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Tax haven and development partner : incoherence in Dutch government policies?


Document type: report
Download file(s): 128630 (543 KB)
Abstract: The Netherlands can be considered as a tax haven for multinational corporations, because it deliberately enables these companies to reduce their tax payments in other countries. As a result, the Netherlands hosts over 10,000 subsidiaries of foreign multinationals, so called Special Financial Institutions, that are used for international tax planning constructions. Together, they control over € 1,000 billion of assets or 13% of global inward FDI stock. This includes € 90 billion in developing countries. Apart from being a tax haven for multinationals, the Netherlands is also a donor country for international development. As such, it is committed to develop an international financial system that is supportive of poverty reduction. In 2006, the Dutch government provided € 4.3 billion in Official Development Assistance. This report estimates that as a consequence of the tax haven features of the Netherlands, developing countries are missing between € 100 million to € 1 billion in tax revenues each year. One rough estimate yields a figure of € 640 million per year, which is equal to 15% of the Dutch official aid budget. This raises the question of whether Dutch tax policy is coherent with Dutch policy on development cooperation. It would be in the interest of developing countries to minimize harmful tax planning opportunities. The report presents recommendations to the Dutch government to combat tax havens, end harmful group financing regimes, support tax authorities abroad, and increase disclosure requirements for multinationals.
Authors: Weyzig, F. , Dijk, M. van
Country: Netherlands
Category: Research
ISBN: 978-90-71284-14-4
Keywords: finance
Language: eng
Organization: SOMO - Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations
PAGE: 48
Place: Amsterdam
Publisher: SOMO
Year: 2007
Region: Western Europe
Right: © 2007 SOMO This document is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivateWorks 2.5 License
Subject: Economic Development and Trade
Title: Tax haven and development partner : incoherence in Dutch government policies?