Why is Germany siding with the tax havens against corporate transparency?

Germany’s supposedly left-wing new finance minister, the Social Democratic Party’s Olaf Scholz, is in the process of sabotaging European efforts to make companies be more transparent about their financial affairs. Specifically, he has just indicated that he favours a procedural approach to Country-by-country reporting (CbCR, see below) that could be subject to veto by companies and by tax havens. As Scholz said:

 “We need to create an efficient system, but one that is accepted by the companies and the countries that we need to have on board. We need to take a very cautious approach.”

Scholz seems to favour an old European procedural trick: to move the agenda and discussions for CbCR away from accounting forums, where it would be subjected to majority voting, to the tax forum, where it would require unanimous approval.  With unanimous voting required, Luxembourg, Malta or Cyprus or any other corporate tax haven can shoot the whole thing down, while the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Germany can continue playing the indecisive role. That seems to be Scholz’ plan.

Continue reading “Why is Germany siding with the tax havens against corporate transparency?” →

It’s time for countries to start publishing the data they’re collecting under OECD’s Common Reporting Standard

Some financial centres already publish detailed data on cross-border bank account holdings. The OECD’s Common Reporting Standard is now underway, generating lots of this data: it’s time to publish it all.  This would cost nothing, breach no confidentiality, and deliver large benefits.

Another 50 countries this year are set to exchange information automatically about cross-border bank account holdings, adding to the 50 or so that are already doing so under the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard (CRS). This transparency scheme will enable more governments to see bank account details for their own taxpayers who have parked wealth in other countries, so they can tax them appropriately. Continue reading “It’s time for countries to start publishing the data they’re collecting under OECD’s Common Reporting Standard” →

Accounting for influence: how the Big Four are embedded in EU tax avoidance policy

The Corporate Europe Observatory has a report out today which is well worth reading. We’ve written and commented extensively on the Big Four accountancy firms and the damage they do, you can read more in our ‘enablers and intermediaries’ section. As our CEO Alex Cobham has said, they’re “not the guardians of financial probity they purport to be. It’s time to recognise them for what they are — or we’ll keep getting stung.”

Here’s a guest blog about today’s report ‘Accounting for influence: how the Big Four are embedded in EU tax avoidance policy’:

We pay our taxes. So why don’t corporations? Billions of euros are lost each year due to corporate tax avoidance, depriving public budgets of much-needed resources to fund education, health care, social services, and much more. A study for the European Parliament has estimated that corporate tax avoidance costs the EU between €50 billion and €70 billion a year – and could even be as high as €160-€190 billion.

The tax avoidance industry consists of all intermediaries that facilitate corporate tax avoidance, including tax advisors like accountancy and auditing firms, tax lawyers and law firms, and financial institutions such as banks. The Big Four accountancy firms – Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) – are the goliaths of corporate tax planning, designing and selling tax avoidance schemes to multinational corporations. But although they are key players in the tax avoidance industry, many policy-makers see the Big Four as legitimate and neutral advisers when it comes to preventing tax avoidance. Continue reading “Accounting for influence: how the Big Four are embedded in EU tax avoidance policy” →

Inequality and the consequences: how much is too much?

We’re pleased to share work from Bermudian economist Robert Stubbs, formerly Head of Research for the Bank of Bermuda. We blogged his research on inequality and poverty in the British Overseas territory of Bermuda here. There are more details on him and his work below. Here he asks some searching questions on inequality, looks at the redistributive role of taxation and makes some interesting comparisons between different practices in different countries. Bermuda’s not the only place that finds it difficult to face up to its problems with inequality. And as he so rightly says,

Today, many believe the current system is broken, that it is unfair, and it offers them no hope for the future. Indeed, disillusionment is now so widespread, the legitimacy of government itself in many countries is questioned.  Worldwide, faith in democracy is crumbling.”

Here’s his latest article which was published in its full version by The Royal Gazette in Bermuda here.

