Another Great Depression or tax justice and transparency? The Tax Justice Network January 2020 podcast

The Taxcast kicks off the new decade with:

• the French strikes – tax justice and pensions vs financialisation
• the EU countries who’ve missed the deadline on publishing registers of real corporate owners
• the effect of Brexit on poorer (aka plundered) countries
• And the IMF’s stark warnings about the finance curse and another Great Depression

Featuring:

• Simon Bowers of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
• John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network
• Dereje Alemayehu of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice
• Marie Antonelle Joubert of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice
• Pascal Debay of the CGT Union Confédération Générale du Travail
• Presented and produced by Naomi Fowler

If the situation collapses in Europe then I don’t think the tax havens, secrecy havens and the US will be in any rush to try and repair the situation.”

~ Simon Bowers of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists on the failure of some EU States to meet the 10th January 2020 deadline on publishing registers of the real owners of companies

We are in the longest struggle, social conflict in France. Imagine it’s something that is longer than what happened in 1968. What we are afraid of is that it’s a strategy to weaken our system. In France, the social security, all the money in the system of social security is more important than the state budget of France – imagine what some people of the financial place would like to do with that money.”

~ Pascal Debay of the CGT Union Confédération Générale du Travail on the French strikes

It’s really a question that arises now in France how all those governments and presidents that we have are not chasing tax avoiders, the big multinationals. The big multinationals, people know them and when they find out that those multinationals pay virtually no taxes in France they think it’s appalling. Whether its public schools, public health, public infrastructures, the justice system, and pensions, Macron could fund them with a proper tax justice policy.”

~ Marie Antonelle Joubert of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice on the French strikes

I’m afraid with the massive victory they got on Brexit, they are emboldened to be the capital of international secrecy. And I’m afraid they will make things worse for the rest of the world without benefiting the UK economy.”

~ Dereje Alemayehu of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice on the City of London finance sector and British government policy post-Brexit

There’s ample evidence that inequality harms the economy…inequality is now actually threatening to topple the whole thing and turn the whole thing over.”

~ John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network on the head of the IMF’s warnings on another Great Depression

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