South Africa: Lonmin’s failed gag bid puts spotlight on transfer pricing Business Day Live See the report The Bermuda connection: Profit shifting and unaffordability at Lonmin1999-?2012 by the Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC). See also: The Last Word: Avoid Lonmin like the … [Read more...]
Inequality & Democracy
Occupy in London is back – many riot police, but where are the media?
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...]
Austria’s tax treaties: reducing developing countries’ revenues?
We've written a fair bit about tax treaties in the past few days, and have also updated and slightly expanded our tax treaties page. Now, in the spirit of the week, we offer a guest blog from Martina Neuwirth of the Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation (VIDC,) highlighting a … [Read more...]
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...]
Fair taxes are key to a fair share for all
Guest blog from the Global Alliance for Tax Justice Growing inequality within and between countries has become one of the defining issues of our age. It seems a week cannot go by without another damning report looking at the size and harmful consequences of this pervasive problem. … [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...]
Picture of the day: the global wealth pyramid
Credit Suisse's new Global Wealth Report is out. As always, it contains a ream of useful data. For instance, it estimates that global household wealth reached US$263 trillion in mid-2014, up from $117 trillion in 2000: "Between 2008 and mid-2014, mean wealth per adult grew by 26%; but the same … [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...]
African low income countries demand fair share of tax
From Tove Maria Ryding at Eurodad, via email: At a media event in Washington last week, finance ministers of francophone low-income countries (DRC and Cameroon) demanded a "fair share of global tax revenues" and a "high-level meeting under UN auspices". … [Read more...]
Guest blog: Tax and the social contract in Brazil
Guest blog: Tax and the social contract in Brazil By Marcus Melo, professor of Political Science at the Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil, and Armando Barrientos, co-research director of the International Research Institute on Brazil & Africa. Internationally, debates on tax in … [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...]
Direct corporate welfare costs UK taxpayers £85bn a year
We recently remarked on the good work done by Good Jobs First in highlighting state-level corporate welfare in the United States. Greg Leroy of Good Jobs First also points is towards the work by the Pew Charitable Trusts to bring more transparency to federal-level subsidies and spending. Now, from … [Read more...]
Tanzanian MP Zitto Kabwe calls on Commonwealth to tackle illicit capital flight
This is the transcript of the presentation by Zitto Kabwe, MP United Republic of Tanzania delivered to the 60th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference Yaoundé, Cameroon, 2th – 10th October, 2014 … [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...]