Continue reading “Inequality and the consequences: how much is too much?” →

The damage of International Monetary Fund ‘conditionality’: call for urgent rethink

Countries often take loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) when they have little or no alternative sources of funding, as is the case for many countries in the Global South who are on the sharp end of capitalism and its unquenchable thirst. After decades of the plundering of resources and of post-colonial exploitation there’s additional destitution created by international bodies like the IMF that offer a conditional ‘helping hand’ and quick fixes, which turn out to be laying the foundations of many serious problems further down the line. Many countries, some of whom, like Tunisia or Egypt, have seen massive illicit financial flows leaving their shores and pouring into Switzerland and other jurisdictions and into the pockets of dictators and their entourages, turn to the IMF and World Bank.

They say there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Well, to extend the metaphor, the IMF demands a high price in exchange for its loans – it means politicians are squeezed into the position of being the ones to implement deeply unfair and unpopular policies which exacerbate inequality and poverty and hurt ordinary people so much that it could bring down their government. The opportunities for politicians to negotiate, or re-negotiate these deals when they prove unworkable, or certainly, immoral, can be very limited indeed. There are alternative options such as wealth taxes, or raising corporate taxes, but all too often the pressure from the IMF is to hike regressive taxes, cut back essential services, slash civil servant salaries and remove subsidies on staple foods, just for a few examples. Continue reading “The damage of International Monetary Fund ‘conditionality’: call for urgent rethink” →

Could the World Trade Organisation see a challenge to tax havenry?

The Open Society Justice Initiative, part of the Open Society Foundations, focuses on strategic litigation possibilities that can have catalytic impact on achieving human rights around the world. Recently, they’ve been looking at the idea of a World Trade Organisation challenge, in the name of tax justice.

Ben Batros is a consultant on international law, accountability, and human rights who previously managed strategic litigation as a legal officer with the Open Society Justice Initiative.  He has been working with the Justice Initiative to consider new legal arguments that could be applied to states that assist large corporations in avoiding tax in third states, including how these states distort the international economic system and may be violating their obligations under WTO agreements. A related piece looks at the impact of ‘tax havens’ on inequality; here, Ben considers the opportunities for a WTO challenge.

Continue reading “Could the World Trade Organisation see a challenge to tax havenry?” →

Edition 6 of the Tax Justice Network Arabic monthly podcast/radio show الجباية ببساطة

Here’s the sixth edition of our new monthly Arabic podcast/radio show Taxes Simply الجباية ببساطة contributing to tax justice public debate around the world. (In Arabic below) Taxes Simply الجباية ببساطة is produced and presented by Walid Ben Rhouma and Osama Diab of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, also an investigative journalist. The programme is available for listeners to download and it’s also available for free to any radio stations who would like to broadcast it. You can also join the programme on Facebook and on Twitter.

In the sixth issue of الجباية ببساطة (Taxes Simply) we start with a summary of June’s tax news from around the Arab region and the world. Plus:

Continue reading “Edition 6 of the Tax Justice Network Arabic monthly podcast/radio show الجباية ببساطة” →

How accountants broke capitalism: the Tax Justice Network’s June 2018 podcast

We’ve had leak after leak, whistleblower after whistleblower. But no matter what the scandal is, when it comes to financial secrecy and tax dodging, the so-called big four accountancy firms are key players. We interview investigative journalist and former tax inspector Richard Brooks of the Private Eye on his new book: Bean Counters: the triumph of the accountants and how they broke capitalism.

Plus: will President Trump be prosecuted for foundation fraud? And can a leopard change its spots? How come the secrecy jurisdiction of Delaware came out in support of a financial transparency bill?

Featuring: U.S. economist, attorney, and investigative journalist James Henry, the Tax Justice Network’s John Christensen and investigative journalist Richard Brooks of the Private Eye on his new book: Bean Counters: the triumph of the accountants and how they broke capitalism. Produced and presented by Naomi Fowler.

What they are about is maximising their income. They are not about providing objective audits which is really what society needs. Firstly you need much better auditing and then you need serious consequences for poor auditing and the problem at the moment you don’t really have either.”

