George van Houts
(1958, Zaandam, The Netherlands) is a stand-up comedian and actor. He is known from his radio programme 'Radio Bergeijk, the stand-up comedian duo Van Houts en De Ket. He is member of the theatre company 'De verleiders' (The Persuadors) that makes theatre on topical subjects. Like a productions on real estate fraude, the banking sector and the pharmaceutical industry.
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Welcome to Tax Haven The Netherlands
With: Esmé Berkhout, George van Houts, Paul de Haan, Sheila Sitalsing
Why is The Netherlands called a tax haven? What about the deals that the Dutch government makes with multinationals on taxes, and what are the consequences of these deals for poor countries?
Journalist Sheila Sitalsing discussed this with a number of experts, including Esmé Berkhout of the Oxfam Novib Tax Justice campaign, with tax expert Paul de Haan, and with George van Houts, a Dutch theatre maker who is known for his productions on the financial crisis and the banking world. Together with people from the practice of tax negociations they gave us a picture of how these negociations go about, and why it works this way. Rich and poorer countries are competing - in an ever more free world market - to attract companies with attractive tax rulings. At the same time it costs these countries billions of euro's. Apple, Starbucks, and only just recent the German BASF are only a few examples of companies that make use of favourable tax rulings, made up by national goverments. What happens in those negociations with these companies? Who are the people who make these secret tax rulings, and what about the democratic control on this?
A programme in Dutch. In co-production with Oxfam Novib.