendu au plus haut niveau de l’exécutif américain donc Janet Yellen, la secrétaire au Trésor américain, dire écoutez nous maintenant on n’accepte plus la concurrence fiscale. On va changer les règles du jeu.

For the first time, in March-April 2021, we heard a top US government official, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, say: "We no longer accept tax competition. We will change the rules of the game."

 

TC 01:42:00

JANET YELLEN

UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY

2021

 

JANET YELLEN ARCHIVE

We are working with G20 nations to agree to a global minimum corporate tax rate that can stop the race to the bottom.

 

TC 01:42:12

Narration

This support from the world's largest economic power will give a powerful boost to discussions within the OECD.

 

TC 01:42:20

Narration

After 9 years of negotiations, 136 countries finally came to a historic agreement. It was officially announced during the Rome G20 summit in 2021.

It took a century to reform a system established in the 1920s.

 

TC 01:42:33

G20

ROMA

2021

 

TC 01:42:39

Narration

The progress made since the beginning of the negotiations is spectacular. The signed agreement is based on two pillars.

Pillar one is the unitary taxation of multinationals. Pillar two is global minimum tax.

For the commission for fiscal justice and its allies, it's a stunning victory.

 

 TC 01:43:00

GABRIEL ZUCMAN

Quand vous teniez ce discours, ne serait encore qu’en 2016, en 2017, tout le monde vous répondait mais c’est absurde. Jamais il n’y aura un accord où vous aurez l’Irlande, les Bermudes, les Etats-unis, la Chine, l’Inde qui accepteront d’avoir un taux minimum. C’est une vue de l’esprit. Il y a encore cinq ans, on était quelques uns dans nos réunions à défendre cette idée, à dire il faut écrire des rapports, à les expliquer aux journalistes mais personne d’autre n’y croyait. Ou presque.

If you spoke about this as late as in 2016-2017, everyone would say it is absurd. There will never be an agreement where Ireland, Bermuda, the US, China and India agree to a minimum tax rate. It's wishful thinking. Literally, five years ago we were a handful of people defending this idea, saying: We should write reports, talk to journalists. But hardly anyone else believed in it.

 

TC 01:43:35

MAGDALENA SEPÚLVEDA

In 2015, nobody thought that a minimum tax rate could be imposed. So it is a crack in the system. And I think that we have to feel very proud that the crack is there and and it has opened now.

 

TC 01:43:48

IRENE OVONJI-ODIDA

LAWYER

MEMBER OF THE AFRICAN LAWYERS UNION

 

IRENE OVONJI ODIDA

So issues that before were looked at as fringe issues, you know, a bunch of crazy leftist, dreamers, are now mainstream issues, you know, for example, the idea that you can tax corporations as unitary entities.

 

TC 01:44:07

UNITARY

TAXATION

 

TC 01:44:08   

Narration

Pillar one is Unitary taxation, which eliminates borders by taxing the total profits generated by all of a multinational’s subsidiaries.

Unfortunately, the current agreement only applies to about 100 of the largest and most profitable multinationals.

Another disappointment for the commission is that only a fraction of the multinationals’ profits, say, the tip of the iceberg, is targeted by the new tax. Nonetheless, if ratified, it should generate 30 billion dollars per year in taxes worldwide, which will then be redistributed proportionately to each country.

 

TC 01:44:48

Narration

Pillar two of the agreement is the global minimum tax. The European Union began applying it in 2024.

From now on, profits of European multinationals will be taxed at at least 15% no matter where they’re registered.

A French multinational whose profits are located in Bermuda where they’re taxed at 0% will have to pay the full 15% to the French treasury.

In other words, multinationals will no longer have any incentive to offshore their profits to tax havens.

