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...]
Tax Havens & Financial Crisis
Cayman Compass: Public registers would foil tax criminals
Cayman Compass has just published the following letter from TJN and Transparency International in response to an article by Carlyle Roger: … [Read more...]
Financial globalisation not so great – Bank for International Settlements
We don't have time today to do this one justice, but it's an important pair of articles on FT Alphaville - here and here, which are introduced, if not fully summarised, thus: "The consensus among Western policymakers is beginning to shift, however. The IMF officially changed its tune in 2011 by … [Read more...]
Shadow banking: why tax havens increase financial risks
From a 2013 paper by Thomas Rixen, another set of arguments why tax havens have helped generate financial risks. The paper itself argues that financial regulatory competition - core TJN fare - is much overlooked. He focuses on: "an aspect that has so far been under-analyzed in the … [Read more...]
Macedonia plans to set up tax haven
The Balkan press is reporting a mixed reaction to the Macedonian government's announcement yesterday of plans to create a tax haven in that country. While financial experts are reportedly cock-a-hoop about the plan (who doesn't like a free lunch?), and Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski (pictured) says … [Read more...]
The World Weekly – Infographic on the Hidden Economy
From The World Weekly: … [Read more...]
Stiglitz: how to use tax to build an economy
Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz has just published a White Paper with the Roosevelt Institute entitled Reforming Taxation to Promote Growth and Equity. It is a fascinating and clear piece of work, distilling a number of powerful tax principles - and it includes a section on formula apportionment (or … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper: a week in tax justice
The Offshore Wrapper is written by George Turner Tax avoidance in Africa – worse than we thought … [Read more...]
New book: The Political Economy of Offshore Jurisdictions
This new book adds further insights into the political economy of offshore, raising questions about why offshore has been off-limits for serious political discussion for so many decades and opening up discussion around offshore secrecy. A welcome addition to the emerging debate. … [Read more...]
Quote of the day: finance, truth and bullsh*t
From SOMO, an article about how financial sector interests have sabotaged European efforts to regulate the shadow banking sector. Our quote of the day, one in an occasional series, is from Belgian Green MEP Philippe Lamberts, who accused other MEPs of ‘delaying tactics’ and said: "I am not a … [Read more...]
Letter on derivatives: stop the offshore race to the bottom
Wall Street banks trade perhaps half of their derivatives activities through foreign banks. For them, foreign jurisdictions are an obvious escape route from U.S. financial regulations. Last June, Marcus Stanley of Americans for Financial Reform wrote: … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper: A week in tax justice
Our weekly Offshore Wrapper, by George Turner The end of decency For years the attitude towards Russia from major offshore financial centres such as the City of London has been: “Give us your money, we don’t care where it comes from.” … [Read more...]
Not quite anywhere: shadow banking and the offshore system
A useful reminder about shadow banking from Anastasia Nesvetailova, Reader in International Political Economy at City University London. It begins like this: “It takes me about two hours to assemble a team of finance geeks and lawyers to devise a product or a transaction that would bypass any new … [Read more...]
Guernsey milking and the offshore stock exchange
The International Advisor magazine has just reported: "Guernsey chief minister Peter Harwood resigned today, in the wake of publication of a critical article in the current issue of the British satirical and investigative publication, Private Eye." This refers to an excellent report entitled … [Read more...]
TJN’s Offshore Wrapper: The week in tax justice
We are all in this together “Frankly I don’t like any taxes at all,” David Cameron told the Federation of Small Businesses last week. … [Read more...]
