An Open Knowledge Foundation Site
logo Planet Open Knowledge

You are browsing the archive for 2019 July.

Why greater tax transparency is needed to help fix the broken global tax system

- July 30, 2019 in Open Knowledge

Public CBCR by Financial Transparency Coalition is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

The international tax system is broken and in need of urgent updating to address issues which allow globalised businesses to move their profits and intellectual property around the world, often to locations where they pay the least tax. Indeed some economists estimate that “close to 40% of multinational profits are shifted to tax havens globally each year” with many of the world’s most important tax havens being connected to the UK. The digital services taxes being proposed by countries such as France and the UK arise from frustrations with the slow pace of progress towards an internationally-agreed solution.  Those processes may continue to be held back by reactions from the US – where many of the largest digital businesses originate – or countries such as Ireland which corporations like Facebook may have chosen as their European base for beneficial tax reasons. The EU has so far failed to pass its own legislation to better tax digital businesses although the incoming president of the European Commission recently stated that the EU must act by the end of 2020 if no other international solution is agreed.  The OECD is currently in discussions about a new programme of work to “develop a consensus solution to the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy. This work is expected to conclude by the end of 2020 and establish a follow-up to their anti tax avoidance Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. However the BEPS process has been criticised as being biased towards rich countries prompting calls – from the G77 coalition of developing nations, China and others, most recently Norway – for the United Nations to set up a UN tax body to create a truly global solution to modern taxation. Tech giants such as Google, Amazon and Facebook may be some of the most high-profile examples of companies using complicated tax structuring that the public is aware of – thanks to years of media reporting and targeted campaigning – but the problem is systemic. Tax justice advocates – such as those that the Open Knowledge Foundation helped convene for our Open Data for Tax Justice project – argue that the world’s tax systems need to be fundamentally restructured and have also pushed for a variety of measures sometimes summed up as the ABCs of tax transparency. A stands for automatic exchange of information where countries can more easily share tax data on individuals or businesses. B stands for beneficial ownership where the issue of opaque company ownership is addressed by publishing public registers of who owns or runs companies and trusts. C stands for country-by-country reporting where corporations would be required to publish details about the tax they pay, people they employ and profits they make in each country where they operate to build up a better picture of their activities. Taken together, it is believed that such transparency measures would shine a light on the insalubrious practices currently being used by multinational corporations in order to help the push to crack down on abuses as exposed by investigations such as the Mauritius Leaks, Paradise Papers and Panama Papers. The BEPS process has seen pushed automatic exchange of information forwards and many countries are joining the drive for beneficial ownership transparency (see the OpenOwnership project for more). There are also steps being taken towards making country-by-country reporting public, but progress is slow.  Two years after the EU voted in favour of publishing public country-by-country reporting information as open data for all large corporations operating in Europe, the issue remains stuck in trilogue discussions at the EU Council. Meanwhile others are taking on the issue including international accounting standards setters and civil society efforts such as the Fair Tax Mark. We believe that a lack of transparency in current country-by-country reporting standards will fail to build confidence in the treatment of corporations, missing an important opportunity to build tax morale and wider public support for tax compliance.  Research has shown how restricting access to country-by-country reporting exacerbates global inequalities in taxing rights while civil society organisations have set out why public country-by-country reporting is a must for large multinationals to create an “effective deterrent of aggressive tax avoidance and profit shifting”. We urge all policymakers working on tax issues to prioritise increased tax transparency as an essential strand of modernising the global taxation system as a way to improve public trust and ensure corporate compliance.

Comments Off on Why greater tax transparency is needed to help fix the broken global tax system

Brilliant Visions: Peyote among the Aesthetes

- July 25, 2019 in aesthetes, Arthur Symons, drugs, early use of mescaline, early use of peyote, early use of psychedelics, Featured Articles, Havelock ellis, mescaline, peyote, psychedelics, Science & Medicine, Silas Weir Mitchell

Used by the indigenous peoples of the Americas for millennia, it was only in the last decade of the 19th century that the powerful effects of mescaline began to be systematically explored by curious non-indigenous Americans and Europeans. Mike Jay looks at one such pioneer Havelock Ellis who, along with his small circle of fellow artists and writers, documented in wonderful detail his psychedelic experiences.

Comments Off on Brilliant Visions: Peyote among the Aesthetes

Brilliant Visions: Peyote among the Aesthetes

- July 25, 2019 in Uncategorized

Used by the indigenous peoples of the Americas for millennia, it was only in the last decade of the 19th century that the powerful effects of mescaline began to be systematically explored by curious non-indigenous Americans and Europeans. Mike Jay looks at one such pioneer Havelock Ellis who, along with his small circle of fellow artists and writers, documented in wonderful detail his psychedelic experiences.

Comments Off on Brilliant Visions: Peyote among the Aesthetes

The Golfer’s Rubáiyát and other 20th-Century Parodies

- July 24, 2019 in Edward FitzGerald, golf, metaphysics, parody, The Rubáiyát, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám has inspired parodies by cat lovers and car lovers. But it seems to have found a special place in the hearts of golfers.

Comments Off on The Golfer’s Rubáiyát and other 20th-Century Parodies

The Golfer’s Rubáiyát and other 20th-Century Parodies

- July 24, 2019 in Uncategorized

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám has inspired parodies by cat lovers and car lovers. But it seems to have found a special place in the hearts of golfers.

