https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTB90Ulu_5E#action=share
Bermuda, Cyprus, Germany, Gibraltar, India, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, United States Source: http://www.icij.org/project/luxembourg-leaks/explore-documents-luxembourg-leaks-database
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PEPSI BOTTLING GROUP
Associated countries: (Nine of them)
Associated countries: (Nine of them)
VISUALIZING LUXEMBOURG: NOT YOUR TYPICAL TAX HAVEN
Corporate structures, tax strategies, Luxembourg subsidiaries - they're not concepts that lend themselves to easy visualization or even simple explanations for readers unfamiliar with the topic.
More than 80 reporters from 26 countries sifted through up to 1,000 leaked documents and collaborated across borders to tell the Luxembourg Leaks story on multiple platforms. But one of the main difficulties reporters faced was translating the complexity of the financial arrangements laid out in the leaked documents to language and examples that a broad audience could understand. The animation, Luxembourg Leaks: Tricks of the Trade, produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center, played an important role in making the arcane accessible.
This video, which was made available to media partners for publication in different languages, uses animation to help audiences understand how well-known corporations (including brand-name goods and services many of us use everyday) use tax loopholes with Luxembourg's explicit consent, all within the legal and political boundaries of the EU, rather than through a far-flung rogue island operator.
Within such a large, international project, the vision was to produce an animation that gave audiences an illustrated taste of the complex strategies companies used to exploit Luxembourg’s tax loopholes. The aim was to have a finished product that would be shareable and broadly educational, but still entertaining.
As producer, I worked alongside Hamish Boland-Rudder and Marina Walker Guevara of ICIJ to make the animation script as clear as possible. A major challenge was illustrating these complex financial concepts that don’t really lend themselves to narrative or engaging visuals. Rather than relying on infographics (a common visual feature for videos on this topic), we decided to introduce a central fictional character, Bob, to serve as our everyman and allow viewers to relate to the topic from a human perspective, rather than relying on complex graphics or wordy explanations. Bob has two purposes in the animation: to act as a foil for the audience, exhibiting surprise and incredulity, and - more importantly - to answer the question, "why does this matter?"
Humor is always a great tool in engaging and retaining viewers. We know that most people envision tropical islands in the Caribbean when they hear the words 'tax haven.' We decided to visually contrast this image with the depiction of small, rainy Luxembourg at the beginning of the video.
Marcelo Anez, four time Grammy award-winning sound engineer, added humor to the sound design by mixing in comedic cues. Instead of a musical score - often overused in animation videos - he created an audio world for Bob to live in. It's a world in which "For Sale" signs are plucked out of the ground with a "ploing" and accountants swarm corporate offices to the "ca-ching" sound of cash registers.
To better serve ICIJ’s global media partners, we created two versions of the video - one with dialogue, and one without, to allow partners to run the animation with their own audio track, in another language. English dialogue was created with an international outlook: the characters in the animation use American accents, but the narrator is Australian. Even animated language was carefully considered – written words are used sparingly and are simple, and even the name of the company, ‘Colossal’, was checked to ensure it was easily understandable by a European audience as much as an English-speaking audience.
The animation style is purposely unfinished, and color is only used for important elements, so as to avoid being too culturally-specific.
Our intention is to reach as wide an audience as possible; showing the world how Luxembourg's 29% corporate tax rate can be cut to almost zero, and drawing attention to the European Commission's investigation of these tax rulings as the former prime minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker takes over the presidency of the European Commission.
The end result is a video that has been translated into at least six languages by ICIJ's partners, and is helping people around the world access a deeply complex story. Thanks Bob!
- Hans-Juergen Bucher · Follow · Prof at University of TrierDas International Consortium of Investigative Jouranlism hat sich eine lustige Visualisierung der Luxemburgischen Steuertricksereien einfallen lassen. Ein "Bild" sagt nie mehr als tausend Worte, aber manchmal hilft es, die richtigen Worte zu hören. Google transalte: The International Consortium of Investigative Jouranlism has come up with a fun visualization of the Luxembourg Steuertricksereien. An "image" never says more than a thousand words, but sometimes it helps to hear the words.
‘LUX LEAKS’ CAUSES ‘TAX STORM’ OF GOVERNMENT, MEDIA RESPONSE
Public officials across the globe reacted with swift condemnation and calls for reform following ICIJ’sinvestigation into secret tax deals between Luxembourg and hundreds of international corporations.
The New York Times said the revelations have sparked a “rising furor” in Europe. Reuters called the reaction a “tax storm.” Response has been especially instense in Brussels, where the European Commission has been seeking to eliminate tax havens within the European Union.
Reporting by ICIJ and its partners was based on a leak of 548 private tax rulings – also known as “comfort letters” – negotiated by accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers on behalf of more than 340 multinational corporations. The documents provided a road map into how corporations shave billions of dollars in taxes by routing profits through Luxembourg.
At the center of the “Lux Leaks” controversy is Jean-Claude Juncker, new president of the European Commission. Juncker was Luxembourg’s prime minister at the time many of the country’s tax-avoidance rules were enacted.
