Citizens left with heartburn as McDonald?s takes the cream

Published on PSI (http://www.world-psi.org)
Accueil > Media Release: Unhappy Meal - Citizens left with heartburn as McDonald?s takes the cream
PSI 27 February 2014 ? McDonald?s aggressive tax planning has cost European countries
over 1 Billion Euros between 2009 and 2013
A coalition of European and American trade unions, joined by the antipoverty campaign group
War on Want, has unveiled a report about McDonald?s [1] deliberate avoidance of over 1
billion Euros in corporate tax over the five-year period, 2009 ? 2013.
The report outlines the tax strategy adopted by McDonald?s and its impact on tax collection in
countries such as France, Italy, Spain and the UK. The practice is based on moving the
European headquarters from the UK to Switzerland and using intra-group royalty payments
channelled through a Luxembourg based subsidiary with a Swiss Branch.
The report shows that the Luxembourg based structure, which employs 13 people, registered
a cumulative revenue of 3.7 billion Euro between 2009 ? 2013, on which it reported 16 million
euro in tax.
?Companies such as McDonald?s are mocking the European population when
they can so easily pay their workers? low wages and cream off the profits,? said
Rosa Pavanelli, PSI General Secretary.
?These arrangements are a scandal for our governments when they are claiming
that they do not have the taxes to pay for basic public services,? said Pavanelli.
?Instead of forcing austerity on working people, the European Commission should
be ensuring it collects taxes from the people who are making massive profits?.
?Who can be surprised that corporate profits and inequality grow while
unemployment rises and public services are cut, when we now know that
companies like McDonald?s shift their profits out of the countries that make them
wealthy. Everyone benefits when companies pay tax where they make the profits,?
she said.
McDonald?s is the largest fast food company in Europe, with 7850 stores and over 20 billion
in sales in 2013. McDonald?s European division accounts for almost 40 percent of the
companies operating income.
For more information:
Download a PDF of PSI's Press Release [2]
See the report Unhappy Meal [1]
See PSI's work on Public Funding and Tax Justice [3]
See the EPSU website No Tax Fraud [4]
See EPSU Press Release [5]
Pays:
Monde [6]
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L?Internationale des services publics (ISP) est une fédération syndicale internationale
représentant 20 millions de femmes et d?hommes qui travaillent dans les services publics de
154 pays à travers le monde. L'ISP défend les droits humains et la justice sociale et promeut
l'accès universel à des services publics de qualité. L'ISP travaille avec les Nations Unies et en
partenariat avec des organisations syndicales et de la société civile et d'autres organisations.
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E-mail:[email protected]
Source URL: http://www.world-psi.org/fr/node/7495
Links:
[1] http://www.world-psi.org/en/report-unhappy-meal
[2] http://www.world-psi.org/sites/default/files/attachment/media/en_macdonaldpressrelease.pdf
[3] http://www.world-psi.org/en/issue/public-fundingtaxation
[4] http://www.notaxfraud.eu/
[5] http://www.epsu.org/a/11173
[6] http://www.world-psi.org/fr/country/world