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...]
Finance Sector
Links Oct 17
Ten drivers of inequality in Africa Oxfam How tax inspectors could prevent the next Ebola outbreak The Conversation See also recent blog Tax Inspectors Without Borders – an update Argentina: Courts could dismiss Swiss bank data Buenos Aires Herald Swiss-Indian tax negotiations yield … [Read more...]
Links Oct 16
Financing for development: What actions are needed on debt and illicit capital flows? Bretton Woods Project Debt and Development Coalition Ireland says government playing musical chairs on corporate tax and government failed to tackle bank debt See also: Ireland ends one era of abuse – and … [Read more...]
Quote of the day: City of London and financial fraud
One of a long line of "quotes of the day: this one from 2013, but still relevant today The “race to the weakest supervisor” did not occur only within the U.S. Brooksley Born and a former senior SEC official have confirmed to me that UK regulators directly pitched U.S. financial firms to relocate … [Read more...]
Tax haven Panama: it’s time for blacklists and sanctions now
Ten years ago Jeffrey Robinson published a book about tax havens called The Sink, where he quotes a U.S. Customs official as saying of Panama: "The country is filled with dishonest lawyers, dishonest bankers, dishonest company formation agents and dishonest companies registered there by those … [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...]
Links Oct 10
Kenya: Lobby sues Treasury CS over 'illegal' tax deal with Mauritius Business Standard Lawsuit filed by Tax Justice Network - Africa ActionAid Asks European Investment Bank to Publish Report on Mopani Tax Evasion Zambia Reports Joint press release circulated by organisations ActionAid Zambia, … [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...]
Links 9 Oct
Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey says tax cheats are 'thieves' The Sydney Morning Herald See also: ATO alleges complex Chevron scheme slashed tax bill by $258m The Sydney Morning Herald Khodorkovsky’s Contradictions The Komisar Scoop Some searching questions on offshore shell games. 56 … [Read more...]
Switzerland wants to cherry-pick “partner” countries on transparency
Updated, Oct 10, with additional analysis from the Swiss "Q and A": Switzerland has grudgingly made some important concessions on secrecy in recent years - although we've always been at pains to stess that it has happened an inch at a time, and usually bilaterally. Typically, this means making … [Read more...]
Links Oct 7
ActionAid Says Mines Arm Twisting Zambia Over Tax Refunds allAfrica See also: ActionAid Accuses Glencore of Strong-Arm Tactics allAfrica Get ready for UK extractive industries disclosure rules The FCPA Blog Indian, Swiss tax authorities expected to meet over controversial 'HSBC list' The … [Read more...]
PWC report endorses country by country reporting for banks
From Euractiv, a statement that would have been unthinkable even just a couple of years ago: "Publishing turnover, staff numbers, taxes paid and subsidies received in every country banks operate in, could boost competitiveness, increase lending and bolster financial stability, the independent … [Read more...]
Links Oct 6
Asia-Pacific's developing nations raise low government revenue: United Nations The Economic Times Switzerland Gives France Documents on 300 UBS Customers International Business Times See also: UBS whistleblower criticises banking’s ‘code of silence’ swissinfo, UBS criticises Paris over tax … [Read more...]
Links Oct 3
Eurodad - Tax and transparency fact-finding mission Mopani-Glencore claim to Zambia tax refund cannot be taken seriously Christian Aid 'Illegal state aid' and offshore 'sinners' in Euro tax probes The ICIJ Global Muckraker … [Read more...]
Links Oct 2
Australia: Business leaders to face parliamentary inquiry on tax avoidance The Sydney Morning Herald See also: Global crackdown on tax havens fails to sway Australian companies, Government warned that ATO not up to catching tax avoiders, and our earlier blog Third of Australia’s big corporations … [Read more...]