~ Richard Brooks

Residents and non-residents can still continue to use US shell companies to hide their identity and the US is set to remain in the ranks of the largest and least cooperative secrecy jurisdictions in the world.”

~ John Christensen

 

Want to download and listen on the go? Download onto your phone or hand held device by clicking ‘save link’ here.

Want more Taxcasts? The full playlist is here and here. Or here.

Want to subscribe? Subscribe via email by contacting the Taxcast producer on naomi [at] taxjustice.net OR subscribe to the Taxcast RSS feed here OR subscribe to our youtube channel, Tax Justice TV OR find us on Acast, Spotify, iTunes or Stitcher.

Further reading:

U.K. Companies Face Pre-Brexit Tax Bombshell From EU

The EU’s Chief Brexit negotiator calls on the UK to publish the real owners of trusts, as a key part of its relationship after Brexit, speech here.

Italy’s new deputy PM calls for the removal of investigative journalist Roberto Saviano’s police protection, here. (In Italian)

Delaware Endorses Bill to Tackle Anonymous Companies, from our friends at the FACT Coalition here. And also House Anti-Money Laundering Bill – a Missed Opportunity, here.

Ending secret ownership: we assess the progress and challenges

The richness of the Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index is such, (conveying so much more information than just a ranking of the largest contributors to global financial secrecy), we’re now publishing a visual report describing the current state of play with legal and beneficial ownership registration available in 112 jurisdictions. Our report is based on the data contained in the most recent Financial Secrecy Index, published last January 2018. The report, available also as a PowerPoint presentation, includes maps, charts and tables that describe the best available cases now being used of registration for each type of legal vehicle (e.g. companies, partnerships, trusts and foundations).

The Panama Papers, Paradise Papers and other leaks have made the risks created by corporate secrecy clear. This type of secrecy allows individuals including tax dodgers, money launderers, terrorist financiers and corrupt officials to hide behind opaque legal vehicles such as companies and trusts to hide their money and their activities – or at least to avoid scrutiny for their alleged legal affairs.

The obvious solution underlying these leaks is for countries to identify, in public online registries, all individuals (called “beneficial owners”) who ultimately own and control these legal vehicles that operate in their territories (e.g. companies that open bank accounts, hold real estate or provide goods and services). Continue reading “Ending secret ownership: we assess the progress and challenges” →

A watershed year for tax justice and the road ahead

The Tax Justice Network has published its annual report and accounts for 2017, along with an infographic highlighting our achievements from the year.

The year was a watershed moment for tax justice. Elements of three of the Tax Justice Network’s long-time recommendations, which detractors argued could not be achieved, became a reality, making it much harder for multinationals and unscrupulous individuals to hide their profits and wealth. The Panama Papers leaks put tax havens and financial secrecy in the hot seat, sparking public outrage across the world and lighting a fire under policy makers and tax authorities to rein in rampant tax avoidance. Looking to more recent developments in 2018 and the road ahead, it is clear that momentum is rapidly accelerating across the world for fair tax systems that benefit us all.

 

Three important steps forward for tax justice in 2017

The policy framework that the Tax Justice Network laid out in 2003 to 2005 centred on what we now call the ‘ABC’ of tax transparency: automatic exchange of tax information, beneficial ownership transparency and country by country reporting. At the time, if international policymakers were even willing to listen, they would need each of these ideas explained – and would then dismiss them as utopian and impossible to implement.

Ten years later, in 2013, the ‘ABC’ came to form the basis of the global policy agenda – at the G20, G8 and OECD groups of countries. In 2017, three monumental steps were taken on automatic exchange of information and beneficial ownership transparency.

The automatic exchange of banking information between tax authorities became standard practice at a global level for the first time in history, making it much harder to hide money from government by moving it to another country. If a person in Germany has a bank account in Switzerland, the German tax authorities will now be automatically informed about it. Previously, the tax authority would have had to file a formal request for information that may or may not have been accepted.

