We recently briefly blogged an IMF report describing how economic inequality leads to slower economic growth. Now, in the Financial Times, a fascinating comment article by the IMF Deputy Research Director Jonathan Ostry, whose subtitle is "A more redistributive tax system appears to lead to … [Read more...]
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The Offshore Wrapper: a week in tax justice
Our weekly Offshore wrapper, by George Turner. Income inequality: the IMF calls for tax justice … [Read more...]
Why Russia no longer fears the West. It’s the offshore, stupid
If there's one story you read today make it this one, from Politico Magazine. It's triggered by the crisis in Ukraine, but it's been a long time coming. The point of this short story is clear: Western leaders are waking up to the fact that Russia no longer fears or even respects them. Why? … [Read more...]
Anonymous UK company owned Viktor Yanukovych’s presidential palace compound
From Global Witness - see also Daily Mail and The Independent. Update: see also this important blog, looking at the national security implications of all this corruption. Anonymous UK company owned Viktor Yanukovych’s presidential palace compound 1 March 2014 The private residence of the … [Read more...]
Links Feb 28
Kenya: Tax Holidays Abused, Says NGO allAfrica Why Isn’t Africa’s Economic Growth Benefiting The Poor? Atlanta BlackStar … [Read more...]
TJN on Switzerland: “Shallow, ignorant and short-sighted”
We have just received the following email from Concerned American, resident in Switzerland. Her/his wrath is directed at our director, John Christensen, who was interviewed on CNN yesterday and - amongst other things - discussed the latest report on Swiss banks from the US Senate Permanent … [Read more...]
European MEP calls for hearing on Swiss banking scandals
Following the latest Credit Suisse scandal in the United States, Ana Gomes, a European Member of Parliament, has issued this public letter to the chairs of the Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET) Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE); and Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON.) We fully … [Read more...]
Tax justice and modern-day colonialism: Areva vs. Niger
From Reuters, an excellent Special Report: "Niger has become the world's fourth-largest producer of the ore after Kazakhstan, Canada and Australia. But uranium has not enriched Niger. The former French colony remains one of the poorest countries on earth." … [Read more...]
Not quite anywhere: shadow banking and the offshore system
A useful reminder about shadow banking from Anastasia Nesvetailova, Reader in International Political Economy at City University London. It begins like this: “It takes me about two hours to assemble a team of finance geeks and lawyers to devise a product or a transaction that would bypass any new … [Read more...]
Survey: the corporate tax debate is biting the corporations
From tax advisers Taxand, who have just conducted a global survey of corporate Chief Finance Officers (CFOs): 76% of survey respondents said that the exposure in the media of corporate tax planning activity has a detrimental impact on a company’s reputation 31% said that the intense media … [Read more...]
Income inequality leads to slower economic growth – IMF study
From Reuters: "Income inequality can lead to slower or less sustainable economic growth, while redistribution of income, when measured, does not hurt and can even help an economy, IMF staff found in a research study released on Wednesday." … [Read more...]
Read our lips: Ireland is a tax haven. Part xxvi
From Unite, Ireland (via Tax Research), a nice little graph showing effective corporate tax rates in Europe. We haven't seen this one before. Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg - the Eurozone's three most notorious tax havens - are the clear abusers. … [Read more...]
The Credit Suisse scandal: echoes of Too Big To Jail
We've had a bit of time to look through the landmark Credit Suisse report from the U.S. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, outlining industrial-scale Swiss corruption. It contains some pretty instructive things about some of the ways banks use to get around international initiatives, and … [Read more...]
Tax havens and corruption: Lebedev and TJN in the NYT
From Alexander Lebedev in the New York Times: "According to the Tax Justice Network, an independent group promoting efforts to curb tax avoidance, crooked business people, working with corrupt officials, have embezzled $30 trillion over the last 15 years — or half of the world’s annual gross … [Read more...]
Credit Suisse: industrial scale corruption in Switzerland
From The Guardian: "Senators Carl Levin and John McCain had harsh words for the Justice Department and the Swiss government, too, as they released a 178-page permanent subcommittee on investigation (PSI) report into offshore tax avoidance. … [Read more...]