Among the latest impacts and responses:
- European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is facing increasing pressure over the 'Lux Leaks' revelations, after a strongly-worded editorial from media organization Bloomberg calling for Juncker’s resignation was widely reported by anumber of media outlets. Ructions from within the European Parliament have also been growing, with left-wing parties gathering support for a censure motion against their newly-elected President, and many other MEPs calling for Juncker to address the Parliament and the public and respond to concerns regarding Luxembourg’s tax policies under his tenure as the Duchy’s prime minister.Juncker himself has not made any public comments since stories were first published but is expected to make an appearance at the G20 meeting in Australia on November 15 and 16. Meanwhile, a number of European Parliament groups have reportedly agreed to debate the issues raised by ‘Lux Leaks’ in Juncker’s absence.
- Meanwhile, Juncker has found some support from sources both near and far. Pierre Moscovici, European Commissioner for economics, repeated comments that Juncker was the right person to preside over the European Commission, and that Juncker believed in a “world of fiscal transparency.” An editorial in Cayman Islands’ Cayman Compass media outlet also voiced support for Juncker, based on the principle that “every country must be able to write and enforce its own tax laws.” Luxembourg’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jean Asselborn, in an interview with German outlet Der Spiegel, pledged to change Luxembourg’s tax policies and put an end to tax avoidance schemes.
- French Finance Minister Michel Sapin spoke to media after a meeting of the European finance ministers, and said “taxes must be paid be it by individuals or business and no one has the right – even legally—to place themselves beyond this obligation.” He added that “the Commission now has a chance to show it is a real commission and that it has the will to put an end to situations like this.”
- In the U.K., Margaret Hodge, a member of Parliament and chair of the Public Accounts Committee, called on Juncker to break his silence and explain his actions. “How can we know he’s working in the interest of Europe when as prime minister [in Luxembourg] he exploited populations in every European country and elsewhere for decades?” Hodge asked.
- In Belgium, the government of Prime Minister Charles Michel condemned secret tax rulings obtained by the country’s richest family, the de Spoelberch dynasty, and by such big companies as Lhoist and Belgacom. Belgian finance minister Johan Van Overtveldt has ordered an investigation into all the tax rulings published by ICIJ that relate to Belgium. Particular attention has been drawn to a tax deal obtained from Luxembourg by Belgacom, a telecom operator that is 53 percent owned by the Belgian government. Minister Alexander De Croo, who supervises state companies, said he would have never allowed such a deal under his watch. ICIJ’s Belgian reporters have been asked to testify before Parliament about the deal.
- Luxembourg has continued to defend itself in the face of this global criticism, saying that it follows all international rules and treaties. Pierre Gramegna, Luxembourg’s finance minister, pledged at the meeting of economic ministers in Brussels that his country will “cooperate fully” with the European Commission’s continuing probe into Luxembourg tax rulings. “For Luxembourg it is not acceptable that companies, through a combination of national regulation and international conventions, reach a situation where they have no tax or just symbolic taxes. This is something that should concern us all,” Gramegna said.
- In Germany, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, told German lawmakers that Luxembourg has “a lot to do” to meet global standards based on the ICIJ findings. At the same time, Sven Giegold, a spokesman for Alliance90/Greens political party said ICIJ’s revelations are “a major blow” to Juncker’s credibility.“There has never been such concrete evidence of the extent multinational corporations go to avoid their tax responsibility but also of the role of state actors in facilitating this,’’ he said. “The fact that EU commission president Juncker served as Luxembourg’s finance and prime minister throughout this period makes him directly complicit in this mass corporate tax avoidance.”
- Australian tax authorities said they are increasing efforts to make sure companies pay tax on the income they earn in Australia. “We are very aware that taking action with those who do not do the right thing is critical to community confidence in our fairness and integrity, and ultimately the sustainability of the system,” Chris Jordan, Australia’s commissioner of taxation, said. Jordan added that he has written to other countries asking them to collaborate on a “joint investigation” of the data made public by ICIJ and its partners.
- In Denmark, Danish Tax Minister Benny Engelbrecht, told the national radio network, DR, that he planned to push Margrethe Vestager, the European competition commissioner, to take action on Luxembourg’s corporate tax deals. “It smells like illegal state aid,” Engelbrecht said. “I will contact the European Commission and have great hopes that Margrethe Vestager will act on this.”
- The Price We Pay - MovieJoin us on The Price We Pay's FB page to discuss tax havens. It's a film by Harold Crooks on how tax evasion is destroying our democracies.
- Erika Kreis · Top Commenter · University of ManitobaCanada is unrelentingly quiet. A federal crown corporation was avoiding taxes using this method...the corporation was "advised" by their financial people that they could do this! Thank you ICIJ!
- Michael Mogensen · Works at EverywhereJuncker shall not resign. He shall be fired, without pension. Hope Margrethe Vestager has got the balls to take on the crooked power elite.
- Валентина Владимирская · Follow · Top Commenter · Works at Веб-портал ZONA.kzWhat are the chances for real change? Or Junker resign and Luxembourg remain the same quiet tax haven?