One of the key obstacles that sought to delay the implementation of automatic exchange of information at a global level was the argument that the practice was just too difficult and complicated to implement. In 2017, 49 jurisdictions automatically exchanged information and 53 more committed to doing so in 2018. Argentina alone received information on over 35,000 banks accounts. Not only is the practice feasible, the appetite for it is great.

The two other important steps taken forward relate to the transparency of beneficial ownership. The EU Parliament and Council closed one of the key loopholes that enables financial secrecy by requiring each EU member state to create a public record of companies’ beneficial owners.

A beneficial owner of a company is the real person, made of flesh and blood, who ultimately owns the company, controls it and/or receives profits from it even though the company legally belongs to another person, like a broker or a shell company. Companies must typically register their legal owners, but not necessarily their beneficial owners. In most cases, a company’s legal owner and beneficial owner are the same person. But when they’re not, beneficial owners can hide behind legal owners, making it practically impossible to tell who is truly running a company and profiting from it. Mossack Fonseca, the offshore service provider at the centre of the Panama Papers scandal, did not know who the beneficial owners are of more than 70% of the 28,500 active companies it provided services to, despite serving as legal owners on some of those companies. The new level of transparency will make it much harder for multinationals and unscrupulous individuals to disguise their ownership. Now the rest of the world must follow.

Following its investigation into the Panama Papers, the EU Parliament’s investigative committee has called for governments to recognise any person who owns or controls a single share in a company as a beneficial owner of that company, not just individuals who own more than 25 per cent of shares in the company. Proposed by the Tax Justice Network 15 years ago, this move can stop an individual from being able to hide their true ownership of a company by, for example, registering a spouse and family members as owners each of a smaller proportion of a company’s shares.

Progress was made on other fronts as well in 2017. The Tax Justice Network organised an international letter-writing campaign to the UN Secretary General that saved the UN’s commitment to curtail illicit financial flows committed by multinational corporations. We helped launch Tax Justice UK, an independent campaigning and advocacy organisation that aims to make sure everyone in the UK benefits from a fair and effective tax system. The Bogotá Declaration on Tax Justice for Women’s Rights was launched, demanding an end to regressive tax systems that deny women their human rights. To date, 150 organisations have signed the declaration. A powerful movement is now coming together to challenge the damage to women’s rights that results from a failure to obtain tax justice.

 

Our 15th anniversary and the road ahead

2018 marks 15 years of Tax Justice Network – 15 years of fighting tax abuse, financial secrecy and the race to the bottom on taxation and regulation that result in a globalisation characterised by extreme inequalities both between countries and within countries, and the shameful and entirely unnecessary violations of human rights that follow inevitably from these inequalities. 2017 is just one of 15 years of the most remarkable progress for the tax justice movement.

A fourth important step forward on the ‘ABC’ of tax transparency was announced in 2017 and acted on, in part, in 2018. Vodafone voluntarily committed to publicly publishing the country by country report they will need to file under new OECD guidelines. Country by country reports require multinational corporations to detail where their economic activity takes places and where their profits are claimed. The accounting practice is designed to expose the mismatch between where companies are making profits and where they are paying taxes on those profits.

Ahead of the new guidelines, Vodafone compiled and published its own country by country report this year. Vodafone’s poor tax behaviour in the past makes the move all the more encouraging, hopefully marking the turning of new leaf not just for the corporation but for wider consensus on tax responsibility in the corporate world. We will be publishing analysis of Vodafone’s report soon.

We still have much further to go, of course, and the progress made must be defended every day against those who would push back. 2017 marked a global shift in attitude on tax justice. In the early 2000’s being involved in offshore financial activity was a normal part of good business, and minimising tax was simply regarded as smart behaviour. In 2017, Prime Ministers and Chief Executives resigned because of it.

View the Tax Justice Network’s annual reports.

