From the BVI Beacon in the British Virgin Islands, a Special Report entitled Under pressure, BVI fears big impact on financial services. The BVI, and particularly a number of mostly white, male expatriate workers, have made a living out of secrecy. They don't like all this transparency stuff that … [Read more...]
Human Rights
Human Rights Policy Brief: a Post-2015 Fiscal Revolution
The New York-based Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR) and Christian Aid have just published an important new paper entitled A Post-2015 Fiscal Revolution: Human Rights Policy Brief. It is a most useful contribution to the fast-growing community of researchers and research on the … [Read more...]
Programme: Tax Justice and Human Rights Symposium, McGill University, Montreal 18-20 June 2014
Tax Justice and Human Rights Research Collaboration Symposium Faculty of Law, McGill University, Montreal, 18-20 June 2014 Day 1: Emerging Scholars Symposium Wednesday 18 June … [Read more...]
Ethical shareholders call on Google to stop its tax abuses
The Domini Social Equity Fund and its partners have submitted a shareholder proposal to Google for its annual meeting on May 14th urging it to do something about its systematic tax abuses. We just blogged a petition in support of this proposal, which we'd urge readers to sign. The shareholder … [Read more...]
How Glencore made its money
From an excellent new article in Foreign Affairs, by Ken Silverstein. It concerns the commodity trading giant Glencore, which Reuters once called "the biggest company you never heard of," and which went public in May 2011. "What the IPO filing did not make clear was just how Glencore, founded four … [Read more...]
Zero hours contracts: how tax avoidance helps drive the abuses
There has been a lot of attention about a report in the UK summarised in today's Financial Times: "Unions and politicians have called for action to curb employment on a “zero-hours” basis after official data showed that UK employers are using about 1.4m contracts that do not guarantee a minimum … [Read more...]
Quote of the day: William Browder, Russia and Ukraine
In an interview with The American Interest, looking at Ukraine and the looting of the former Soviet Union, the co-founder of Hermitage Capital speaks out - all guns blazing. There are any number of Quotes of the Day we could highlight - but we thought we'd choose this one, prompted by the … [Read more...]
Mailbox companies and human rights: the Dutch connection
From our colleagues at SOMO in the Netherlands, an excellent article translated from the original in the Volkskrant newspaper. While it focuses on the Netherlands, it is another sign of the growing global awareness of the links between human rights and tax haven and secrecy jurisdiction abuses. Read … [Read more...]
Symposium: Tax Justice and Human Rights, McGill University, Montreal
Tax Justice and Human Rights A Collaborative Symposium for Researchers, Students and Activists … [Read more...]
Party politics pierces City of London for first time in centuries
William Campbell-Taylor, an Anglican priest who featured heavily in the final chapter of Treasure Islands (except in the US edition,) has become the first political party candidate ever to win a seat on the common council of the City of London. That's a record that stretches back a thousand years, … [Read more...]
London spin machine tries to rebut NYT “City betrays US” thesis
Following our widely read analysis on Russia, Ukraine, the City of London, and national security - here's another must-read article in the New York Times from the same author, Ben Judah, who wrote the original one we cited. … [Read more...]
Why Russia no longer fears the West. It’s the offshore, stupid
If there's one story you read today make it this one, from Politico Magazine. It's triggered by the crisis in Ukraine, but it's been a long time coming. The point of this short story is clear: Western leaders are waking up to the fact that Russia no longer fears or even respects them. Why? … [Read more...]
European MEP calls for hearing on Swiss banking scandals
Following the latest Credit Suisse scandal in the United States, Ana Gomes, a European Member of Parliament, has issued this public letter to the chairs of the Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET) Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE); and Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON.) We fully … [Read more...]
Tax havens and corruption: Lebedev and TJN in the NYT
From Alexander Lebedev in the New York Times: "According to the Tax Justice Network, an independent group promoting efforts to curb tax avoidance, crooked business people, working with corrupt officials, have embezzled $30 trillion over the last 15 years — or half of the world’s annual gross … [Read more...]
Credit Suisse: industrial scale corruption in Switzerland
From The Guardian: "Senators Carl Levin and John McCain had harsh words for the Justice Department and the Swiss government, too, as they released a 178-page permanent subcommittee on investigation (PSI) report into offshore tax avoidance. … [Read more...]