 

TC 01:44:50

GLOBAL MINIMUM TAX

 

TC 01:45:24

GABRIEL ZUCMAN

DIRECTOR

EU TAX OBSERVATORY

 

GABRIEL ZUCMAN

C’est un changement conceptuel, philosophique, important. C’est un changement qui va avoir des traductions budgétaires et fiscales notables. L’OCDE estime que cette taxation minimale va rapporter de l’ordre de 200 milliards de dollars de recettes fiscales supplémentaires au niveau mondial.

It's a major conceptual, philosophical change that will have significant budgetary and fiscal implications. The OECD estimates that this minimum tax will bring in USD 200 billion additional tax revenue worldwide.

 

TC 01:45:45

Narration

200 billion dollars: this estimate is based on a global tax rate of 15%, far from the 25% proposed by the commission.

 

TC 01:45:54

JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ

NOBEL PRIZE IN ECONOMICS

PROFESSOR IN ECONOMICS

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

 

JOSEPH STIGLITZ

We advocated it should be 25%. They chose 15%. And we worry that this minimum will become the maximum.

 

TC 01:46:03

DANIEL  BERTOSSA

Whilst 15% is better than the race to zero. It must only be the first step. When a nurse or a doctor working a night shift in a hospital risking their life on a COVID ward is getting taxed for that work at 20 and 30 and in some countries 40%, yet the largest corporations on the planet are only now being asked to pay 15% and with a series of loopholes, It's completely unjustifiable.

 

TC 01:46:35   

Narration

The 2021 agreement spares multinational corporations. It also leaves out developing countries, who are largely forgotten by the reform. For the members of ICRICT, this is an intolerable situation.

 

TC 01:46:50

CHAPTER 5

A NEW FRONT

 

TC 01:46:55

JAYATI GHOSH

This is a process that was started by the OECD by the club of developed countries, and developing countries have basically been allowed into the room, not really sitting at the table writing, but just present in the room. And so we're stuck with this where the only real international process is one that is driven by the OECD countries who persist in making themselves the high table with their own little secret dealings, and everybody else gets the crumbs that fall off that table.

 

TC 01:47:23

Narration

The OECD, who invited developing countries to the negotiating table, claims the process is inclusive.

 

TC 01:47:32

PASCAL SAINT-AMANS

DIRECTOR

CENTER FOR TAX POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION OECD

(2012-2022)

 

PASCAL SAINT- AMANS

Inclusif, c'est un mot un peu passe partout aujourd'hui, mais franchement, 158 pays membres sur un pied d'égalité avec, je crois, un vrai respect des uns et des autres. C'est quelque chose qui a changé la dynamique de la coopération fiscale.

Inclusivity is a buzzword today, but frankly, having 158 member countries on equal footing and respecting each other is something that has changed the dynamics of tax cooperation.

 

TC 01:47:48

IRENE OVONJI-ODIDA

LAWYER

MEMBER OF THE AFRICAN LAWYERS UNION

 

IRENE OVONJI ODIDA

The process was managed really badly by the OECD Secretariat in a way that was very unfair, and sometimes the discussions would produce huge papers. The documents would come out with very little notice, at very short time. You could you could have something like a 800 page document and maybe just a couple of days or a day to read it, not enough time.

So that kind of process was really not a good process at all, which is why I cannot call it an inclusive process, regardless of the name.

 

TC 01:48:17   

Narration

Irene Ovonji-Odida is from Uganda. For years, this lawyer has been denouncing the way resources are being robbed from the African continent.

 

TC 01:48:23

IRENE OVONJI-ODIDA

 

TC 01:48:27

IRENE OVONJI ODIDA off

In the past fifteen years or so, there is a lot more recognition of how taxes and taxing rights  seems to be the divider between countries that can develop and those that cannot.

 

TC 01:48:41  

Narration

The problem is that the OECD agreement will generate very little additional revenue for countries in the global south.

 

TC 01:48:49

JOSÉ ANTONIO OCAMPO

MINISTER OF FINANCE OF COLOMBIA

(2022-2023)

 

JOSE ANTONIO OCAMPO

Todos los estudios que se han hecho muestran que el grueso de los beneficios, yo diría el 90%, 85%, es para países desarrollados. O sea, lo que obtuvimos los países en desarrollo fue muy poco.