An infographic visualising tax justice successes in 2017

Objetivo 2030: los flujos financieros ilícitos

Las últimas dos décadas han visto el surgimiento de un poderoso movimiento de justicia fiscal a nivel mundial, liderado por la experiencia de la sociedad civil y cada vez más por los responsables políticos del Sur global. Un indicador significativo del progreso ha sido el establecimiento de un objetivo para abordar los flujos financieros ilícitos, incluida la evasión fiscal en jurisdicciones offshore y la elusión fiscal de las empresas multinacionales, como parte de los ODS. Aunque persisten los desafíos técnicos y políticos, el progreso en las plataformas de la sociedad civil sobre políticas de transparencia ha favorecido que los datos estén hoy disponibles para construir indicadores relevantes y fiables. Estos indicadores tienen el potencial de impulsar el cambio y garantizar la rendición de cuentas a nivel nacional, incluso para las muchas jurisdicciones que se benefician de facilitar abusos tributarios y corrupción más allá de sus fronteras.

Esta es la conclusión de mi análisis sobre la historia, importancia y progreso hacia buenos indicadores de flujos financieros ilícitos para apuntalar el objetivo de Agenda 2030, publicado ahora por el Real Instituto Elcano en Madrid, en español y inglés. [Read this article in English.]

Continue reading “Objetivo 2030: los flujos financieros ilícitos” →

Targeting illicit financial flows in the Sustainable Development Goals

The last two decades have seen the emergence of a powerful tax justice movement globally, led by civil society expertise and increasingly by policymakers of the global South. One significant marker of progress has been the establishment of a target to address illicit financial flows, including offshore tax evasion and the tax avoidance of multinational companies, as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. While technical and political challenges remain, progress on civil society’s policy platform for tax transparency means that the data is available to construct robust indicators with the potential to drive change by ensuring accountability at the national level –including the many jurisdictions that benefit from facilitating tax abuses and corruption elsewhere”

This is the conclusion of my briefing paper on the history, importance of, and progress towards, good indicators of illicit financial flows to underpin the Sustainable Development Goals target, now published by leading Madrid think tank the Real Instituto Elcano, in both English and Spanish. [Leer este artículo en español.]

Continue reading “Targeting illicit financial flows in the Sustainable Development Goals” →

New report: is Apple paying less than 1% tax in the EU?

We’re pleased to share this new study commissioned by GUE/NGL members of the European Parliament’s TAX3 special committee on tax evasion, tax avoidance and money laundering. You can read more about their very important work here. The report was written by Emma Clancy and Martin Brehm Christensen and is titled: Exposed: Apple’s Golden Delicious Tax Deals: Is Ireland Helping Apple Pay Less Than 1% Tax In The EU?

As it points out, Apple is unlikely to be the only multinational company structured this way. Report co-author Emma Clancy highlights that only this month Microsoft has merged the two parts of its Double Irish structure, which is likely to indicate that Microsoft is now, or intends to, replicate the structure used by Apple. Continue reading “New report: is Apple paying less than 1% tax in the EU?” →

Bermuda: inequality and poverty in UK Overseas Territory

We’re very pleased to share this important report on the British Overseas territory of Bermuda, written by Bermudian economist Robert Stubbs, formerly Head of Research for Bank of Bermuda. There are more details on him and his work at the end of this fascinating and timely report. which we reproduce in full below. We’ve interviewed him on the Taxcast, our monthly podcast/radio show which you can listen to here.

Historically Britain encouraged the Overseas Territories to develop their finance sectors, which interact with, and benefit the City of London’s finance sector in all kinds of ways. We’ve long argued that the UK has a responsibility towards its Overseas Territories, to support them to progress towards economic diversification and tax reforms necessary in order to address inequality and boost their economies. (Bermuda’s government is currently working on new proposals which they’ll publish and debate in August 2018). Continue reading “Bermuda: inequality and poverty in UK Overseas Territory” →

UK overseas territories fight back against financial transparency measures

Ten years ago the Tax Justice Network was told it’d never happen, but recently British Members of Parliament voted to stop secret ownership of companies in British Overseas Territories. Unfortunately the Crown Dependencies were not included in the measure because, as we understand it, politicians were advised wrongly in our view, that such different constitutional arrangements apply to them as to require separate legislation.

