It is with great excitement that we share the news that we have signed Alex Cobham to joining the TJN squad in early January 2015, taking the position of Director of Research. … [Read more...]
Archives for 2014
How Luxembourg Leaks highlight Europe’s broken politics
A fascinating little European story emerged yesterday, which the Guardian covers like this: "Jean-Claude Juncker’s fitness to head the EU’s executive for the next five years came under lacerating attack in the European parliament on Monday evening, with British, French and Italian far-right and … [Read more...]
Update: report on the OECD’s information exchange standard
A month ago we published a preliminary report entitled ‘The end of bank secrecy?’Bridging the gap to effective automatic information exchange, looking at the OECD's new system of automatic information exchange. We have now completed our final technical analysis of the report. It is not very … [Read more...]
Links Nov 25
China’s offshore empires go from help to headache Reuters "When is a Chinese company not Chinese? When it’s a complex web of offshore vehicles rooted in anonymous tax havens." Secret hoards in tax havens Kashmir Times "Goal of limiting tax havens by G20 leaders s unlikely to shed light on … [Read more...]
Corruption behind closed doors
Here's an interesting new map of corruption and illicit financial flows. In this blog titled Is it time for a Different Look at Mapping Corruption, James Cohen, picks up on work by TJN, Global Witness, and Washington-based Global Financial Integrity, and suggests that the time is ripe for leading … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper: a week in tax justice #41
HSBC – the world’s favourite illicit bank? HSBC Switzerland has been charged by French authorities for “illicit financial and banking practices”. … [Read more...]
Links Nov 24
Doubt cast on Modi’s quest to find India’s black money overseas Financial Times (paywall) " ... now he is in power Mr Modi is discovering that unearthing illicit funds stashed in Switzerland, Liechtenstein or other tax havens will be a long, tough slog that is unlikely to yield windfall … [Read more...]
Not In My Name: remarkable, rare voices of remorse and mortification in Luxembourg
We have often remarked on how easy it is for financial services interests to "capture" small tax havens or secrecy jurisdictions. It's a common pattern and a woefully under-studied phenomenon where the capture by global offshore finance extends beyond the policy-making apparatus … [Read more...]
TJN’s monthly Taxcast – November 2014
A comparative study of tax systems in six Arab countries
This new study by the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND), in collaboration with Christian Aid and Social and Economics Policy Monitor Palestine, explores how the tax systems of Arab countries have contributed to the lack of opportunity, growing inequalities, marginalisation and exclusion … [Read more...]
Le Prix à Payer – The Price we Pay – screenings in Paris
Harold Crooks' new documentary on how tax dodging and tax havens imperil democracy will have its first European cinema release in France in January 2015. Ahead of the release, the French distributors are arranging special screenings in Paris in mid-December 2014. Full details are here: … [Read more...]
Links Nov 21
FATCA: Are Transnational Criminal Networks Influencing US Policy? Huffington Post Mauritius Emerges As Biggest Investor In India InSerbia News Anti-corruption bar set higher, but Australia still has more to do The Conversation Taxing mines is a daunting task Zambia Daily Mail … [Read more...]
Links Nov 20
Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry pushes for Seychelles to become China’s African trade hub Seychelles New Agency "... the Chinese side could benefit from the various tax incentives which exist here". See earlier blog How Seychelles became a paradise for dirty money and corruption … [Read more...]
Switzerland signs up for automatic info exchange. But there’s a catch
So we have this announcement from the OECD. "Switzerland has today become the 52nd jurisdiction to sign the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement [MCAA], which will allow it to go forward with plans to activate automatic exchange of financial account information in tax matters with other … [Read more...]
Links Nov 19
Juncker should step back on tax avoidance issues Financial Times (paywall) Juncker has refused to recuse himself formally from participating in the European commission’s final judgments on corporate tax cases. He should officially hand over all oversight for the probes to his deputy and step back … [Read more...]
