FATCA Just a Band Aid for Latin American Tax Evasion Inter Press Service Cites TJN's Andrés Knobel, pointing out that the limiting factor for developing countries is that FATCA is bilateral. See also: FATCA: Dropping the bomb The Economist - The article is quite harshly critical of FATCA, but does … [Read more...]
Archives for 2014
Quote of the day: opium and competitiveness
From a book called The Opium Wars, one of Britain's less honourable (to put it mildly) historical escapades, a statement that was prompted by moves in Britain towards stopping the opium trade: "Her Majesty's government should do nothing to place in peril our opium revenues. As for preventing the … [Read more...]
Quote of the day: Christine Lagarde
As reported by Tax-News, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said: "There would be more revenue for all if countries resisted the temptation to compete with each other on taxes to attract business. By definition, a race to the bottom leaves everybody at the bottom." Interestingly enough, she … [Read more...]
Links Jul 3
Africa: Regional integrated tax systems needed to curb illicit financial flows New Vision See also: Why Africa Must be at Heart of Global Tax Reforms Chimpreports.com Switzerland Agrees Tax Regime Review With EU Tax-News … [Read more...]
Barclays sheds some light on its financial affairs, country by country
Richard Murphy, who pioneered the concept of Country by Country reporting, has produced an important analysis of the data revealed in one of the first such published reports, from UK-based Barclays bank. Among many other things, he says: "This analysis suggests that Barclays is massively … [Read more...]
Press Release: European Commission hires transparency opponent to assess corporate transparency
TJN is a signatory to the following letter, and this press release: Press Release: CSOs protest as European Commission hires opponent of corporate transparency to assess corporate transparency After strongly opposing any publication of data from corporate country by country reporting, … [Read more...]
Links Jul 1
Offshore Tax Crackdown Opens With 30% Penalties for Banks Bloomberg See also: FATCA Is Finally Here -- Even In Russia & China Forbes Swiss banks to tell all under FATCA swissinfo While events are moving in the right direction, such declarations remain something of a smokescreen, as assets … [Read more...]
Over 95% of Britons want a more progressive tax system
From The Equality Trust, in a report on the United Kingdom: "Public support for a more progressive tax system is high. Over eight in ten (82%) believe that households in the highest 10% income group should pay a greater proportion of their income in tax than those in the bottom 10%. An even … [Read more...]
Quote of the day: big accountancy firms have a human rights problem
From Prem Sikka our quote of the day comes from an article entitled Big accountancy firms have a human rights problem: "In many other organisations such subversion of the human rights would be considered to be a badge of shame. At major accountancy firms it is increasingly considered to be a sign … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper: a week in tax justice
Updated with a clarification of Prince Charles' tax affairs. The Offshore Wrapper is written by George Turner Democracy is bad for you In move that can only be described as nuts, the big four accountancy firms, PWC, Deloitte, Ernst and Young and KPMG have clubbed together to take out a … [Read more...]
Links Jun 30
Argentina's Vice President Charged With Bribery abc news Vice president accused of hiding behind a shell company so he and other secret partners could benefit from unusual tax exemptions and lucrative government contracts. Zambia Refusing to Release $600 Million in VAT Refunds to Mining … [Read more...]
Manhattan real estate: a little tax haven in America
From New York Magazine, a long article about the high-end New York property market, echoing recent stories (such as this one) about One Hyde Park and the British tax haven. "Those with less reflexively hostile reactions to foreign buying competition might still wonder: Who are these people? An … [Read more...]
Quote of the day on the OECD’s tax project: “let’s hope nothing happens”
From the Financial Times, in a story about a conference on the OECD's much-discussed BEPS project to reform international tax rules for transnational corporations: “The gameplan is to be positive but hope as little as possible happens,” is how Paul Oosterhuis, a tax partner of Skadden Arps, the US … [Read more...]
Big Four firms officially sell out Hong Kong’s democracy movement
Updated with commentary from the Financial Times and Bloomberg: see below CNBC is reporting: "As a pro-democracy movement gains steam in Hong Kong, some worry the campaign could hurt the city's competitiveness and rattle its financial market." One could unpack that short sentence and probably … [Read more...]
The Swiss commodity black hole: a bizarre new government proposal
From the Berne Declaration and Swissaid: "The Federal Council today announced its wish to close the Swiss gaps in transparency for the global commodity industry. But the entire commodities trading business may well be excluded from any future regulation." … [Read more...]
