UPDATES 2018 - Tax incentives in mining: minimising risks to revenue, OECD/Intergovernmental forum on mining, minerals, metals, and sustainable development. "Tax incentives are costly, leading many countries to forgo vital revenues in exchange for often illusive benefits. . . there is little … [Read more...]
Finance Sector
Links Mar 17
Banks Say “Thanks for the Bailout,” Now We’ll Park our Profits in Overseas Tax Havens AllGov Tax Justice in Europe - time to stop hiding and start acting ActionAid UK: ‘Hard core’ tax dodgers to face strong crackdown Financial Times (paywall) Tax Cheat Hid $300 Million In Swiss Accounts … [Read more...]
Six questions about HSBC and the Jersey connection
From the BBC in Jersey: "HSBC is closing all accounts in Jersey for customers living in the UK, as part of industry-wide efforts to check identity and address details, to ensure off-shore accounts aren't being used to hide money. Jersey's Chief Minister Ian Gorst insists that banks have to … [Read more...]
Small countries, big banks: is Andorra the new Cyprus?
Our quote of the day comes from the introductory paragraph of a Reuters story: "With Andorra now added to the list, how many more examples do we need to see the folly of combining a small country with a large banking system?" That's our quote of the day. The lead angle of the story is one of … [Read more...]
Links Mar 16
Special committee on tax dumping in the EU has started Sven Giegold Africa’s top billionaire uses Malta shell companies to hold diamonds ‘conflict’ Malta Today "Daughter of Angola’s president, Isabel dos Santos, uses Malta shell companies to hold her major interests in state-owned diamonds, … [Read more...]
Where did Zimbabwe’s diamond revenues go?
From Tax Justice Network Africa, via its Afritax feed, a video showing a Zimbabwean member of parliament, James Maridadi, taking the Minister of Finance to task on revenue from Marange Diamonds. The brief exchange is worth watching, not least for the Minister's evasive manoeuvres. But it's … [Read more...]
In the next taxcast: democracy for sale, via tax havens
Another day, another political party funding scandal. This time it's (again!) the UK, and its third largest party the Liberal Democrats. We will start with a quote. “Tax-haven lobbyists and beneficiaries have captured and corrupted our party political fundraising.” That's not us saying … [Read more...]
Links Mar 13
The Passport King: Christian Kalin's business is showing poor countries they have at least one resource worth selling: citizenship. Bloomberg What Directives Were Given To HSBC Staff? Financial Times (paywall) HSBC's Swiss private bank: French prosecutor formally requests trial The … [Read more...]
City of London helps UK ‘betray’ US again: this time it’s over China
A year ago today's TJN blogger wrote an article for The American Interest magazine entitled Putin, the U.S. and the City of London: The Much-Too-Special-Relationship. It made the bold statement: “The truth is that the City of London is a greater potential threat to the national security of the … [Read more...]
Links Mar 11
The Levin Center is official -- at the Wayne State University School of Law Detroit Free Press Levin himself will teach classes, beginning this fall with a course on tax policy, its effects on society and, as Levin put it, "how tax avoidance activities have punched a hole in our income tax … [Read more...]
City of London Corporation in ‘failure to support transparency’ shocker
Father William Taylor, an elected member of the City of London Corporation, has blogged an interesting exchange he had last week with Mark Boleat, who chairs the Corporation's Policy Committee. The crux of the exchange is that the Corporation will not be supporting the proposal before the UK … [Read more...]
Links Mar 10
Tax secrets of little Luxembourg CNBC U.K. Lawmakers Call Former HSBC Private Bank CEO 'Incompetent' Bloomberg European Parliament's inquiry committee on #LuxLeaks is taking shape European Voice Tipping the balance: new global corporate law Lawyers for Better Business (L4BB) Blog A call … [Read more...]
Links Mar 9
View from abroad: New development paradigm DAWN.com "Yes, finally after years of beating around the bush, global attention is turning to tackling tax evasion, by companies and individuals. The question will be high up on the agenda of the third International Conference on Financing for Development … [Read more...]
Bankers have a moral compass, it just may not look like yours
Guest blog by Jörg Wiegratz, lecturer in political economy of global development, University of Leeds We’re getting rather used to revelations about sharp practice in the banking sector. The row about HSBC’s tax services to rich clients has raised, yet again, crucial questions about the business … [Read more...]
Links Mar 5
U.S. Companies Are Stashing .1 Trillion Overseas to Avoid Taxes Bloomberg See also: Despite FATCA, U.S. Companies Stash $2.1 Trillion Abroad---Untaxed Forbes Foreign Tax Surprises Like Disney’s Have SEC Seeking Sunlight Bloomberg Imagination at Work? GE Once Again Pays Less Than 1% in … [Read more...]
