Event: Tackling tax havens

6 September 2012: Ethical Consumer magazine to host event tackling the issue of tax justice on 28 September

Building on the success of their recent Olympic tax avoidance campaign Ethical Consumer magazine is this month hosting an event on the issue of tax justice. Campaigners and experts will join members of the public to discuss the impact of tax havens the world over and talk about what action can be taken to halt their use.

Speakers include tax expert Richard Murphy whose highly influential blog, Tax Research UK, has helped bring the issue to the attention of the public and begin to force the debate. He'll be joined by Chris Jordon from leading campaign group ActionAid as they discuss the impact of tax avoidance on the developing world and the need for country by country reporting.

The debate will later move onto a local level with UK Uncut discussing the success of their street level actions and continuing campaign against the UK's worst corporate tax avoiders.

Tim Hunt and Leonnie Nimmo will then talk about Ethical Consumer's exciting new tax justice campaign. They are hoping to follow the lead of French campaigners and work alongside local councils to introduce criteria into public sector procurement that will stop public contracts going to companies that use tax havens.

Organiser Tim Hunt said, ‘The tax justice movement is really gaining momentum from the introduction of country by country reporting in Norway to procurement criteria in French municipalities.

We hope that this event will inspire more people to take action against those companies avoiding tax and to start to pressure local councils in making positive changes to their procurement procedures here in the UK. In this time of great austerity we need corporations paying their fair share of tax to help ensure the survival of our public services.’

The event, ‘Tackling Tax Havens: From the Cayman Islands to Your Local Council’, takes place on Friday 28 September 2012 at the Amnesty International UK Human Rights Action Centre (17-25 New Inn Yard London EC2A3EA).

You can register now by emailing Tim Hunt via this web form: http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/contactus.aspx or for more details call 0161 226 2929 or visit the website www.ethicalconsumer.org/aboutus/membersarea/agms.aspx