Coauthors: Andres Knobel, Markus Meinzer and Moran Harari The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which evaluates countries on their compliance with its anti-money laundering recommendations recently published a report on best practices of beneficial ownership for legal persons, leaving trusts … [Read more...]
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Isle of Man: an awareness-raising swim and reflections on tax havenry
The Isle of Man is part of the UK's network of satellite havens and secrecy jurisdictions, ranked number 17 in the 2019 Corporate Tax Haven Index and number 42 in the Financial Secrecy Index in 2018 by the Tax Justice Network. We identify the UK as "bearing the lion’s share of responsibility through … [Read more...]
US half-shuts door to financial secrecy, opens new window
The US is the world’s second greatest contributor to global financial secrecy, according to the Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index, only faring better than Switzerland in complicity in enabling financial secrecy schemes that foster tax abuse, money laundering and the financing of … [Read more...]
Global Asset Registry workshop – 1-2 July, Paris: submit your paper
The Global Asset Registry workshop in Paris on July 1st and 2nd, 2019 is by invitation only. We will of course share the fruits of the workshop as we develop them further, but for now participation during Day 1 is open to anyone whose paper has been accepted. You can submit your proposal and … [Read more...]
Does transparency REALLY put the rich and famous at risk?
Are the rich and famous at risk of blackmail, extortion or kidnapping if their names are disclosed in public beneficial ownership registries, as they like to argue in tax havens like Jersey? This was a question put to me last week at a conference tackling tax injustice in Nairobi, Kenya, organised … [Read more...]
Extreme inequality levels in Bermuda despite its offshore services centre, in the Tax Justice Network’s August 2018 podcast
In the August 2018 Tax Justice Network monthly podcast/radio show, the Taxcast: Why are so many Bermudians leaving their beautiful island? And why have inequality levels become so extreme despite it's huge offshore services centre? We speak to Bermudian economist Robert Stubbs and hear from … [Read more...]
The abuse of Limited Partnerships in the UK: predicting the future with the Financial Secrecy Index
The Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index assesses jurisdictions on their transparency levels in their legal framework by looking into 20 different indicators including banking secrecy, beneficial ownership registration, anti-money laundering, etc. One of the key principles of the index … [Read more...]
Blacklist, whitewashed: How the OECD bent its rules to help tax haven USA
We’ve criticised for years the farcical nature of ‘tax haven’ blacklists, whether EU or OECD ones. They all turn out to be politicised, misleading and ineffective. If you want an objectively verifiable ranking you need look no further than the Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index. But … [Read more...]
Ending secret ownership: we assess the progress and challenges
The richness of the Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index is such, (conveying so much more information than just a ranking of the largest contributors to global financial secrecy), we’re now publishing a visual report describing the current state of play with legal and beneficial ownership … [Read more...]
UK overseas territories fight back against financial transparency measures
Ten years ago the Tax Justice Network was told it’d never happen, but recently British Members of Parliament voted to stop secret ownership of companies in British Overseas Territories. Unfortunately the Crown Dependencies were not included in the measure because, as we understand it, politicians … [Read more...]
Edition 5 of the Tax Justice Network Arabic monthly podcast/radio show الجباية ببساطة
Here’s the fifth edition of our new monthly Arabic podcast/radio show Taxes Simply الجباية ببساطة contributing to tax justice public debate around the world. (In Arabic below) Taxes Simply الجباية ببساطة is produced and presented by Walid Ben Rhouma and Osama Diab of the Egyptian Initiative for … [Read more...]
Why we can’t afford the rich: our May 2018 podcast
In this month's Taxcast: We discuss why we can’t afford the rich and challenge ideas about wealth, entrepreneurialism and investment. Also: ten years ago the Tax Justice Network was told it’d never happen, but this month British Members of Parliament voted to stop secret ownership of companies in … [Read more...]
Yes, Britain is closing its tax havens. But let’s not forget it created them in the first place
This post is jointly authored by Anthea Lawson and John Christensen Tax justice campaigners celebrated this week as a nifty cross-party move from British Members of Parliament Margaret Hodge and Andrew Mitchell forced the UK’s Overseas Territories – many of them in the Caribbean – to stop hiding … [Read more...]
Making history: an end to anonymous companies in the UK’s Overseas Territories
The UK Parliament today has taken a significant step toward global tax transparency - by imposing public registers of beneficial ownership of companies on the UK's Overseas Territories (OTs). The OTs are relatively small but highly secretive financial centres, responsible for just over 4% of the … [Read more...]
The EU’s latest agreement on amending the anti-money laundering directive: at the vanguard of trust transparency, but still further to go
Our view on the EU’s latest agreement on amending the anti-money laundering directive is that it's at the vanguard of trust transparency, but there's still further to go... The EU Parliament and Council recently reached an agreement on an amendment to the 4th Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Directive … [Read more...]
