"No accounting for these people”: Shell in Ireland and accounting language

Accounting lays claims to be the language of business: a clear, technical, unambiguous means of communication for decisions on investment and economic development. Accounting concepts have increasingly entered mainstream debate on issues affecting society at large. This makes the fairness and effectiveness of accounting as a mode of communication more important for social justice than ever before. In a contentious development, if the discussion is framed primarily in accounting terms, this may disenfranchise those parties to the dispute whose issues are not readily expressed in the common vocabulary of business. Their concerns may become invisible in the debate. If this happens, then accounting has failed as a means of communication, and that failure is non-neutral in that it favours those whose position is best supported by economic arguments. This paper explores this phenomenon using the case of a dispute between Royal Dutch Shell and a local community in Ireland concerning a gas refinery located in an environmentally sensitive area. The issues in conflict are complex and at times intangible. I explore how the limitations of accounting as a language blinded the protagonists to an understanding of each other’s concerns, marginalised the concerns of protestors from the public discourse, shifting power from objectors within the local community to those whose primary concern was the economic exploitation of natural resources. I argue that accounting failed as a mode of communication to progress a resolution of the dispute, and that this failure was both unnecessary, and systematic in its support of economic interests

Driving the getaway car? Ireland, taxation and development

Taxation is about far more than revenue-raising: it concerns power and impacts taxpayer behaviour. It is pivotal in enhancing accountability and participation in young states through the bargaining process between a government and its citizens. Very significantly, it often has unexpected consequences, and the tax system of one country can easily have an impact on economic or social behaviour in another. Since business is now international, it is important that taxes are designed not only with a domestic agenda in mind, but with a view to their consequences internationally, particularly for vulnerable economies in the global South. The ability to collect tax is particularly important for Southern countries, for which it represents a far more sustainable solution to poverty than international aid. But Southern countries face particular challenges in this area. On a domestic level, there is the problem of how to tax a vast informal economy with little financial infrastructure. Southern taxing authorities struggle to collect revenue in the face of post-colonial attitudes resulting in poor tax compliance, relative tax complexity and poor taxpayer education, major gaps in their capacity, shifting tax structures often driven by IMF or World Bank lending, trade liberalisation, corruption and a deficient rule of law. On an international level, tax challenges for Southern countries include capital flight, a lack of relative power in negotiations around foreign direct investment (FDI), tax competition, transfer pricing abuse by multinational firms, secrecy in some tax haven jurisdictions, and isolation through a thin network of tax treaties. Mozambique was chosen for particular examination in Section 5 of this report because it is an Irish Aid priority country. The country has been through IMF-led tax reform, and illustrates many of the classic problems encountered by the taxing authorities of Southern countries. Suggested solutions to some of Mozambique's difficulties may be taken from the experience of other African countries. Ireland may pose an inadvertent threat to the tax capacity of Southern countries if its tax system is used by multinational firms as part of capital flight, or international tax evasion schemes.Ireland has attracted considerable foreign direct investment (FDI) through tax competition using a low rate of corporation tax, a wide network of double tax treaties and incentives for intellectual property to encourage multinational firms to locate in the country. Although Ireland has recently introduced new rules to counter transfer pricing abuse, these have significant weaknesses. There is a clear risk that without closing these gaps, our tax system can become a vehicle for complex tax avoidance schemes used by multinational firms to reduce their global tax liability. This is neither in the interests of countries which lose revenue to these firms, or in the interest of Ireland as a legitimate destination for FDI

Where’s the harm in tax competition? Lessons from US multinationals in Ireland

The term “harmful tax competition” has become endemic. It is taken as a tautology that competition among nations for the favors of multinational companies, using their tax systems as bait, is harmful. This is a view held even by those who believe competition to be an inherently good thing in most other areas of business. However, the nature of the harm is rarely analyzed, nor are the parties most harmed identified. This paper attempts to redress the balance. Using the case of technology-based US multinationals located in Ireland, it analyses the benefits and hazards to major stakeholders of tax rules that encourage multinationals to locate part of their operation offshore. I argue that tax competition, even that not considered harmful by the OECD, can damage not only the home country of the emigrating multinational, but also the host country gaining the investment, local communities and the environment

Revenue services and environmental taxes: a comparative study of the Irish and South African approaches to a levy on plastic bags

This paper examines at a levy on plastic bags introduced in Ireland in 2002, and a comparable measure phased in by South Africa from 2003. It looks at the approach taken by the Revenue in each case, and isolates key influences on the policy formation process. It assesses the effectiveness of each measure as an environmental tax, in terms of the potential to achieve a double dividend for the economy. It describes difficulties encountered in the introduction and implementation of the levies, and suggests refinements to improve the effectiveness of such levies if introduced in other jurisdictions

Environmental taxes and the double dividend hypothesis : a case study from Ireland

An environmental levy recently introduced in Ireland imposes a tax at the point of retail sale on lightweight plastic bags used by shoppers, previously supplied free of charge by retailers. This paper assesses the measure in terms of its environmental effectiveness and its ability to raise sufficient revenue net of collateral costs to reduce distortionary taxes. Post-implementation surveys of retailers and shoppers are presented, covering issues of implementation and attitudes to alternatives. Difficulties identified by respondents are analysed. Finally suggestions are made for modifications to the levy that would enhance its effectiveness if introduced in other jurisdictions

Financing the recycling of long life products under extended producer responsibility -a case study of PV

This paper presents an estimation of the quantities of WEEE arising for the Solar PV waste stream in Ireland up to the year 2050. Solar PV will be a new WEEE waste stream in Ireland, one which has a significantly longer lifetime compared to the majority of other WEEE streams. As such, the Solar PV WEEE recycling operations and considerations need to be financed. Estimations of the quantities of WEEE arising into the future will be essential for such financing decisions to be made at the present time. The work presented in this research estimates the quantities of Solar PV arising across both residential and commercial installations for Ireland up to the year 2050. It also discusses some of the options available to finance the recycling of this waste stream under an extended producer responsibility framework

Tax justice: the impact of global tax on developing countries and the role Ireland can play

Tax is the most sustainable source of development finance providing developing countries with revenue for investment in essential services and infrastructure, while promoting greater accountability between state and citizen. Yet the sovereign right of government to tax economic activity has been undermined by increasingly globalised capital flows, a number of commonly prescribed tax policies which form part of the so called “tax consensus” – a concept increasingly challenged in the wake of the financial crisis – and by the exploitation of loopholes between jurisdictions by individuals and multinationals. It is estimated that corporate tax evasion costs developing countries $160 billion each year – greater than the global aid budget. This paper explores recent developments in global taxation and their impact on developing countries. Key questions are raised regarding Ireland’s role within this global system of capital movement. Findings suggest that tax competition and the lack of international tax cooperation are harmful for developing countries and that Ireland should consider the impact of its tax policy on development, both domestically and in international negotiation