Back in 2005 a lobby group in Washington, D.C. issued a press release entitled Tax Justice Network Sides with Europe's Tax Collectors, Ignores Critical Role of Low-Tax Jurisdiction in Protecting Human Rights and Promoting Pro-Growth Policy. The bizarre press release accused us of putting at risk … [Read more...]
Archives for 2016
Links Jun 10
EU launches official one-year inquiry into Panama Papers scandal euronews Swiss Private Bankers demand tax breaks on criminal fines imposed for tax evasion offences swissinfo Illicit Financial Flows out of Africa (IFFoA) Database TrustAfrica See also: Corruption Stalls Zimbabwe’s Economic … [Read more...]
Now Luxembourg, Switzerland are working to bolster Tax Haven USA
Update: making clear that the Swiss text we cited is a provisional test. As we've often said before, it is counterproductive (and an analytical error) to see the fight against tax havens in purely geographical terms. When the U.S. Justice Department started taking action against Swiss bankers, … [Read more...]
New tools for tax policies and human rights
From Righting Finance: The connection between civil and political rights and tax policy is so strong, that in a 2014 report on tax policy and human rights (“the report”), the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights in 2014 said that the link runs both ways. That is, civil and … [Read more...]
More sordid details about the Luxembourg tax cheat factory
If you read one story today, read this, from Private Eye. A couple of small excerpts reveal the extent to which tax havens like Luxembourg are 'captured states": Applications for the favourable rulings, Halet told the court, were sent every Wednesday at 1.30pm in batches of 30 to 40 and returned … [Read more...]
The false promise of tax haven blacklists
From Eurodad: This week, European Union finance ministers agreed to establish a common EU blacklist of so-called “non-cooperative jurisdictions” – in other words, tax havens. With one tax scandal unfolding after the other, listing and sanctioning tax havens may seem like a good solution. However, … [Read more...]
Quote of the day – London and money laundering
From London's new mayor, Sadiq Khan: “I have got nothing against luxury properties being built in London. What we can’t have is London being the world’s capital for money laundering.” Ten years ago, who could have predicted this kind of comment? See more here. Just for instance. … [Read more...]
Automatic Information Exchange is not the answer!
June 7: We've updated this blog, to make changes to the beginning of the article, which required some clarification. Recently the British, German, French, Italian and Spanish finance ministries issued a statement in which they said: "We commit to establishing as soon as possible registers or … [Read more...]
New Research Shows Millionaires Less Mobile than the Rest of Us
From Citizens for Tax Justice, a blog that's worth reproducing in full, as yet more useful ammunition to wheel out against those who keep banging on about tax cuts and so-called 'competitiveness.' New Research Shows Millionaires Less Mobile than the Rest of Us A new study (PDF) released today … [Read more...]
Want to end corruption? Crack down on tax havens.
That headline comes from an opinion piece just in the Washington Post, written by Nicholas Shaxson, a TJN writer. Among other things, it's searching for deeper understandings of corruption that capture its systemic effects on rules, systems and institutions. "Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe … [Read more...]
Liberia’s mysterious company registry system
Our friends and colleagues at Finance Uncovered have written a fascinating story entitled Liberia: America’s outpost of financial secrecy, which has been published today in South Africa’s Daily Maverick in cooperation with AmaBhungane. We'd urge you to read the whole fascinating story of … [Read more...]
Three lessons on the hidden cost of corruption – for the West
A guest blog by Sigrún Davíðsdóttir Corruption and corrupt business practices have often been portrayed as a problem only endured by poor countries, of little consequence to the developed West. The three following stories show that this is a wrong-headed, old-fashioned understanding, reflecting … [Read more...]
Mauritius: India cracks down on a major tax evasion route
Update on this story available below on more recent developments India cracks down on a major tax evasion route A guest blog by Abdul Muheet Chowdhary The issue My award winning essay, written for a competition jointly held by the Tax Justice Network and Oxfam International, focused on how … [Read more...]
Links May 23
Tax Justice Netherlands letter to The Dutch EU presidency: 5 Days Left to End Tax Avoidance On Wednesday 25 May, EU Ministers of Finance (ECOFIN) will meet to reach agreement on the EU Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive EU aims to rule on Amazon's Luxembourg tax deal by July Reuters See also: EU … [Read more...]
Tax Justice Network May 2016 Podcast: the Anti-Corruption Summit – who’s the most corrupt?
In our May 2016 Taxcast: What is corruption? Well, that's a political question, and the answer depends on who you ask. We discuss the anti-corruption summit in the City of London, the world's capital of sleaze and ask if the sun ever set on the colonial era and the idea that corruption is a poor … [Read more...]
