Guest blog: Nick Mathiason, founder and co-director of Finance Uncovered The global economic crisis sparked by Covid-19 means governments urgently need additional revenue as emergency stimulus packages taper. Capital gains tax – a tax on the profit from the sale of assets such as oil blocks … [Read more...]
Tax Avoidance
A description of what tax avoidance is and isn’t, and why the term should normally be avoided
It’s got to be automatic: Trillions of dollars offshore revealed by Tax Justice Network policy success
This is a moment, in these strange times, to celebrate an ongoing success in the history of the tax justice movement. Automatic, multilateral exchange of information on financial accounts is the A of our ABC of tax transparency. It has been a campaign aim since our inception in the early 2000s, as … [Read more...]
Tax Justice November 2019 Portuguese podcast: Penalidade máxima: a sonegação no futebol #7
Welcome to our seventh monthly tax justice podcast/radio show in Portuguese. Bem vindas e bem vindos ao É da sua conta, nosso podcast em português, o podcast mensal da Tax Justice Network, Rede de Justiça Fiscal. É da sua conta é o podcast mensal em português da Tax Justice Network, com … [Read more...]
Unitary taxation for multinational companies: what it is and why it matters
We blogged recently that the UK's main opposition party has committed to introducing unitary taxation by the end of the next parliamentary term. As we've said, it represents an important further normalisation of unitary taxation, and a potentially important step to ending the great damage done by … [Read more...]
Taxing wealth – how to triumph over injustice: Tax Justice Network October 2019 podcast
In this month's episode we speak to Gabriel Zucman about his new book with co-author Emmanuel Saez - The Triumph of Injustice: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay. Plus, as Extinction Rebellion holds protests around the world over the climate emergency, we point the finger at the … [Read more...]
The Corporate Tax Haven Index: solving the world’s broken tax system in our monthly podcast, the Taxcast
In this month's June 2019 podcast we look at the new Corporate Tax Haven Index released by the Tax Justice Network. What does it tell us about the global economy and the international tax system? And how can we fix it? We also look at how India is pushing the G20 into action on global tax rules - if … [Read more...]
Ten reasons why the Destination Based Cash Flow Tax is a terrible idea
This long blog will be periodically updated, in response to comments. Latest update: March 28, 2019. The international tax system for taxing multinational corporations is coming apart at the seams. We are now entering one of the most significant turning points in world tax history. As the IMF's … [Read more...]
Unbelievable! The Ethical Failure at the Heart of Corporate Tax Avoidance
In this year-end guest blog, Tristan Shirley explores the belief system that underpins tax avoidance by multinational corporations and reflects on the ethical failures revealed by their unbelievable behaviour. Almost every commuter on the train is reading the free paper. There is a surprised … [Read more...]
Accounting for influence: how the Big Four are embedded in EU tax avoidance policy
The Corporate Europe Observatory has a report out today which is well worth reading. We've written and commented extensively on the Big Four accountancy firms and the damage they do, you can read more in our 'enablers and intermediaries' section. As our CEO Alex Cobham has said, they're "not the … [Read more...]
Unhappy meal: tax avoidance still on the menu at McDonald’s
We're sharing this press release from EPSU, the European Public Service Union which comprises 8 million public service workers from over 265 trade unions. Here's their joint statement on their new research on McDonald’s, entitled Unhappy Meal report. Today we release a new report on McDonald’s … [Read more...]
Taxing water and infrastructure in the UK
Michael Gove, the UK's Environment Secretary had some harsh words for the water industry recently. “They have shielded themselves from scrutiny, hidden behind complex financial structures, avoided paying taxes, have rewarded the already well-off, kept charges higher than they needed to be.” The … [Read more...]
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...]
#ParadisePapers: The onshore heart of the offshore industry
We're sharing this blog in its entirety from Icelandic journalist Sigrun Davidsdottir's excellent Icelog. The Paradise Papers emphasises, yet again, that the damaging effect of offshore is much more pervasive that robbing countries of tax. Offshore creates a two-tier business environment, hiding … [Read more...]
Big Four accounting firms are key drivers of tax haven use, new research says
As scandals emerge from the Paradise Papers, the Big Four accountancy firms seem to have managed to stay largely out of the spotlight once again. But research released today shows that scrutiny of their practices is justified in the public interest. The new study is authored by Dr Chris Jones and … [Read more...]
Enough evidence on trusts – where are the State’s actions?
Our two last papers on trusts (here and here) described trusts’ involvement in grand corruption and other cases that would anger any rational person. The Paradise Papers, and recent case law, shed outrageous new light on trusts’ role in worsening inequality, shielding assets from legitimate … [Read more...]
