Two quotes of the day, both from an article by Prof. Bill Black, a former U.S. bank regulator: "Taxes were once termed the price we paid for civilization, but they now represent the price the wealthy brag to each other about refusing to pay as they pillage civilization." Quite so. And then, … [Read more...]
Finance Curse
On the historical absence of inequality and tax in the news agenda
This guest blog from Dr Jairo Lugo-Ocando comes just a couple of days after the UK commentator George Monbiot wrote a piece in The Guardian entitled Our ‘impartial’ broadcasters have become mouthpieces of the elite, mostly from a Canadian and British perspective, in which he noted the extent of … [Read more...]
Quote of the day: offshore enforcement as a career killer
From Jack Blum, a Senior Adviser to the Tax Justice Network, testifying to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance: "For years there has been very little offshore enforcement. There was a period in the 1970’s when IRS made some efforts in that direction. The cases were dismissed. The agents who … [Read more...]
Is a financial sector like an oil industry? That graph, again
There's been a bit of pushback (of course) to our Finance Curse analysis, which some people think is just an empty slogan. It isn't. Our basic proposition is that hosting a large financial services industry can be like hosting an oil industry: there are many penalties associated with doing so, … [Read more...]
Quote of the day: Swiss Franc
The value of the Swiss Franc exploded upwards this morning, after the Swiss National Bank (SNB) removed its fairly longstanding 1:1.2 peg against the Euro (that is, 1.2 Swiss Francs per Euro.) That is an astonishing currency move. Our quote of the day comes from Nicolas Hayek, the chief executive of … [Read more...]
Quote of the day: offices of UK tax tribunal owned offshore
The quote of the day is from the British investigative and satirical magazine Private Eye: "Buildings occupied by the Ministry of Justice, including Britain’s tax tribunal, are – almost unbelievably – owned offshore in a Mediterranean tax haven, while the attorney-general works from a London … [Read more...]
On the Capture of Luxembourg by Big Accountancy Firms
UPDATE: TJN is among a host of signatories to a letter (published here) calling on the Luxembourg authorities to refrain from prosecuting whistleblower Antoine Deltour. In the letter we note that even the Luxembourg government has publicly recognised that the information revealed by M Deltour has … [Read more...]
Event in London on the Domination of “The City”
The Domination of the City: Holding the City To Account. Tuesday, Dec 16th, 6.30-8.30 pm, Committee Room 16, House of Commons TJN has long argued that the scale and power of the City of London has induced a Finance Curse which afflicts the rest of the UK. In the coming session of the … [Read more...]
CEO: EU Commission gets advice on tax policies from #LuxLeaks tax dodgers
From the Corporate Observatory Europe, an important article entitled Commission gets advice on tax policies from LuxLeaks tax dodgers. It begins: "LuxLeaks documents recently revealed that the consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has created questionable strategies enabling big businesses to … [Read more...]
Not In My Name: remarkable, rare voices of remorse and mortification in Luxembourg
We have often remarked on how easy it is for financial services interests to "capture" small tax havens or secrecy jurisdictions. It's a common pattern and a woefully under-studied phenomenon where the capture by global offshore finance extends beyond the policy-making apparatus … [Read more...]
SPERI: The Finance Curse as New Grand Narrative
Occupy in London is back – many riot police, but where are the media?
By Gail Bradbrook, a TJN supporter who was at the Occupy protest: "There is currently an occupation in Parliament Square, England, in protest at the capture of democracy by financial interests; a feature of what we at TJN call the Finance Curse. TJN's director, John Christensen, was amongst … [Read more...]
The (-ve) Value of Jersey to the UK Economy
The G20 summit meeting of world leaders in Brisbane next month will have corporate transparency on the agenda. Unsurprisingly, secrecy jurisdictions are working overtime to deflect attention away from their core activities, such as the provision of secrecy and facilities to escape tax, legally or … [Read more...]
Occupy is back: new protests in London
From Occupy, via email: OCCUPY IS BACK Pro-democracy campaigners will occupy Parliament Square in London for nine days next week. On October 17th Parliament Square will once again be flooded with people who will refuse to be moved. … [Read more...]
