Should we at the Tax Justice Network be doing more to engage with organisations in the global south? Should we be focusing more on high-level advocacy or talking more about progressive taxes instead of tax avoidance? These questions and more were put to us at our organisational retreat this spring … [Read more...]
Intergovernmental tax body
A boost for the UN Tax Committee
We're sharing here an article from Abdul Muheet Chowdhary, who is a consultant in the Policy Planning and Research Division of the Ministry of External Affairs in India and formerly a consultant with the United Nations. The article originally appeared here on the blog of GLOBTAXGOV – A New Model … [Read more...]
Blacklist, whitewashed: How the OECD bent its rules to help tax haven USA
We’ve criticised for years the farcical nature of ‘tax haven’ blacklists, whether EU or OECD ones. They all turn out to be politicised, misleading and ineffective. If you want an objectively verifiable ranking you need look no further than the Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index. But … [Read more...]
New UN tax handbook: Lower-income countries vs OECD BEPS
The UN has just released an updated edition of its United Nations Handbook on Selected Issues in Protecting the Tax Base of Developing Countries. While technical in style and cautious in approach, the UN tax handbook identifies a range of issues in which the OECD's Base Erosion and Profit Shifting … [Read more...]
Will the G20 ever end the global problem of tax avoidance and tax evasion?
Ahead of the G20 Summit in Hamburg this week our own George Turner has published this op-ed in the German newspaper Die Tageszeitung today. The article discusses why, despite sustained political engagement from world leaders, we are still some way from solving the problem of tax avoidance and tax … [Read more...]
Tax Justice Network warns at the UN against subversion of Sustainable Development Goals
Last week the Tax Justice Network director Alex Cobham was invited to the United Nations in New York to address the ECOSOC Financing for Development Forum. Here are his remarks, which highlight a major threat to the Sustainable Development Goals target to reduce illicit financial flows. And what's … [Read more...]
Developing countries’ access to CbCR: Guess who’s (not) coming to OECD dinner
It's said that if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. Well, the OECD has just made available the list of activated relationships to automatically exchange country-by-country reports between countries. They use big figures like 700 relationships, but don’t get fooled by those numbers - … [Read more...]
Links Jan 23
European Parliament's new hearing on Panama Papers: lawyers, accountants and bankers Global Alliance for Tax Justice Ecuador and NGOs' plea for a Global Tax Body Global Alliance for Tax Justice Aid in reverse: how poor countries develop rich countries The Guardian … [Read more...]
Links Jan 10
Tax Avoidance, Illicit Financial Flows, and Global Development: A Call for a United Nations Tax Body Global Alliance for Tax Justice Event in Washington DC on 12 January Eva Joly's op-ed on French Country-by=Country Reporting Global Alliance for Tax Justice The 24 loopholes in the OECD's Common … [Read more...]
Report launch: Global taxation – Financing the Sustainable Development Goals
Education is a fundamental human right and a global public good. So how do we address the lack of financing for it around the world? TJN has written a study on the role of global tax in financing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the United Nations Education Commission (in full, the … [Read more...]
UN Expert backs the Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index in the battle to protect human rights
The next United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres has a lot on his plate. But when he takes over from Ban Ki-moon to head the United Nations on the 1st of January 2017 one of his priorities must be to eliminate tax havens. … [Read more...]
UN report recommends: go after tax havens, and protect whistleblowers
From the United Nations General Assembly, the fifth report of the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order. The summary goes like this: "The report focuses on impacts of taxation on human rights and explores the challenges posed to the international … [Read more...]
Ecuador’s president calls for global tax body
Updated with additional information about Correa's administration and exposés in the Panama Papers scandal; scroll down. Ecuador's president Rafael Correa has published a significant statement about international tax governance, and specifically the prospect of creating a global tax organisation. … [Read more...]
Links Sep 22
Ecuador steps up campaign for a UN #Globaltaxbody Global Alliance for Tax Justice How to hide it: inside the secret world of wealth managers The Guardian "They know more about their clients than the clients’ own wives. They are loyal in the face of appalling behaviour. They are the brains behind … [Read more...]
Links Sep 14
An Intergovernmental UN Tax Body – why we need it and how we can get it Eurodad Taking action for tax justice at World Social Forum 2016 Global Alliance for Tax Justice New report reveals the "dark side" of European Investment Bank funds: How the EU's bank supports non-transparent investment … [Read more...]