All the studies that have been made show that the bulk of the benefits, I would say 90%, 85%, went to developed countries. In other words, what we developing countries got was very little.

 

TC 01:49:04

Narration

José Antonio Ocampo is a Colombian economist. He is one of the commission’s founding members and a former Minister of Finance in Colombia.

TC 01:49:12

JOSE ANTONIO OCAMPO

Muchos gobiernos de países desarrollados le dan mucha importancia a lo que quieren las empresas multinacionales y los magnates.

Many governments of developed countries give a lot of importance to what multinational companies and tycoons want.

 

TC 01:49:23

IRENE OVONJI ODIDA

And so there's been a call for the UN to be the forum where rules for global taxation and also global finance should be set.

 

TC 01:49:33

IRENE OVONJI ODIDA

There was a resolution presented by the african group in New-York, led by Nigeria, calling on the UN to negotiate a UN Tax Convention.

 

TC 01:49:42

Narration

Despite opposition from several OECD member countries, the resolution was finally adopted.

 

 TC 01:49:48

CHAIR UN

Draft resolution L11 rev 1 is adopted.

 

TC 01:49:53

Narration

The UN is likely to take on the battle for taxation of multinationals. It’s an important victory for developing countries but it will remain purely symbolic if the United Nations does not take the necessary steps towards a new agreement.

 

TC 01:50:11

It’s also a victory for the members of the commission who are determined to pursue the fight for tax justice. They have a new priority: ensuring that the wealthiest individuals also pay their fair share.

 

TC 01:50:27

JAYATI GHOSH

Now we have got unbelievable levels of inequality. The richest 1% of our population has tripled its income.

 

TC 01:50:36

GABRIEL ZUCMAN

Concrètement ce qu'on a fait pour les multinationales. Il faut qu'on arrive à le faire pour les très grandes fortunes mondiales qui arrivent à complètement éviter l’impôt sur le revenu. Jeff Bezos, un certain nombre d'années, payait zéro impôt sur le revenu, même à un moment, a reçu un chèque du Trésor américain pour toucher des allocations familiales qui normalement sont réservées aux classes moyennes parce qu'il  avait zéro revenu fiscal.

What we have done for multinationals, we need to do for the world's wealthiest who manage to completely avoid income taxes. Jeff Bezos paid zero income tax for a number of years. He even got family allowances from the US Treasury, normally reserved for the middle class, because he had zero taxable income.

 

TC 01:51:00

JOSEPH STIGLITZ

I have a very good feeling about the awareness within the general public and I am very optimistic that this awareness will get translated into action.

 

TC 01:51:13

THOMAS PIKETTY

Je veux insister sur un message optimiste. Ce combat, non seulement il peut être gagné, mais il a été gagné historiquement. Il y a une marche vers l'égalité depuis la fin du XVIIIe siècle, qui continue au XIXe siècle, au XXe siècle et qui, je pense, va continuer au XXIᵉ siècle. En pratique, ça passe souvent par des moments de crise, par des très fortes mobilisations. C'est comme ça que les choses se sont faites au cours des deux derniers siècles. On a toutes les raisons de penser que ça va, ça va, continuer dans cette direction.

I want to emphasize an optimistic message.This fight can be won and has been won, historically speaking. We have seen a movement towards more equality in the past three centuries which I think will continue in the 21st century. It often goes through moments of crisis and strong mobilisations. That's how it has been in the past two centuries, and we have every reason to believe it will continue that way.