Comments Off on The Golfer’s Rubáiyát and other 20th-Century Parodies

O que rolou na Hackfest do MPRN

- July 23, 2019 in Destaque, Open Knowledge Brasil

Na última semana, o Mário Sérgio marcou presença na Hackfest 2019 para falar um pouco das novidades da Operação Serenata de Amor e dos outros projetos que tocamos dentro da Open Knowledge, como o Perfil Político. O evento, organizado pelo MPRN, pode ser dividido em dois grandes momentos. No primeiro, vimos a reunião de universitários de todo o nordeste engajados em torno de um hackathon, mote do evento, para desenvolver soluções com dados para beneficiar a sociedade. A ideia do evento é promover o uso de dados abertos e, para isso, além do hackathon, também há palestras de diferentes temas dentro da área. Foi isso que nosso ilustre Mário foi fazer por lá. Para inspirar os participantes, a programação de palestras trazia diferentes apresentações de uso de dados: pessoas do governo, representantes de ONGs e até do mercado expuseram seu trabalho e participaram do debate. A Rosie estava lá no meio. E por falar em Rosie, não foram apenas os universitários que ficaram tocados pela nossa inteligência artificial. Alguns servidores, presentes na palestra do Mário, se interessaram em uma possível colaboração entre a gestão pública e a OKBR. Quem sabe em breve anunciamos algumas novidades nesse sentido? Por fim, o evento deixou um recado: é preciso trabalhar sim para a abertura de dados, porém, com os dados que temos, já é possível desenvolver soluções para a gestão pública e para a sociedade civil. Faz parte de um conceito que nós já falamos há algum tempo: trabalhar e dar sentido aos dados é uma forma de garantir mais transparência e maior abertura de dados, também. Saímos do Rio Grande do Norte motivados. Obrigado, Hackfest. Obrigado, universitários do Nordeste. Com certeza nos vemos em breve. Flattr this!

Comments Off on O que rolou na Hackfest do MPRN

The Unicorn Tapestries (1495–1505)

- July 23, 2019 in allegory, hunting, medieval, middle ages, tapestries, unicorns

The enigmatic story of the Unicorn Tapestries, whose multifarious medieval symbolism still beguiles.

Comments Off on The Unicorn Tapestries (1495–1505)

The Unicorn Tapestries (1495–1505)

- July 23, 2019 in allegory, hunting, medieval, middle ages, tapestries, unicorns

The enigmatic story of the Unicorn Tapestries, whose multifarious medieval symbolism still beguiles.

Comments Off on The Unicorn Tapestries (1495–1505)

The Unicorn Tapestries (1495–1505)

- July 23, 2019 in Uncategorized

The enigmatic story of the Unicorn Tapestries, whose multifarious medieval symbolism still beguiles.

Comments Off on The Unicorn Tapestries (1495–1505)

Auflösung von Open Knowledge Forum Österreich

- July 18, 2019 in Verein

Wir müssen euch heute eine traurige Information übermitteln: Open Knowledge Forum Österreich, der Verein hinter dem österreichischen Chapter von Open Knowledge, hat in seiner letzten Vollversammlung am 12.12.2018 seine Auflösung beschlossen. Dies ist das Ende eines bereits länger anhaltenden Prozesses. Wir haben uns in den letzten Jahren dagegen gestemmt, doch das schwierige finanzielle Umfeld in Österreich sowie in der EU, Veränderungen in den Lebensumständen bei einigen Mitgliedern sowie der ein oder andere Fehler unsererseits haben dazu geführt, dass sich kein neues Vorstands-Team finden ließ um den Verein weiter zu führen. Dies tut uns allen aufrichtig leid. Mit diesem Schritt möchten wir das Thema “Freies Wissen” wieder freigeben und anderen die Möglichkeit bieten, es aufzugreifen und ihre eigene Geschichte zu beginnen, anstatt darauf sitzen zu bleiben und damit neuen Entwicklungen im Wege zu stehen. Ein paar Details zur aktuell stattfindenden Abwicklung: Bei der Vollversammlung wurde die gedrittelte Aufteilung des Vereinsvermögens an Wikimedia Österreich, Open Knowledge Maps und dem Forum Informationsfreiheit beschlossen. Das Projekt Offene Wahlen Österreich wird zum Verein Forum Informationsfreiheit wandern, der Open Data Inside Badge zu Open3. Alle Social Media und Kommunikations-Services werden stillgelegt bzw. geschlossen (z.B. Facebook Page, Meetup, Mailinglists, Slack), nur die Website, Twitter sowie GitHub bleiben ohne Aktivitäten zu Archivzwecken online. Damit die Community in Kontakt und am Thema dran bleiben kann, laden wir euch herzlich ins Open Knowledge International Forum ein. Weiters möchten wir auf ideell nahestehende Organisationen wie Wikimedia Österreich, Forum Informationsfreiheit, Open3.at, Epicenter Works, sowie unserer Dachorganisation Open Knowledge International hinweisen. Doch ein Ende kann auch ein Neuanfang sein. Der Verein Open Knowledge Österreich löst sich hiermit auf, doch das heißt nicht, dass nicht vielleicht eine neue Gruppe sich aktiv mit Freiem Wissen beschäftigt und das Austrian Chapter von Open Knowledge sein möchte. Infos dazu gibt es auf deren Website. Zum Schluss möchten wir uns herzlich bei euch – der Open Community – bedanken. Wir finden, wir haben gemeinsam Einiges erreicht. Österreich braucht sich bei Open Data und Open Science nicht zu verstecken, auch wenn noch viel zu tun ist. Wir erinnern uns an produktive Veranstaltungen, an denen Wissen geteilt, gehackt, kampagnisiert und diskutiert wurde. Vielen Dank für eure zahlreichen und wertvollen Ideen, eure Zeit und eure positive Energie, um die Welt offener und freier zu gestalten. Danke! Der Vorstand von Open Knowledge Forum Österreich.

Comments Off on Auflösung von Open Knowledge Forum Österreich