That's from an article in the Financial Times, which begins like this: "The UK’s Investment Management Association has poached two key lieutenants of Sven Giegold, the German Green MEP who has been a scourge of the fund industry in recent years." This is of interest to us for two reasons: first … [Read more...]
Blog
The Piketty controversy and the offshore wealth problem
As many readers will already know, there's a big controversy going on regarding Prof. Thomas Piketty's world-famous economics work Capital in the 21st Century, with the Financial Times alleging that he faces a 'Reinhardt-Rogoff moment' because of data problems. Piketty responds that he's been … [Read more...]
Credit Suisse: most of its victims haven’t seen any justice at all
There's been a lot of debate about the $2.6 billion (possibly tax-deductible, despite claims to the contrary) fine that Credit Suisse has paid for its systematic policies of attacking the U.S. tax system and fostering and, by implication, encouraging, criminal behaviour by thousands of U.S. … [Read more...]
The May 2014 Taxcast
In the Tax Justice Network's May 2014 Taxcast: the Taxcast looks at privatisation and tax: what happens when public assets or services get into private hands? Also: Google's challenged on its tax affairs by its own shareholders; will Congress block the US administration's decision to agree to the … [Read more...]
Links May 23
US senators say more needs to be done after Credit Suisse conviction The Guardian See also: Credit Suisse Seen Keeping U.S. Bank License Bloomberg video - talks of the penalty being "political card playing", in that Credit Suisse are seen to be punished but they are still continuing as a bank in … [Read more...]
Tax chart of the day: US taxes
We've just blogged Citizens for Tax Justice's latest report on U.S. Fortune 500 companies and their unpaid taxes. Now, from the Financial Times, a chart. … [Read more...]
Switzerland fights to curb scope of global transparency moves (updated)
Cross-posted with the Escape from Europe blog: The Swiss Federal Council on Wednesday issued a statement making it all too clear what it thinks "the new global standard for the automatic exchange of information in tax matters" should look like. This concerns the OECD's ongoing project to create a … [Read more...]
CTJ: U.S. Fortune 500 companies likely escaping $550bn in tax
From Citizens for Tax Justice: "American Fortune 500 corporations are likely saving about $550 billion by holding nearly $2 trillion of “permanently reinvested” profits offshore. Twenty-eight of these corporations reveal that they have paid an income tax rate of 10 percent or less to the … [Read more...]
Tax haven operators hope to persuade China to block global transparency moves
From the BVI Beacon in the British Virgin Islands, a Special Report entitled Under pressure, BVI fears big impact on financial services. The BVI, and particularly a number of mostly white, male expatriate workers, have made a living out of secrecy. They don't like all this transparency stuff that … [Read more...]
Links May 22
Finnwatch report on tax responsibility of Finnish Pension Fund investments Report finds that Finnish pension funds tend to ignore global tax responsibility issues related to their investment activities. (Report in Finnish, with English language executive summary) Special Report: Under pressure, … [Read more...]
It seems that Credit Suisse’s fine may be tax-deductible after all
We have written recently about how Credit Suisse's $2.6 billion fine for its history of abusing the U.S. tax system and facilitating high crimes may seem like a lot of money, but it could -- and should -- have been a lot worse. Why did no bankers go to jail? And, perhaps more importantly, why does … [Read more...]
Why did the Australian government keep this tax symposium secret? (updated)
May 26: Updated with new details from the Sydney Morning Herald This concerns a meeting in Tokyo, hosted by the Australian Treasury, to discuss the G20's tax agenda. This involves not just the OECD's "BEPS" project to reform the international rules for taxing multinational corporations, but also … [Read more...]
Human Rights Policy Brief: a Post-2015 Fiscal Revolution
The New York-based Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR) and Christian Aid have just published an important new paper entitled A Post-2015 Fiscal Revolution: Human Rights Policy Brief. It is a most useful contribution to the fast-growing community of researchers and research on the … [Read more...]
How Putin’s comrades washed their money in Switzerland and the UK
This is about an excellent Reuters investigation into a Russian state scheme to buy expensive medical equipment - and send money to Swiss bank accounts. It is worth reading in its entirety, but we will hone in on this bit: … [Read more...]
How ‘competitiveness’ became one of the great unquestioned virtues of contemporary culture
This headline is drawn from an important article at the London School of Economics website by Will Davies, Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London. We've not had contact with Davies, but it seems we have been thinking along similar lines. … [Read more...]
