Image from http://www.dr.dk/nyheder/
We received this email yesterday about opposition in Denmark to a deal to sell a big stake in the state energy company Dong to Goldman Sachs, raising large civil society pushback, Continue reading “Goldman tax dodge fury shakes Denmark government”
The British Virgin Islands (BVI) are back in the news. Last week the islands featured at the cent
re of a huge story about corruption in China. This week’s story concerns UNCTAD’s latest estimates of foreign direct investment flows through companies registered in the BVI. As Reuters reports: Continue reading “BVI got more foreign investment in 2013 than Brazil and India combined – UN”
Dear Prime Minister
The Huffington Post reports you saying:
“Frankly I don’t like any taxes.” Continue reading “Open letter to UK Prime Minister”
From the excellent weekly newsletter of the U.S. inequality-watching organisation Too Much:
“Simon Smiles, the global chief investment officer at the Swiss bank UBS, usually only ladles out advice to investors worth at least $30 million. But Smiles has just done an interview that shares a bit of what he’s telling his clients. Increasing “international pressure on banking secrecy and tax avoidance,” says Smiles, is complicating life for the ultra rich, and they’re searching for simple “certainties.” The advice from Smiles: Invest in “food, water, and death.” Continue reading “UBS: invest in food, water and death”
From the IMF, a Working Paper. It doesn’t make quite the sweeping claim suggested in the headline, but still.
“Using manufacturing and services firm-level data for 30 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, this paper shows that taxation is not a significant driver for the location of foreign firms in SSA, while other investment climate factors, such as infrastructure, human capital, and insitutions, are. By analyzing disaggregate FDI data, the paper establishes that, while there is considerable contrast in behavior between vertical FDI (foreign firms producing for export) and horizontal FDI (foreign firms producing for local markets), taxation is not a key determinant for either type of FDI.”
Our emphasis added. We would have thought that you could find this sort of information on sites such as this one – after all, would you site a car assembly plant in Syria if it offered a fabulous tax break? – but it is still worth measuring these things.
And of course it isn’t just the IMF saying this. A new paper by Francis Weyzig examining the impact of Dutch tax treaties on developing countries has a pithy summary of the research out there:
“Empirical studies show that lower taxes are largely ineffective to attract FDI; determinants like good governance and infrastructure are more important. “
(hat tip: Indra Römgens)
Rudolf Elmer in Mauritius
This month a Swiss court fought back against efforts by the United States to tackle criminal activity and tax its wealthy citizens properly. As Worldwide Tax Daily reports:
Continue reading “Show trial of Swiss whistleblower Elmer now in 9th year”
Our campaigns partner, the Global Alliance for Tax Justice, is advertising for a new post: campaigns and communications officer:
Continue reading “New Job: Campaigns and Communications Officer”
From Citizens for Tax Justice:
“At its yearly winter meeting, the Republican National Committee is expected to approve a resolution calling for the repeal of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), a major law enacted in 2010 (as part of the HIRE Act) to clamp down on offshore tax evasion. Continue reading “U.S. Republicans to adopt pro tax evasion platform?”
Alpha Condé
The Guardian has posted a comment from Guinean President, Alpha Condé, currently in Davos at the 2014 World Economic Forum. He gets straight to business in his first paragraph: “As president of Guinea I know we can’t tackle this problem alone – corruption is embedded in the western institutions that have helped bleed our country dry.”
We urge you to read the entire comment, but note how perfectly he sums up his country’s predicament in trying to tackle corruption:
. . . Guinea is incredibly rich in natural resources – with the largest bauxite deposits and the single largest untapped iron ore assets in the world – none of which, until now, the people of Guinea have enjoyed. A small number of offshore companies, aided and abetted by corrupt domestic regimes, bled Guinea’s resources for decades. A slow death facilitated by the network of lawyers, accountants and financial advisers sitting in offices in New York, London, Paris, Geneva, Hong Kong and Singapore.
February 2014 programme
Forget Jack the Ripper and the London Dungeons, we show you the murky side of the capital’s more recent past.
