A motion on taxation and development was passed by General Synod today. The motion called on the General Synod of the Church of Ireland to 1) Recognise the importance of taxation in developing countries for ensuring development and building accountability between states and citizens; 2) Request that both the Irish Government and the British Government support the call for a new international accounting standard requiring companies to report on profits made and taxes paid in every country where they operate – so called country–by–country reporting.

Proposing the motion Bishop Trevor Williams said poor countries were losing $160bn through tax dodging. He said this money could be used to reach the UN Millennium Development Goals several times over, save the lives of 350,000 children every year or give poor countries of the world almost twice what they receive in international aid.

“This tax dodging isn’t always illegal. Multinational companies with subsidiaries across the globe can shift the paper trail of trade from county to county around the world, so that little or no tax is due to the country where the produce originated,” he explained.

Seconding the motion Mrs Sandra Dukelow (Cork Cloyne and Ross) said postcard campaigns did work. She highlighted the Pocket Guide to Tax Justice on how legal tax dodging works. She said that even the humble banana was subject to vast tax avoidance. She said the Church of Ireland’s sister churches had already passed the motion but she added that Synod should pass it not because of that but because it was the right thing to do.