(Cross-posted with financecurse.net) The Finance Curse is a concept first developed by the Tax Justice Network. It is a relatively simple idea -- and also an original and powerful multi-level critique of the modern global economy. The core message is "too much finance can make a country … [Read more...]
Race to the Bottom
Edition 17 of the Tax Justice Network Arabic monthly podcast/radio show, 17# الجباية ببساطة
Welcome to the seventeenth edition of our monthly Arabic podcast/radio show Taxes Simply الجباية ببساطة contributing to tax justice public debate around the world. (In Arabic below) Taxes Simply الجباية ببساطة is produced and presented by Walid Ben Rhouma and Osama Diab of the Egyptian … [Read more...]
Quote of the day – accountants “not set up to look for fraud.”
Following the acrimonious collapse of a British cake business, Patisserie Valerie, a quote of the day from a top accountant: We’re not looking for fraud, we’re not looking at the future, we’re not giving a statement that the accounts are correct . . . we are looking in the past and we are not set … [Read more...]
Oligopoly Capitalism: economic and democratic threats: the Tax Justice Network’s January 2019 podcast
In Edition 85 of the January 2019 Tax Justice Network’s monthly podcast/radio show, the Taxcast (available on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and other podcast platforms): Naomi Fowler talks to investor and author Jonathan Tepper who’s co-written a book called ‘The Myth of Capitalism: Monopolies and … [Read more...]
Brexit and the future of tax havens
This week the Tax Justice Network's John Christensen spoke at this event at the European Parliament organised by the European Free Alliance of the Greens on Brexit and the future of tax havens. Here's more information on the event and you can watch the whole thing here. John spoke on the impact of … [Read more...]
How to assess the effectiveness of automatic exchange of banking information?
In December 2018 the OECD’s Global Forum published the new terms of reference to assess compliance with the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard (CRS) for automatic exchange of information. Two weeks later, the EU Commission published a report about automatic exchange of information within the EU. Both … [Read more...]
Is Germany’s finance minister the puppet of Big Finance?
Update, Feb 22, 2019: German Finance Minister Scholz blocks tax transparency. The Financial Times is carrying an article this week titled "Berlin falls in love with big banks" in which it quotes Chancellor Angela Merkel and her centre-left finance minister, Olaf Scholz, as having started a … [Read more...]
Fintech, hotbed of offshore deregulation and crime
Reuters has just published an article titled Swiss watchdog to propose looser anti-money laundering rules for fintechs. (Fintech is short for "financial + technology" and it is about bringing technology into the financial sector.) Switzerland's move is, apparently: part of a drive to boost … [Read more...]
Video discussion: ‘Taming Digital Capitalism’ through public country by country reporting
There were some important debates in Brussels recently where Hans Böckler Stiftung held a two-day symposium with the European Trade Union Institute looking at the changes citizens in Europe are facing in the workplace and examining the challenges for the new leaders who will be in place as a result … [Read more...]
The US’s ‘Trump/Goldman tax law’ and the race to the bottom
The American Interest magazine has published an article by TJN senior adviser James Henry in which he points out that the damage caused by President Trump's tax reforms will ripple out way beyond the USA, where many citizens will be seriously harmed (we reported on the human rights implications of … [Read more...]
Secrecy, oligarchs and offshore psychology in our December 2017 podcast
In our December 2017 Taxcast: We speak with two time Pulitzer Prize winning author and journalist Jake Bernstein about his new book 'Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite'. We ask what makes offshore players like Jurgen Mossack and … [Read more...]
Enough evidence on trusts – where are the State’s actions?
Our two last papers on trusts (here and here) described trusts’ involvement in grand corruption and other cases that would anger any rational person. The Paradise Papers, and recent case law, shed outrageous new light on trusts’ role in worsening inequality, shielding assets from legitimate … [Read more...]
Passports and residency for sale in our October 2017 podcast
In this month’s Taxcast we look at the booming business of passports and residency for sale, and why it should worry us all. Also: even the IMF now advocates wealth taxes to combat inequality, yet governments around the world – most recently President Macron of France – are going in the … [Read more...]
The Dutch government cuts its corporate tax rate…
The new Dutch government is to announce that it will cut its corporate tax rate according to leaked details of the current round of coalition talks. This move is the equivalent to the country jumping into the race to the bottom pool with both feet. We've always highlighted the false narrative … [Read more...]
Tax Justice video: How can we avoid another crisis? Expert panel discussion
In this video we hear fascinating presentations and discussion from an expert panel on how another global financial crisis can be avoided, ten years after the first. They focus on the UK, not only on the financial sector itself and the finance curse, but also on the role of the wider financial … [Read more...]