 

 

TC 01:51:39

A FILM BY

HEDGE DELI

 

 

TC 01:51:41

CO-DIRECTED BY

XAVIER HAREL

 

 

TC 01 :51 :43

WRITTEN BY

HEGE DEHLI

XAVIER HAREL

LAMIA OUALALOU

 

 

TC 01 :51:45

EDITED BY

SERGE TURQUIER

 

 

TC 01 :51 :48

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS

HEGE DEHLI

FABRICE ESTÈVE

 

 

TC 01 :51 :50

ANIMATIONS

SUPERVISION, DESIGN 2D ANIMATIONS

LA BRIGADE DU TITRE

Mathieu Decarli, Olivier Marquézy

3D ANIMATIONS

Jean-Michel Ponzio

2D DRAWINGS

Afif Khaled

 

 

TC 01 :51 :56

FILMING CREW - INDIA

CAMERA Patrik Säfström

SOUND Ad Stoop

FIXERS Raja Sengupta, Donna Pamei

 

FILMING CREW - CHILE

CAMERA Olivier Raffet

SOUND Romina Cano

DRONE OPERATOR Manuel Ruminot

 

FILMING CREW - ZAMBIA

CAMERA Talib Rasmussen

SOUND Richard Ngugi

FIXERS Ucizi Ngulube, Isaiah Mbewe

 

FILMING CREW - USA

CAMERA Mathilde Litard, Eric Bugash, Walter Fantola

SOUND Markus Dilauro, Matt Blackerby

 

FILMING CREW - EUROPE

CAMERA Olivier Raffet, Fabien Greenberg, Yacine Siaci

SOUND Laurent Maisondieu, Havard Halden Sethre

 

 

TC 01:52:03

ORIGINAL MUSIC

Peder Kjellsby, Sjur Miljeteig, Malika Makouf Rasmussen

 

ARCHIVE RESEARCHERS

Marie Camdessus, Cécile Niderman

 

TRANSLATION

Ann-Kristin Glenster, Justice Kawisha, Soren Munch, Jill Towsley

 

CONSULTANTS

Joan Grossman, Tracie Holder, Jan Rofekamp, KriStine Skaret

 

 

TC 01:52:10

POST-PRODUCTION

POST-PRODUCTION MANAGER

Birk Hanum

 

SOUND-ENGINEERING - ORIGINAL MUSIC

Henrich Primrose

 

ONLINE & MASTERING

Thomas Franconie, Torstein Sjulstad

 

COLOR GRADING

Fredrik Harreschou

 

ASSISTANT EDITORS

Loris Alonso-Dumas, Justine Arsène, Jean-Charles Benoit, Eliot Lhomel

 

 

TC 01 :52 :17

SOUND DESIGN

Anna Nilsson

 

FOLEY

Rune van Deurs

 

SOUND EDITOR

Magnus Haukaas

 

RE-RECORDING MIX

Hakon Lammetun

 

NARRATION

Samantha Lawson

 

 

TC 01 :52 :24

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Katya Panova, Priscilia Pavon

Trond G. Lockertsen

Alain Bastide, Laurence Chassin

 

PRODUCTION COORDINATORS

Niels Laloë, Hélène Ratero, Marie-Laure Melchior, Marie Chartron

 

PRODUCTION ADMINISTRATORS

Stéphanie Robert

Héloïse Jouveau-du-Breuil

 

PRODUCTION ACCOUNTANT

Sandrine Boumendil, Lyslid Regnskap AS, Plankebyen Revisjon

 

INTERNS

Virginie Chretien, Guy Cimpaye, Alexis Del Castillo

Violette Rettien, Lourane Sahraoui, Louis Zilio

 

 

TC 01 :52 :31

EQUIPMENT RENTAL AND POST-PRODUCTION FACILITIES

FILMING EQUIPMENT Olga AS, Orvision, Virtuel Audio, Keepinnews, Loft Digital Media

EDITING L'atelier Plani, Pom'Zed, Circle Line

POST-PRODUCTION Filmreaktor, Studio Quickstep Foley, VOA Studios

 

ARCHIVES - FILM

AFP / Assemblée nationale / Atelier des archives / Autobus Production / C-SPAN

Davos / Euractiv / European Union / Forum Saint-Laurent / Getty Images / INA / NARA

NASA / OCDE / Pond5 / Reagan Presidential Library / RTS / Union Européenne

United Nations Audiovisual Library / The White House / Yami 2

 

ARCHIVES - PHOTOS

Alamy / Getty Images / Carlos Massad / Javier Vial / La Ventana Cine / Videezy / Wikimedia

All rights reserved

 

ADDITIONAL MUSIC

Universal Production Music

 

 

TC 01:52:38

A COPRODUCTION BY

 

MECHANIX Film

 

YUZU Productions

 

ARTE G.E.I.E.

