HSBC bank has just been caught red-handed helping
some of the world's mega-rich dodge taxes! We'd go to prison for this,
but governments are treating these powerful people like they're too big
to jail. Let's show them they're not.
Our governments are losing $3 trillion a year
to tax dodging -- enough to end extreme world poverty many times over!
This leak is the biggest in banking history -- if we don't seize it now
to get prosecutions, we may never get a chance like this again.
UK
finance minister Osborne faces an imminent election, while US Attorney
General Lynch is yet to be confirmed in her new job. They're both very
sensitive to the public right now, so our million-strong call, delivered
via ads and with legislators, could get them to investigate, prosecute,
and send the tax-dodging elite a powerful signal: no one is too big to jail!
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/hsbc_tax_dodge_loc/?bOUfzbb&v=53796
The
UK is HSBC's home country, and the UK and US have jurisdiction over
thousands of the tax-dodgers. If we get them to prosecute first, it
could trigger a worldwide wave of accountability.
The mega-rich often cause damaging financial crises with wild speculation,
get bailed out by taxpayers, then argue that public spending on schools
and hospitals should be slashed to meet the resulting deficits -- all
while many of them fail to pay their legal share of taxes! This
austerity-spiral is driving a rapid worldwide increase in inequality.
Just 85 billionaires have as much wealth as the poorest half of our planet -- wealth they too often use to buy politicians and capture our democracies to keep the whole system going in their favour.
It's time to stop this damaging downward spiral, and making the richest pay their taxes would be a massive step. Let's make it happen:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/hsbc_tax_dodge_loc/?bOUfzbb&v=53796
Avaaz
is all about the many gathering the power to stand up to the few. Law
is a contract that links us all together, equally. Thousands of the
world's most powerful think they're above it. For the sake of our
democracies and our societies, let's show them they're not.
With hope and determination,
Alex, Bert, Laila, Ricken, Marie, Andrew, Nell and the whole Avaaz team
MORE INFORMATION
HSBC could yet be prosecuted over tax-dodging scheme, warns Loretta Lynch (The Guardian)
http://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/feb/10/hsbc-tax-files-loretta-lynch-prosecution
HSBC bank ‘helped clients dodge millions in tax’ (BBC)http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31248913
Banking Giant HSBC Sheltered Murky Cash Linked to Dictators and Arms Dealers (ICIJ)http://www.icij.org/project/swiss-leaks/banking-giant-hsbc-sheltered-murky-cash-linked-dictators-and-arms-dealers
HSBC files show how Swiss bank helped clients dodge taxes and hide millions (The Guardian)
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/feb/08/hsbc-files-expose-swiss-bank-clients-dodge-taxes-hide-millions
Tax-havens: Super-rich ‘hiding’ at least $21tn (BBC)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18944097
Illicit Financial Flows from Africa: track it, stop it, get it (Africa Renewal)
http://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/december-2013/illicit-financial-flows-africa-track-it-stop-it-get-it