As we pointed out in our response to this historic vote, the average secrecy score of those 7 UK Overseas Territories covered by our Financial Secrecy Index is 74%. That gives you an idea of the significant contribution their secrecy services make globally.

The UK brought in public registers of the real owners of companies in 2017. Enforcement and verification is a real problem in the UK as well as in its satellite havens, but it’s very important to understand that, as the Tax Justice Network’s CEO Alex Cobham says:

the UK’s financial secrecy network is the biggest in the world. While the UK itself is only moderately secretive according to our Financial Secrecy Index, this reflects the deliberate outsourcing of secrecy to the Crown Dependencies (Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man) and the more numerous Overseas Territories (OTs) such as the Cayman Islands, number 3 in our most recent Financial Secrecy Index, and the British Virgin Islands at number 16.”

Continue reading “UK overseas territories fight back against financial transparency measures” →

Tax Justice Network’s Annual Conference 2018: livestream and schedule

 

The Tax Justice Network’s annual conference is taking place this Wednesday 13 June to Thursday 14 June in Lima, Peru. The conference, jointly hosted with FES and Latindadd, brings together campaigners, researchers, policy makers and tax experts from across the world to share the inspiring and vital work they are doing on tax justice.

Talks will cover a wide range of topics on tax justice from women’s rights to the challenges of tackling illicit financial flows. A live video stream of the conference and a schedule of each day’s talks is available below.

 

Saved livestreams

Final session

Sixth session

Fifth session

Fourth session

Third session

Second session

First session

 

Day 1 – Wednesday 13 June 2018

9:00am (2:00pm GMT) – Welcome and introductions

9:30am – 11am (2:30pm – 4:00pm GMT) – Inequalities and tax justice

11:30am – 1:00pm (4:30pm – 6:00pm GMT) – Parallel sessions:

Tax justice: Theoretical inquiries

Tax breaks and the race to the bottom

2:00pm – 3:30pm (7:00pm – 8:30pm GMT) – Parallel sessions:

Tax justice challenges of inequalities

Hiding individual wealth: Old and new challenges

4:00pm – 5:30pm (9pm – 10:30pm GMT) – Tax justice and women’s rights

 

Day 2 – Thursday 14 June 2018

9:00am – 10:30am (2:00pm – 3:30pm GMT) – Taxation and gender: Perspectives from Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Bolivia and Venezuela

11:00am – 12:30pm (4:00pm – 5:30pm GMT) – Parallel sessions:

El aporte fiscal de la minería y comentarios sobre la erosión de la base gravable y traslado de beneficios en la industria extractive

Trade and tax injustices

2:00pm – 3:00pm (7:00pm – 8:00pm GMT) – Parallel sessions:

Money-laundering: Spotlight on Kenya

Illicit financial flows: Estimates and case studies

3:30pm – 5:00pm (8:30pm – 10:00pm GMT) – International analyses of tax justice

Will the EU really blacklist the United States?

In our latest Financial Secrecy Index assessment, the United States moved up to second place. With its now unparalleled commitment to secrecy at scale, and its influence on international reforms, it has become the leading driver of tax abuse and corruption risk around the world.

Years ago we called on the European Union to impose a withholding tax against jurisdictions that don’t meet the emerging global standards of tax transparency – starting with the United States. As the Tax Justice Network’s John Christensen said at the time,

While rightly demanding greater transparency from others, the USA has established itself as the fastest-growing provider of tax haven secrecy – and only the EU has the power to act. Otherwise we risk seeing a world where only the richest and most powerful country can protect its tax system from offshore abuse, while EU countries – not to mention developing countries – pay the price.”

Continue reading “Will the EU really blacklist the United States?” →

Tax Justice Network’s June 2018 Spanish language podcast: Justicia ImPositiva, nuestro podcast, junio 2018

Welcome to this month’s latest podcast and radio programme in Spanish with Marcelo Justo and Marta Nuñez, free to download and broadcast on radio networks across Latin America and Spain. ¡Bienvenidos y bienvenidas a nuestro podcast y programa radiofónica! (abajo en Castellano).

