Open letter to the Heads of State and Ministers of Finance of the East African Community: Redouble efforts to end illicit financial flows and harmful tax incentives in the East African Community East Africa Tax & Governance Network (EATGN) Breaking bad habits: time for @amazonuk to face up … [Read more...]
Secrecy
A scorecard on UK tax havens: promises, but little progress
Just over a year ago the British Prime Minister David Cameron, whose family has had tax haven interests for many years, tried to whitewash Britain's Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies with a statement saying: "I do not think it is fair any longer to refer to any of the Overseas Territories … [Read more...]
Links Dec 1
United Nations starts pounding pavement on the road to Addis Ababa Eurodad Today UK oil and mining transparency becomes reality. U.S. take note. Global Witness See also: U.K. Resources Companies Ordered to Disclose Government Payments Bloomberg The tax wars of Europe The Hindu Business … [Read more...]
London protest on Dec 2 to end tax haven secrecy
From Christian Aid, via email (see also this Christian Aid / ActionAid poll (details here) showing that huge majorities think tax avoidance is wrong and that the UK government isn't doing enough about it): Tuesday 2 December: 8:30 am – 9:30 am Christian Aid protest calling for end to tax … [Read more...]
Links Nov 26
Leadership needed on tax fairness in Australia The Sydney Morning Herald Multinational tax cases headed for court, Australian Tax Office says Financial Review Microsoft to pay China $140 million for 'tax evasion' Reuters Calls for reform and a resignation over LuxLeaks ICIJ … [Read more...]
Update: report on the OECD’s information exchange standard
A month ago we published a preliminary report entitled ‘The end of bank secrecy?’Bridging the gap to effective automatic information exchange, looking at the OECD's new system of automatic information exchange. We have now completed our final technical analysis of the report. It is not very … [Read more...]
Links Nov 25
China’s offshore empires go from help to headache Reuters "When is a Chinese company not Chinese? When it’s a complex web of offshore vehicles rooted in anonymous tax havens." Secret hoards in tax havens Kashmir Times "Goal of limiting tax havens by G20 leaders s unlikely to shed light on … [Read more...]
Links Nov 24
Doubt cast on Modi’s quest to find India’s black money overseas Financial Times (paywall) " ... now he is in power Mr Modi is discovering that unearthing illicit funds stashed in Switzerland, Liechtenstein or other tax havens will be a long, tough slog that is unlikely to yield windfall … [Read more...]
Links Nov 21
FATCA: Are Transnational Criminal Networks Influencing US Policy? Huffington Post Mauritius Emerges As Biggest Investor In India InSerbia News Anti-corruption bar set higher, but Australia still has more to do The Conversation Taxing mines is a daunting task Zambia Daily Mail … [Read more...]
Links Nov 20
Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry pushes for Seychelles to become China’s African trade hub Seychelles New Agency "... the Chinese side could benefit from the various tax incentives which exist here". See earlier blog How Seychelles became a paradise for dirty money and corruption … [Read more...]
Switzerland signs up for automatic info exchange. But there’s a catch
So we have this announcement from the OECD. "Switzerland has today become the 52nd jurisdiction to sign the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement [MCAA], which will allow it to go forward with plans to activate automatic exchange of financial account information in tax matters with other … [Read more...]
Links Nov 19
Juncker should step back on tax avoidance issues Financial Times (paywall) Juncker has refused to recuse himself formally from participating in the European commission’s final judgments on corporate tax cases. He should officially hand over all oversight for the probes to his deputy and step back … [Read more...]
Links Nov 18
Why is the largest gold mine in South America incurring losses? BBC Mundo (In Spanish) India: G20 backs Modi's pitch for repatriation of black money Business Standard India: Black money probe gets trickier as trail goes beyond Switzerland Business Today … [Read more...]
Links Nov 17
G20 tax avoidance pledge 'still leaves poor countries vulnerable' The Guardian G20 tax reform plan should prevent another Lux leaks The Conversation BEPS and the Politics of Tax Power Women for Tax Justice In Finland, Tax Day Is the Best Day Foreign Policy France, a Tax Haven? Yes, for … [Read more...]
Links Nov 14
Open letter to the G20: exposing the corporate shell game is good for business – and the world - Mo Ibrahim and colleagues The Guardian Ending corporate secrecy: within our reach but slipping away Eurodad Calling on the G20 to Unmask the Corrupt Transparency International Jersey’s PR … [Read more...]
