We at TJN hear endless bleating - mainly from tax abusers and their pet news outlets - about the horrors of tax. We certainly don't often hear it FOR tax. … [Read more...]
Blog
CTJ: Art Laffer’s travelling fiscal circus
From Citizens for Tax Justice in the U.S.: "It is a truism in Washington that being wrong does not preclude one from wielding influence. There are, however, some pundits who are so egregiously wrong that it boggles the mind to find policymakers taking their advice. Art Laffer is one of these … [Read more...]
Links Jul 10
Swiss Banks’ Tradition of Secrecy Clashes With Quests Abroad for Disclosure The New York Times Four of the 10 richest Singaporeans are expats saving millions in taxes Quartz See also: Singapore raises maximum jail term for money laundering globalpost - Authorities now allowed to prosecute cases … [Read more...]
Quote of the day: taxes and economic growth
From U.S. tax expert Ed Kleinbard, and his forthcoming book We are Better Than This (p159): "There is no meaning to the growth effects of taxes as such, only to fiscal policy taken as a whole." It is another way of explaining that taxes are not a cost to an economy: they are a transfer within … [Read more...]
Top UK politician compares banking divide to African oil separation
We've written plenty about the similarities between a 'resource curse' afflicting mineral-rich countries in Africa and elsewhere and what we have termed a 'finance curse' afflicting economies that are overly dependent on the financial sector. Britain is a case in point, with offshore activity a … [Read more...]
Links Jul 9
New Bank Leak Shows How Rich Exploit Tax Haven Loopholes ICIJ See also: Offshore secrets of the UK's wealthy political donors The Guardian Black money trail: No list of Indians holding money in Swiss banks, says Arun Jaitley Financial Express See also: Delhi searches for wealth in overseas tax … [Read more...]
Tax avoidance: a note to editors
Tax practitioner Noel Hodson has just issued the following notes to editors about the term 'tax avoidance': Most media, even the BBC, persist in quoting notorious professional tax-planners, embedded in the establishment, that "tax avoidance is completely legal". My 50+ years of practical, … [Read more...]
How developing countries can take control over their tax destinies
Krishen Mehta, a Senior Adviser to TJN, has written a short document with ten pointers offering ways that developing countries can take control over their tax destinies. We reproduce the introduction of his article below: please click on the full article for the ten points. We hope to produce more … [Read more...]
How will Juncker, tax haven candidate, handle his conflicts of interest?
Next week we expect Jean-Claude Juncker, the former long-standing prime minister of Luxembourg, to be nominated to the powerful role of President of the European Commission. The man who for many years defended one of Europe's nastiest and biggest secrecy jurisdictions (or tax havens) now faces an … [Read more...]
Links Jul 8
Key IMF policy paper released on tax havens and development European Institute for International Law and International Relations See also our recent blog on the IMF report here. Make ‘Justified’ Requests Swiss Banks Tell India Business Insider And to compare and contrast: Swiss banks threaten … [Read more...]
Kansas/Missouri: local ceasefire in U.S. tax border war?
Last year the St. Louis Post-Despatch published an editorial entitled Missouri Senate declares class war against citizens, looking at tax subsidies being showered on businesses in an effort to lure them away from neighbouring Kansas - which, in turn, has been showering subsidies on businesses to … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper: A week in tax justice
Going down? Egypt’s richest family Egypt’s highest profile tax case has taken a bizarre turn this week. The story starts in 2007 when Orascom Construction Industries sold their cement business to the French giant Lafarge. … [Read more...]
Links Jul 4
FATCA Just a Band Aid for Latin American Tax Evasion Inter Press Service Cites TJN's Andrés Knobel, pointing out that the limiting factor for developing countries is that FATCA is bilateral. See also: FATCA: Dropping the bomb The Economist - The article is quite harshly critical of FATCA, but does … [Read more...]
Quote of the day: opium and competitiveness
From a book called The Opium Wars, one of Britain's less honourable (to put it mildly) historical escapades, a statement that was prompted by moves in Britain towards stopping the opium trade: "Her Majesty's government should do nothing to place in peril our opium revenues. As for preventing the … [Read more...]
Quote of the day: Christine Lagarde
As reported by Tax-News, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said: "There would be more revenue for all if countries resisted the temptation to compete with each other on taxes to attract business. By definition, a race to the bottom leaves everybody at the bottom." Interestingly enough, she … [Read more...]