In this month’s programme:

Continue reading “Tax Justice Network’s June 2018 Spanish language podcast: Justicia ImPositiva, nuestro podcast, junio 2018” →

New report: extreme poverty and human rights in the United States

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Professor Philip Alston has recently released the results of his fact-finding mission to the United States, also ranked number 2 in our Financial Secrecy Index. You can read Professor Alston’s full report here.

As part of our exploration of President Trump’s tax reforms and the killing of the American Dream in our monthly podcast and radio show The Taxcast earlier this year, which you can listen to here, Professor Alston told us:

“There is no doubt in my mind that tax policy is human rights policy in so many different ways, what’s in any country’s fiscal policy determines what sort of resources are going to be available for human rights of all types. What has got to happen in the US is a change in the mentality…the political process is functioning increasingly just to appeal to the wealthy. That is contrary to all of the assumptions I would say that are in the US constitution and that the Americans hold dear.”

Continue reading “New report: extreme poverty and human rights in the United States” →

Edition 5 of the Tax Justice Network Arabic monthly podcast/radio show الجباية ببساطة

Here’s the fifth edition of our new monthly Arabic podcast/radio show Taxes Simply الجباية ببساطة contributing to tax justice public debate around the world. (In Arabic below) Taxes Simply الجباية ببساطة is produced and presented by Walid Ben Rhouma and Osama Diab of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, also an investigative journalist. The programme is available for listeners to download and it’s also available for free to any radio stations who would like to broadcast it. You can also join the programme on Facebook and on Twitter.

In the fifth issue of الجباية ببساطة (Taxes Simply) we start with a summary of May’s tax news from around the Arab region and the world. Plus:
 Continue reading “Edition 5 of the Tax Justice Network Arabic monthly podcast/radio show الجباية ببساطة” →

Why we can’t afford the rich: our May 2018 podcast

In this month’s Taxcast: We discuss why we can’t afford the rich and challenge ideas about wealth, entrepreneurialism and investment.

Also: ten years ago the Tax Justice Network was told it’d never happen, but this month British Members of Parliament voted to stop secret ownership of companies in British Overseas Territories. The Crown Dependencies got away for now. But the pressure is on them as a UK Foreign Affairs Committee report says corrupt assets of Kremlin-connected individuals pouring in to London is a threat to the UK’s national security.

And while some of the money hidden in the Overseas Territories may flow to the United States, the EU may actually add it to their blacklist of non-cooperative jurisdictions…

Featuring: Lancaster University’s Professor of Social Theory and Political Economy Andrew Sayer (author of the book Why We Can’t Afford the Rich) and John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network. Produced and presented by Naomi Fowler of the Tax Justice Network.

being an investor sounds good, doesn’t it, who wouldn’t want to be an investor, sounds like kind of a benefactor but actually in practice a lot of investment, possibly a majority of investment is purely extractive…And in our economy the asset rich have become richer at the expense of the asset poor, people who own very little”

~ Professor Andrew Sayer

Continue reading “Why we can’t afford the rich: our May 2018 podcast” →

Guest blog: Depositors disciplining banks. What’s the impact of scandals?

We’re pleased to share this guest blog from Mikael Homanen, a PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Finance at Cass Business School in the UK.

Can depositor (or customer) activism make a real difference? New research presented at the Chicago Booth Stigler Center suggests that banks see significant decreases in deposit growth after experiencing tax evasion, corruption and environmental scandals.

The banking sector has been regarded as a major contributor of financing for the real economy and therefore a crucial value-adding mechanism for the financial system. In the recent decade, however, the banking sector has been under scrutiny. Banks have been identified as some of the largest enablers of the $21 trillion to $32 trillion of private financial wealth invested in tax havens. In addition, banks continue financing major coal and carbon-intensive projects that undermine the Paris Agreement’s aim of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Can depositors make a difference?

Continue reading “Guest blog: Depositors disciplining banks. What’s the impact of scandals?” →