For twelve years now whistleblower Rudolf Elmer has been fighting Swiss banking secrecy, with court case after court case. He's been imprisoned, victimised, and his family has been harassed. His reputation has been systematically ripped apart in a way that we believe has been intended as a deterrent … [Read more...]
Secrecy
New Job Openings at TJN: Researcher (African Hub, franco- & anglophone)
Tax Justice Network is recruiting two Africa-based researchers for our Financial Secrecy and Tax Advocacy in Africa (FASTA) project, which the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) intends to support. … [Read more...]
10 Years after the Crash: building a reform agenda
In November 2008, the Queen apparently asked economists on a visit to the London School of Economics, ‘Why did no-one see it coming?’ Well, we're approaching the ten year anniversary of the financial crash which wiped out Lehman Brothers, saw the first run on a UK bank (Northern Rock) in 150 years, … [Read more...]
Post-Panama Papers sunlight on New Zealand Trusts
UPDATE BELOW, 24/07/2017 If you ever wondered what kind of response to a financial transparency law might indicate a corrupted financial secrecy industry, look no further. We reported recently on what’s been happening to trusts in New Zealand in our Offshore Wrapper (our weekly take on tax justice … [Read more...]
Redistributive hypocrisy: The growing dominance of tax haven USA
We're delighted to bring you a guest blog by Lukas Hakelberg, a researcher from the University of Bamberg - one of our partners in the EC-funded COFFERS project. The blog outlines the motivation and key findings of a study by Lukas and a colleague, Max Schaub. We've been raising the alarm about … [Read more...]
Worst fears realised? Jersey shares ‘old’ records of trusts and foundations
Life's full of surprises, some pleasant, some not so much. Imagine you had undeclared offshore assets when the global financial crisis struck, and you've nervously watched the world move towards TJN 's proposal for multilateral, automatic information exchange. Until now you've probably felt ok, and … [Read more...]
The 3rd International Conference on Beneficial Ownership Registries in Buenos Aires
As we mentioned recently on our blog the 3rd International Conference on Beneficial Ownership Registries took place in Buenos Aires on June 21st-22nd at Argentina’s Central Bank. This was another successful event attended by the Tax Justice Network's Andres Knobel, who reports back to us here on … [Read more...]
Britain’s first tax justice election? Our June 2017 Podcast
In our June 2017 Taxcast we ask - has the UK just had its first tax justice general election? Why was economic debate around the election so ill-informed? Are we seeing a popular shift towards tax justice in the UK and in the USA? Is this the beginning of the end of our long austerity winter? How … [Read more...]
The 3rd International Conference on Beneficial Ownership Registries, Argentina
The 3rd International Conference on Beneficial Ownership Registries will take place in Buenos Aires on June 21st-22nd at Argentina's Central Bank. It is co-hosted by TJN with Fundacion SES, Argentina's AML Prosecutor (PROCELAC), the Anti-Corruption Agency and Security Ministry. We blogged about … [Read more...]
Double-Layer Secrecy: add Lawyer Confidentiality to Banking Secrecy
Global automatic exchange of banking information is set to start among countries that have committed to implement the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard (CRS). Similar automatic exchanges have already started between the U.S. and some countries that have managed to sign a FATCA-related … [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...]
Technology and online beneficial ownership registries: 21st century transparency
At the Global Tax Transparency Summit meeting held in London in December 2016, a senior official from the tax haven of Jersey claimed that one of the reasons for not making their registry of company ownership available to public scrutiny was the lack of a global standard for public company … [Read more...]
Faking residency: OECD’s Common Reporting Standard leaves the door wide open for fraud
The OECD’s Common Reporting Standard (CRS) for automatic exchange of banking information leaves the door wide open for fraud. The OECD has recently made available a form to report potential avoidance schemes of the CRS. While this form is a first useful step - we've been sharing with them the … [Read more...]
Evading Tax and Avoiding Tax Evasion: for decades British governments have shied away from tackling cross border crime
Guest blog authored by Dr Michael Woodiwiss (Arts and Cultural Industries, University of the West of England) and Dr Mary Alice Young (Bristol Law School, University of the West of England) In the 1920s, an embryonic tax collecting organisation was steadily growing in the US. The Internal … [Read more...]
Germany rejects beneficial ownership transparency
On 17 May 2017, the members of the Finance Committee of the Bundestag cast their votes for ultimate amendments to Germany's anti-money laundering law. The governing conservatives CDU/CSU and Social Democrats SPD rejected amendments supported by the left and Green party that would have remedied three … [Read more...]
