KPMG's Regulatory Arbitrage Culture Paper by Dr. Atul K. Shah "The Big 4 ... Overwhelming evidence has been emerging in recent decades about their pro-active roles in tax avoidance and arbitrage..." Trade Secrets: Coca-Cola’s Hidden Formula for Avoiding Taxes 100Reporters Shell and Eni's … [Read more...]
Inequality & Democracy
Panama thumbs its nose at transparency – again
We have on several occasions fingered Panama as a particularly recalcitrant secrecy jurisdiction: our recent Panama Narrative Report spills a fair number of beans in that respect. Its recalcitrance is perhaps hardly surprising, given the quantity of Colombian and Mexican drugs money believed to be … [Read more...]
Links Dec 9
Latin America and Caribbean Tax Administration Dialogue on International Taxation in Quito Global Alliance for Tax Justice Country-by-Country regime passed by Australian Parliament Global Alliance for Tax Justice New Study: Illicit Financial Flows Hit US$1.1 Trillion in 2013 Financial … [Read more...]
Lazonick: tax cheating is just part of Pfizer’s corrupt business model
Recently the U.S. pharma giant Pfizer announced a merger with the drugmaker Allergan, in a deal heavily motivated by tax cheating via a 'corporate' inversion - a corporate relocation to take advantage of (in this case Ireland's) lax tax regime. Much has been said on the topic, with U.S. … [Read more...]
Jersey: the fall of a Finance-Cursed tax haven
A new article in the Guardian Long Reads series, entitled The fall of Jersey: how a tax haven goes bust. (Not as dramatic as this one, but still.) The article heavily features Jerseyman John Christensen, TJN's Director (along with Richard Murphy of Tax Research UK, who has been influential in … [Read more...]
Links Dec 7
The determinants of tax haven FDI Science Direct Paper examines the determinants of a multinational enterprise's (MNEs) decision to set up tax haven subsidiaries. Cayman Islands fraudsters may have moved $450 million to Cuba Caribbean News Now! Very interesting report by Kenneth Rijock, a … [Read more...]
Quote of the day – on Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘charitable donation’
For those who don't know, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg this week pledged, on the birth of his daughter, to donate 99 percent of his billion-worth of Facebook stock to good causes. Which has generated adulation and love, from around the world: just look at the Great and the Good lining up to … [Read more...]
Workshop: Call for Papers on Corruption and the Role of Tax Havens
Call for papers for a Research Workshop on CORRUPTION AND THE ROLE OF TAX HAVENS … [Read more...]
Links Dec 3
Revealed: how Southeast Asia’s biggest drug lord used shell companies to become a jade kingpin Global Witness For Facebook’s Zuckerberg, Charity Is in Eye of Beholder Bloomberg Gabriel Zucman points out: “A society where rich people decide for themselves how much taxes they pay and to what … [Read more...]
Links Dec 2
Art & Money Laundering in Switzerland - secrecy is weakening Bilan (In French) Article in English here. EAC states adopt new measures to curb tax loss The East African European Parliament tax investigation continued: Strong mandate for new committee to continue tax investigation Sven … [Read more...]
Links Dec 1
HSBC whistleblower given five years’ jail over biggest leak in banking history The Guardian See also: 'Sentencing Changes Nothing, Will Help Black Money Probe,' Says Herve Falciani NDTV, The Snowden Of Swiss Bank Accounts Is Sentenced To Prison While White Collar Criminals Go Free ThinkProgress, … [Read more...]
John Christensen on rocking the boat in Jersey
In this blog, first published in the Whistleblower Edition of Tax Justice Focus (available here), TJN's director John Christensen, a former Economic Adviser to the island of Jersey, reflects on his experience of exposing a banking scandal, which involved him in a direct confrontation with senior … [Read more...]
The private banking fairy tale: a whistleblower’s story
This article was originally published in the Whistleblower Edition of Tax Justice Focus (November 2015) Whistleblowing by finance professionals has begun to make significant inroads into the sector’s culture of secrecy and collusion. Here UBS whistleblower Stéphanie Gibaud describes the costs to … [Read more...]
How the U.S.A. became a secrecy jurisdiction
This month we published our fourth Financial Secrecy Index (FSI), complete with a series of reports about each of the biggest tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions, looking into the political and economic histories of how and why they went offshore, who was involved, and where the bodies are … [Read more...]
Links Nov 26
An uneven playing field: inequality, human rights and taxation inesc "The Latin American experience shows that progressive tax systems are crucial to reducing inequality." EU lawmakers step up pressure to tackle tax dodging Reuters See also: EP tax investigation: EP president Schulz blocking … [Read more...]
