The Price We Pay
The Price We Pay
| 05 September 2014 (USA)
The Price We Pay Trailers

A documentary on the history and present-day reality of big-business tax avoidance, which has seen multinationals depriving governments of trillions of dollars in tax revenues by harboring profits in offshore havens.

Reviews
Judith Martin

Spoiler: tax havens are bad for us. And they are created above all by the UK and north American governments (although the Canadian featured contrives to set one up in the UK jurisdiction of the Cayman Islands, not in Canada). Even Singapore, which is pretty tax-haven-friendly, manages more constraints against outright piracy than the English-speaking nations.A series of talking-head interviews, some putting the case for allowing tax avoidance (or evasion), mostly pointing out how damaging it is for society as a whole.The best gag, very subtly illustrated: a tax-haven advocate complains that the Tax Justice Network and suchlike as having no economic expertise. Then each critical speaker is shown with their background and pedigree: they come from the likes of McKinsey, the big banks, the audit firms, academia. The difference is that, having seen how the scams happen, they see the harm done and seek to prevent it. And of course they have expertise by the bucket- load.Sole problem: when does it come out in the UK or the US? It can't only be in France. As a UK citizen watching in France I was ashamed.

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