COMMISSIONING EDITOR Philipe Muller

PRODUCTION Heike Lettau, Caroline Kelsch

HEAD OF THEMA & GEOPOLITICS Claudia Bucher

HEAD OF NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS Renée Kaplan

 

 

TC 01:52:46

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

NORWEGIAN FILM INSTITUTE Klara Nilsson Grunning, Helen Prestgard

NORDISK FILM & TV FOND Karolina Lidin, Lise Lowholm

ARTS COUNCIL NORWAY- The Audio & Visual Fund

VIKEN FILMSENTER Cecilie Stanger-Thorsen, Janic Heen

THE FINANCE MARKET FUND

FRITT ORD FOUNDATION

FREDRIKSTAD KOMMUNE

 

 

TC 01:52:52

WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF

ASHARQ DOCUMENTARY CHANNEL

 

NRK

INTERNATIONAL FACTUAL CONTENT AND DOCUMENTARIES AQUISITIONS Fredrik-Faerden

 

RADIO CANADA

DIRECOR, DOCUMENTARIES, NEWS Julia Lauzon

SENIOR MANAGER, DOCMENTARIES, NEWS Marjolaine Mineau

 

RTBF

DOCUMENTARY UNIT Joffrey Monnier, Vincent Godfroid

 

RTS- RADIO TÉLÉVISION SUISSE

DRAMA, DOCUMENTARIES AND ORIGINAL SERIES UNIT Steven Artels & Bettina Hofmann

 

YLE

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME ACQUISITIONS Arto Hyvanen

 

 

TC 01 :52 :59

CO-FUNDED BY

the CREATIVE EUROPE MEDIA programme

WITH THE SUPPORT FROM

CENTRE NATIONAL du CINEMA et de L'IMAGE ANIMÉE

PROCIREP - SOCIÉTÉ DES PRODUCTEURS AND ANGOA

 

 

TC 01 :53 :07

SPECIAL THANKS TO

ICRICT - Tommaso Faccio

FRIEDRICH-EBERT-STIFTUNG - Sarah Ganter, Katharina Lepper

 

AND

Paola D'Amecourt - Nathalie Amsellem - Christian Chavagneux

Bertrand Faivre - Soledad Garcia Munoz - Coralie Guillot - Elezina Kalando

Yannick Lergoat - Ezekiel Lukwesa - Jessica Menendez

Matthieu Moulonguet - Chenai Mukumba - Alexandre Sadowsky

Vicente Silva Didier - Rafael Valdeavellano - Frédérique Zingaro

 

ACTIONAID INTERNATIONAL - Davi Archer, Maria Ron Balsera

ACTIONAID ZAMBIA - Bob Sianjalika

L'ATELIER PLANI - Stéphanie Herminie, Théodora Secchi, Thierry Seux

CTPD ZAMBIA - Isaac Mwaipopo

RTS - Maryline Thiriot, Anne-Cécile Richard

THE NORWEGIAN/SWEDISH CIRCLE PARIS - Camilla Stenberg

UNIVERSITY OF COLUMBIA - Andrea Gurwitt, Marianna Palumbo

YAMI 2 - Rebecca Wirth

 

 

TC 01:53:15

INTERNATIONAL SALES

JAVA Films

 

FESTIVALS

Norwegian Film Institute

 

ISAN : 0000-0006-5474-0000-8-0000-0000-D

© Mechanix Film / Yuzu Productions / ARTE G.E.I.E. – 2024