From the Equity and Justice Working Group Bangladesh: "No exclusive research or study (has been) conducted so far in Bangladesh to identify what amount of money has been evaded the MNCs out of the payable taxes." … [Read more...]
Archives for 2014
Quote of the day: Panama
A quote about the tax haven of Panama: "The country is filled with dishonest lawyers, dishonest bankers, dishonest company formation agents and dishonest companies. The Free Trade Zone is the black hole through which Panama has become one of the filthiest money laundering sinks in the world." - … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper: a week in tax justice
The Offshore Wrapper is written by George Turner End of anonymous companies in the U.S.? The US congress looks like it may follow the European Parliament’s lead and approve legislation limiting anonymous shell companies. A draft law to stop anonymous shell companies has started picking up … [Read more...]
Treasure Islands – now in Spanish
We are delighted to announce - finally - that Treasure Islands is now available in Spanish. Details here. Please forward to anyone who might be interested. Read praise for Treasure Islands here. Update: A list of all the different editions of Treasure Islands, beyond the original UK … [Read more...]
EU Savings Tax Directive moves forwards
Update: new details about how the EC sees the EUSTD meshing with other initiatives. We recently wrote that there were positive signs that the all-important Amendments to the European Union Savings Tax Directive was likely to be approved, in the face of long-standing intransigence by Luxembourg, … [Read more...]
Swiss tax treaty policy thwarts new era of automatic information exchange
We recently wrote about a new double tax agreement (DTA) signed on March 20th with Argentina. This is the latest in a series of worrying DTAs that Switzerland has been signing with countries from the Global South, despite the OECD Global Forum’s explicit criticism of Switzerland for signing only … [Read more...]
TJN response: the UK Law Commission and investment intermediaries
PRESS RELEASE The UK Law Commission consultation on the fiduciary duties of investment intermediaries: Response from the Tax Justice Network … [Read more...]
Links Mar 21
Luxembourg Signs Up to EU Savings-Tax Agreement, Ending Deadlock Bloomberg Bettel: “With Austria, Luxembourg can go ahead and give the green light for the EU savings directive”. See also: Austria, Luxembourg Accept EU Bank-Secrecy Law The Wall Street Journal - Bloc Promises to Push Switzerland, … [Read more...]
The March 2014 Taxcast: Russia, Ukraine, Londongrad
In the March 2014 Taxcast: Russia, Ukraine, Londongrad and the offshore threat to global security. Also, modern day colonialism? Niger battles France over fairer revenues for its uranium; it's official - inequality IS bad for economic growth: the IMF becomes an unlikely advocate for tax justice. And … [Read more...]
Ukraine’s dirty money: the Cambridge University connection
Update: the Daily Mail covers our story here. It seems that Britain’s Cambridge University hasn’t learned anything from the London School of Economics (LSE). The LSE was red faced in 2011 when it was revealed that they had received millions from the Gadhafi regime. The scandal led to a … [Read more...]
Secrecy jurisdictions already aiming at loopholes in OECD project
We have been rather complimentary recently about the OECD's emerging project to deliver automatic information exchange globally. It contains many positive (and important elements), but we also noted some shortcomings. One of the loopholes we noted was: "It is increasingly easy for individuals to … [Read more...]
A small but telling victory in London’s offshore housing crisis
Guest blog by George Turner One to the most pronounced and damaging impacts of offshore finance in London is the housing crisis. In London a home is no longer a home, but an investment product. The offshore system allows questionable money from all over the world to be effectively laundered … [Read more...]
Links Mar 20
Havens set deadline for reporting investors’ tax details Financial Times (paywall) The British Virgin Islands, Liechtenstein and Jersey are among 44 countries that have set a deadline of September 2017 for reporting investors’ tax details to their home governments, under pioneer plans aimed at … [Read more...]
Putin, the U.S. and the City of London: The Much-Too-Special-Relationship
From the New York Times, an article by former Moscow mayoral candidate Alexey Navalny that begins with the words "As I write this, I am under house arrest." He argues: "Western nations could deliver a serious blow to the luxurious lifestyles enjoyed by the Kremlin’s cronies who shuttle between … [Read more...]
TJN launches new APP and a Take Action page
As you can see, the Tax Justice Network has recently set up a new website, which we hope you'll agree is an improvement on the old one. Now we have two more pieces of exciting news. … [Read more...]
