THE PRICE WE PAY

Canada, 2014, 93 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Harold Crooks.
This is a documentary on the history and present-day reality of big-business tax avoidance, which has seen multinationals depriving governments of trillions of dollars in tax revenues by harboring profits in offshore havens.

Gives a number of examples of companies which operate in this way as well as detailing the countries who offer these safe havens.

The film makes the distinction between tax avoidance and tax evasion. The former tries to work within legal prescriptions – though, not necessarily, moral prescriptions – while the latter is criminal behaviour.

The film is based on a book by Brigitte Alepin, La Crise fiscale que vient.

From the website for the film: “A documentary about the dark history and dire present-day reality of big-business tax avoidance, which has seen multinationals depriving governments of trillions of dollars in tax revenues by harboring profits in offshore havens. Tax havens, originally created by London bankers in the 50s, today put over half the world’s stock of money beyond reach of public treasuries.
Nation states are being reshaped by this offshoring of the world’s wealth. Tax avoidance by big corporations and the wealthy – citizens of nowhere for tax purposes – is paving the way to historic levels of inequality and placing the tax burden on the middle class and the poor. Crusading journalists, tax justice campaigners and former finance and technology industry insiders speak frankly about the accelerating trends that are carrying the Western world to an unsustainable future.”
The material of the film is quite disturbing, especially in the light of later revelations, especially the so-called Panama Papers of 2016.

However, the film has a limited emotional impact with its constant succession of talking heads, making the film more like a lecture rather than a cinema experience.