The Tax Justice & Poverty research project is a co-operative effort between three institutions run by the Jesuit Order of the Catholic Church: the Jesuitenmission based in Nuremberg (Germany), the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection in Lusaka (Zambia) and the Jesuit Hakimani Centre in … [Read more...]
AllAfrica
Guest blog: Tax Avoidance and Evasion in Africa
We're pleased to share this blog post (first published here) written by Nataliya Mykhalchenko for the Review of African Political Economy: Tax avoidance, tax evasion, tax heavens, illicit financial flows and global tax governance are real buzzwords that have come to dominate current international … [Read more...]
Dear mining companies, why do you use tax havens?
The Southern African Catholics Bishops Conference has written an open letter to 21 mining companies operating in South Africa asking each to explain why they use tax havens. Their full letter is here and it's worth reading. They point out, "we are not accusing companies of anything. We believe it … [Read more...]
#ParadisePapers: The Mauritian Connection
What do Angola’s sovereign wealth fund, the cast of British TV show Mrs Brown’s Boys, and Yale University’s investment in India have in common? The Paradise Papers reveal that they are all connected with offshore secrecy jurisdiction Mauritius, with the assistance of offshore law firm … [Read more...]
New release of global tax data
If you were working on tax as a development issue in the early 2000s, not only were you a lonely figure but you were also faced with some of the most pathetic cross-country data imaginable. For a 2005 paper (which introduced the 4 Rs of tax, inter alia), I tried to put together a comprehensive … [Read more...]
Recovering Africa’s Stolen Assets: from Jersey to Kenya
An interesting event has come to our attention that we'd like to share, taking place at Chatham House in London. Full event details here. Recovering Africa's Stolen Assets: Lessons from the Windward Trading Case A report by the World Bank’s Stolen Asset Recovery programme found that, while … [Read more...]
Launch of the African Platform to Protect Whistleblowers
Today the Plateforme de Protection des Lanceurs d’Alerte en Afrique (PPLAAF) will be officially launched during a press conference in Dakar. We're sharing the details with you here: … [Read more...]
Panama Papers: the role of Western secrecy jurisdictions in looting Africa
This blog comes from Johannesburg, South Africa, where investigative journalists from 28 countries are sharing their work at the African Investigative Journalism Conference. One session looked at stories dug out from the Panama Papers leak from offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca and investigations … [Read more...]
More unfair tax treaties may be renegotiated
This time it's Uganda. From Martin Hearson: "The government announced in its latest budget that it has finished formulating its new tax treaty policy, and will be renegotiating treaties that don't comply. Seatini and ActionAid Uganda will no doubt chalk this up as a success." In … [Read more...]
Who are the real “marauders”?
ma+raud verb. to search (a place) for plunder On Monday this week the Guardian newspaper splashed a headline across its frontpage about a comment from UK minister of foreign affairs Philip Hammond accusing "marauding migrants" of threatening the standard of living of Europeans. … [Read more...]
Joseph Stiglitz: Why America (and Britain come to that) are on the wrong side of history
Influential economist Joseph Stiglitz has published an article in the Guardian newspaper in which he argues that the USA (and we would add the UK and other major OECD countries) is systematically blocking attempts by other countries to strengthen global governance. … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper: a week in tax justice #49
The African Union gets tough on illicit financial flows African Union leaders meeting in Ethiopia last weekend adopted a report from Thabo Mbeki’s UN High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows. … [Read more...]
The Mbeki panel on illicit financial flows: Africa leads the way
Former South African president Thabo Mbeki panel has presented the findings of his panel to the African Union summit, where they were adopted directly into the declaration. Now, we’re biased for all sorts of reasons (more on that below), but this is an historic moment – and probably the most … [Read more...]
Mbeki Report On Financial Crime Will Shift Global Tax Debate, Says Christian Aid
UPDATE: The report of the High Level Panel on Illicit Financil Flows chaired by President Mbeki was adopted by the African Union Summit meeting on 31st January 2015. This represents a major milestone for the global tax justice movement. Campaigners throughout Africa can now push their … [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...]
