From the Financial Times: "Mr Foxley says he discovered gifts to Saudi military officials and illicit payments routed through the Cayman Islands." For background, the article begins: "The UK government is fighting to keep secret details of how it handled allegedly corrupt transactions … [Read more...]
Archives for 2015
How do tax wars affect women?
Cross-posted from Fools' Gold: From the Association for Women's Rights in Development, a post related to a landmark meeting in Lima on tax justice and human rights: "The current “race to the bottom” in which tax competition among developing countries takes place to attract corporate and … [Read more...]
Is Singapore censoring critics of its tax haven status? Well, perhaps . . .
On April 30th we wrote a blog entitled Singapore spin: “we are not a tax haven.” They all say that. Then, this morning a news aggregator service provided us with this titillating tidbit: So we clicked on the link, to find this: … [Read more...]
Two new reports challenge the OECD’s work on corporate tax cheating
The OECD, the club of rich countries that dominates international tax, is running a project known as Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) which is supposed to fix some of the gaping holes in the international tax system. As we all know, transnational corporations (TNCs) are running rings around … [Read more...]
How do the UK parties’ promises on tax measure up on gender equality?
Ahead of the UK General Election due on May 7th, we are delighted to post a guest blog by Professor Sue Himmelweit of the Women’s Budget Group. The blog explains clearly just how important these issues are, and it also soon becomes clear that although this is a UK-focused blog, it has obvious … [Read more...]
Avaaz in legal challenge to UK over Liechtenstein amnesty and HSBC scandal
From the Financial Times: "The UK tax authority faces a potential judicial review over its handling of the evasion scandal involving HSBC’s Swiss subsidiary, it emerged on Thursday. Lawyers acting for the international campaign group Avaaz have sent HM Revenue & Customs a letter asking for … [Read more...]
Lima: TJN director Christensen speech on tax justice and human rights
From John Christensen, TJN's director, a speech about tax justice and human rights. It begins like this: "Why the tax justice movement should embrace human rights. And vice versa The history of economic and social rights in most countries can be discovered in their tax codes. Tax is at the … [Read more...]
Why must tax treaties starve developing countries of revenue?
Martin Hearson, who has just been at a parliamentary hearing in Denmark, asks a very good question about tax treaties and developing countries: why exactly is it necessary for them to insist on stiffing developing countries of tax revenue? … [Read more...]
Singapore spin: “we are not a tax haven.” They all say that
From the Twittersphere, our Director of Research: … [Read more...]
BBC still using ideological evidence on top UK income taxes
Adam Smith and the British East India Company: a perspective on competitiveness
This blog was originally posted at Fools' Gold, a project supported by TJN. Adam Smith was an arch-critic of the regime-hopping strategies of the exclusive stockholding corporations, the forerunners of today’s multinational corporations. The British East India Company, granted a Royal Charter, … [Read more...]
Shareholder value and the fiduciary duty of company directors: a view from Israel
This is our second Israel-related blog in the past week. From TJN-Israel and the Corporate Responsibility Institute at the College of Law and Business, a new report looking at a subject dear to our hearts: whether or not company directors are bound by their fiduciary duties to avoid tax. … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper: a week in tax justice #59
Our quirky weekly news round-up from the topsy-turvy world of tax havens. The piratical Duchy of Luxembourg charges journalist over LuxLeaks What does Jean-Claude Juncker think of this? Luxembourg, the country he led for 18 years and steered in the direction of becoming one of Europe's biggest … [Read more...]
Big Pharma companies: extracting wealth from every angle they can find
(Updated with a reference to Google's scary "Patent Purchase Promotion" initiative.) From the Wall St. Journal, a story entitled Pharmaceutical Companies Buy Rivals’ Drugs, Then Jack Up the Prices: "On Feb. 10, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. bought the rights to a pair of … [Read more...]
Taxcast Special: interview with film director Michael Winterbottom about The Emperor’s New Clothes
Michael Winterbottom's powerful new film, The Emperor's New Clothes, starring comedian Russell Brand and featuring several prominent tax justice campaigners is screening in cinemas now. You can also organise your own film screening here. … [Read more...]
