Note: tomorrow we'll be posting news of worldwide media coverage on our newly launched 2015 Financial Secrecy Index LuxLeaks anniversary: activists call for transparency Global Alliance for Tax Justice See also: Global Week of Action for #TaxJustice, Nov 2-6! 1 year on from #LuxLeaks - … [Read more...]
Secrecy
Rangers lose the big tax case: what now?
The Offshore Game, a TJN-supported site dedicated to looking at tax havenry in sport, published this long article about Scotland's Rangers football club yesterday. It is important not just for the interests involved, but because of principles at stake, not least concerning discretionary trusts (see … [Read more...]
Fifty Shades of Tax Dodging: how EU helps support unjust global tax systems
A major new report written by civil society organisations in 14 countries across the EU, co-ordinated by Eurodad. Fifty Shades of Tax Dodging: the EU's role in supporting an unjust global tax system … [Read more...]
TJN unveils its new Financial Secrecy Index
Today the Tax Justice Network launches the 2015 Financial Secrecy Index, the biggest ever survey of global financial secrecy. This unique index combines a secrecy score with a weighting to create a ranking of the secrecy jurisdictions and countries that most actively promote secrecy in global … [Read more...]
Links Oct 29
Ten years in the campaign for tax justice - we have a long way to go Open Democracy By TJN Director John Christensen. See our recent blog New publication: The Greatest Invention – Tax and the Campaign for a Just Society Fighting tax evasion: EU and Liechtenstein sign new tax transparency … [Read more...]
Links Oct 26
Inside the Secretive World of Tax-Avoidance Experts The Atlantic Challenges for family offices in emerging markets IFC Review / Financial Times Reporting on a trend in developing economies - wealthy families setting up their own trust companies. Corruption and natural resources - A fight for … [Read more...]
Links Oct 22
Video: Taxation (ICTD/UNU-WIDER Special Session) 1/5 - 30th Anniversary Conference Extracting minerals, extracting wealth: how Zambia is losing $3 billion a year from corporate tax dodging War on Want After Blow to Europe Tax Havens, Some Promise More Staying Power Bloomberg Large-scale … [Read more...]
Links Oct 21
Starbucks and Fiat sweetheart tax deals with EU nations ruled unlawful The Guardian See also: Apple Stakes Raised as EU Orders Starbucks, Fiat Tax Repayments Bloomberg, and earlier blog European Commission determines state sponsored tax avoidance schemes illegal Switzerland Must Seize … [Read more...]
Links Oct 19
Analysis: Can we beat tax avoiding multinationals? - Finance Uncovered/ Byline How to lose $4billion Global Witness New report, coming ahead of a pivotal meeting of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). "Credibility test for global transparency standard as $4bn lost to … [Read more...]
Links Oct 16
Tax avoidance by corporations is out of control. The United Nations must step in The Guardian Comment by José Antonio Ocampo and Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona The Bitter Taste of Tax Avoidance Huffington Post Finance Minister Minister announces tax amnesty for Luxembourg Luxembuger Wort "The … [Read more...]
Links Oct 15
In Norway, Everyone's Income Is Public—and So Is Tax Paid The Atlantic Big Data and Tax Haven Secrecy Social Science Research Network "... how tax haven secrecy enables elites in non-democratic countries to transfer their monies for ultimate investment in stable democratic countries." Via … [Read more...]
Links Oct 13
Facebook tax bill highlights Osborne’s ‘diverted profits’ levy Financial Times (paywall) Cites TJN's research director @alexcobham: “it is simply not credible that Facebook is unprofitable in one of its more mature and active markets such as the UK. Examples like this simply serve as a reminder as … [Read more...]
Links 12 Oct
Tax avoidance fuels global inequality CNN Opinion piece by Joseph Stiglitz. Tax reforms are small beer when big firms are denying poor countries billions The Guardian See also our recent press release: OECD’s BEPS proposals will not be the end of tax avoidance by multinationals India: … [Read more...]
Links Oct 8
Why India should defend this whistleblower from the Swiss justice system Scroll.in "Hervé Falciani, who exposed the global offshore industry with the HSBC data leak, is facing prosecution under skewed Swiss laws for data theft and espionage." See also: Guest blog: how Switzerland corrupted its … [Read more...]
How 1/8th of Moldova’s GDP vanished, via a Scottish council flat
From the BBC: "The UK is one of the easiest countries in the world to set up a company in, and some agents offer to do it in an hour, for as little as £25." In standard parlance, this makes the UK an 'efficient' place to set up a company, reassuringly free of that pesky 'red tape.' All good stuff. … [Read more...]