Occupy London Tours is a free alternative tour company, run by volunteers, who want to throw open the secretive world of finance and politics for all to see. Continue reading “Occupy London: February 2014 tour programme”
From OpenOil.net:
“Last month in Lagos, we broug
ht together activists from the tech and oil worlds for a hackathon on the extractive industries of Nigeria. Continue reading “Big Oil, Big Data: Nigerian corporate networks”
From Sigrid Klæboe Jacobsen, Director of TJN – Norge
In December, the Norwegian Parliament voted in favour of implementing country-by-country reporting. The Ministry of Finance has now announced the new regulations which tells us exactly what we’ve got, and what we haven’t got. Continue reading “Norway moves on Country by Country reporting”
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has pulled another humdinger of an investigation, publishing a Who’s Who in China’s offshore circles.
We could highlight any number of things from this excellent report, but we’ll choose just two: Continue reading “China Leaks: how the BVI became China’s foreign tax haven of choice”
“Are we Swiss all criminals?”
Photo: Nicholas Shaxson, with permission
From the Davos OpenForum 2014:
“Switzerland is known for its chocolate, watches and banking sector. But today, with traditional banking secrecy gone, the country has to reinvent itself to retain its competitive advantage.”
Our emphasis added. That’s news to us. Continue reading “Why is Davos held in the world’s top illicit money centre?”
Our attention has been drawn to a fascinating new report (sadly, in German only, an English language summary is here) on Switzerland’s double tax agreements (DTAs) with developing countries. Interestingly, although the report was produced by researchers from the renowned World Trade Institute at the University of Bern, the underlying study was commissioned by the development agency of the Swiss foreign ministry. However, since the findings are critical of Switzerland’s current international tax policy, the report has been hidden away in an obscure corner of the ministry’s website; we think its findings deserve a wider airing.
Continue reading “Swiss double tax agreements disadvantage poorer countries”
In the January 2014 Taxcast: Tax justice goes to the Cayman Islands;
the latest fall-out from #OffshoreLeaks, the expose on tax havens from
the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists; and HOW
much is Africa spending on corporate tax breaks??? The Taxcast looks
at tax incentives, Africa-style. Continue reading “Please go to www.thetaxcast.com (some glitches with the new website!)”
French anti-tax haven protesters target Jersey
According to Mediapart the French government is under fire, again, this time over its decision to remove both Bermuda and Jersey from its blacklist of uncooperative tax havens. Senior members of the government, including foreign affairs minister Laurent Fabius, are reported to be opposed to their removal. Mediapart reports that Fabius has advised finance minister Pierre Moscovici that these removals are “not politically opportune.” Continue reading “Outrage at Bermuda and Jersey removal from French blacklist”
Internet companies are running rings around our governments, free-riding on the backs of ordinary taxpayers and reaping large fortunes for relatively small numbers of well-connected insiders, some of them rich enough to buy entire global newspapers with their pocket change, and thus potentially influence us all. Continue reading “OECD: special tax rules for internet cos ‘unviable’”
Atlantis Resort, Bahamas. Another behemoth, Baha Mar, is being built.
Written for TJN by someone with long experience of the Bahamas.
The Bahamas is a stunningly beautiful archipelago of more than 700 islands, cays and islets, a proud nation populated with vibrant, passionate, good-hearted people. The economy of this small island state, ranked at 35th position on the 2013 Financial Secrecy Index and assessed towards the top end of the secrecy scale, is heavily reliant on the offshore financial services industry; the Bahamas is in the throes of the Finance Curse, as a captured state. Continue reading “The Bahamas – Another Captured State?”
Our new website will bring you a weekly round-up of tax justice news: our personal selection from a wide array of stories about tax justice, A Week in Tax Justice will be sent out to all TJN subscribers and will soon also be available on our App, which we’ll be bringing out in the next month or so.
Here is the inaugural public edition of A Week in Tax Justice. Enjoy! Continue reading “A week in Tax Justice: Jan 20”
July 22, 2012Update, June 2014: TJN responds to attacks on the report (pdf here).
MAIN REPORT 1 – The Price of Offshore Revisited: TJN’s in-depth and unprecedented study into the size of the offshore system of tax havens and/or secrecy jurisdictions. The report estimates that some $21-32 trillion is stashed offshore, in conditions of low or zero tax and substantial secrecy. Continue reading “The Price of Offshore, Revisited”
Welcome to the new Tax Justice Network website, with integrated blog.
Continue reading “Welcome to the new Tax Justice Network website and blog”
