Identifying and reducing illicit financial flows: collaborate with us!

The UN Sustainable Development Goals agreed globally in 2015 includes a target, for the first time, to reduce illicit flows. Three years later, however, the process to identify appropriate and sufficiently robust indicators is still ongoing. Meanwhile, policy processes and advocacy efforts are themselves held back by a lack of consensus on the most robust estimates. At the same time, there is a lack of consensus on where efforts to improve data and methodologies should focus – with the result that progress is likely to be unduly slow.

The Tax Justice Network has therefore decided to initiate a process aimed at making a degree of progress in each of these areas. We plan to publish a book, drawing together the leading estimates of various components of illicit flows and offering a critical evaluation of the data and methodology used in each case, along with recommendations for the most promising areas for future work. Each chapter will address a different approach, including the work of many of those receiving this email. Each chapter will be published online, in the collaborative forum provided by Github/Gitbook, and our fervent hope is that many of you will invest the time to review this work and – crucially – to make your own contributions. Continue reading “Identifying and reducing illicit financial flows: collaborate with us!” →

Job vacancy: Researcher for the Tax Justice Network

We’re hiring! Details below and download your job information pack here.

Key facts:

Application closing date: Thursday 15 February 2018
Start date: March/April 2018
Reports to: Director, Financial Secrecy
Contract: Fixed-term contract (18 months, ending October 2019)
Hours: 75% to 100% FTE (28 to 37.5 hours per week)
Salary: €32.500 to €37.500 (pro rata)
Location: Home-based (anywhere in the world) Continue reading “Job vacancy: Researcher for the Tax Justice Network” →

Our January 2018 Spanish language podcast: Justicia ImPositiva, nuestro podcast, enero 2018

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

In edition 19 of our podcast/radio show, January 2018:

GUESTS:

Continue reading “Our January 2018 Spanish language podcast: Justicia ImPositiva, nuestro podcast, enero 2018” →

Walmart faces allegations of tax evasion in Guatemala

Here at the Tax Justice Network news has reached us about an interesting case in Guatemala involving Desarrolladora Internacional DCI, a Walmart subsidiary.

According to prosecutors, employees working at the Walmart subsidiary, DCI and at another Walmart company, Operadora de Tiendas, set up a network of fake companies to issue invoices for agricultural products bought on the informal market. Low paid workers were recruited as directors and paid between 1000-1500 Quetzals a month (£100-150) to sign blank cheque books.

The companies are said to have operated the fraud for years, invoicing 21bn Quetzals over the period leading to a VAT fraud worth 1bn Quetzals. Continue reading “Walmart faces allegations of tax evasion in Guatemala” →

Seventy-seven nation industrial reserve army

We’re sharing in full an article published this month here from one of the Tax Justice Network’s Senior Advisers, Tax Barrister David Quentin.

Continue reading “Seventy-seven nation industrial reserve army” →

The US’s ‘Trump/Goldman tax law’ and the race to the bottom

The American Interest magazine has published an article by TJN senior adviser James Henry in which he points out that the damage caused by President Trump’s tax reforms will ripple out way beyond the USA, where many citizens will be seriously harmed (we reported on the human rights implications of the tax reform here), damaging the well-being of the rest of the world, particularly the poorest nations. As Henry comments:

It is one thing for America’s aging elite, their enablers, donors, and friends on Wall Street to infect themselves and their offspring with affluenza, an unhealthy obsession with the accumulation of unlimited private wealth and power. It is quite another to infect the entire rest of the world with it.”

Continue reading “The US’s ‘Trump/Goldman tax law’ and the race to the bottom” →

HSBC: Gangsters of Finance: new film

We are pleased to recommend the newly released film HSBC: Gangsters of Finance, produced by ARTE TV in German, French, English and Spanish. They describe the film as follows:

Since the 2008 crisis, HSBC has been involved in countless scandals: Money laundering for drug cartels, corruption, tax fraud… And yet the international bank escapes justice with insignificant fines. Why are they “too big to jail?”

Continue reading “HSBC: Gangsters of Finance: new film” →

New report: ‘Hybrid Mismatches in Israel’

Tax Justice Network Israel (TJN IL), in cooperation with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, has published a new report on ‘Hybrid Mismatches in Israel’. The term “hybrid mismatches” refers to discrepancies in the tax laws of two or more independent tax jurisdictions or territories in relation to the classification of a legal entity or financial instruments for tax purposes. The hybrid component refers, for example, to the classification of a legal entity as a partnership in one country and as a company in another country, or the classification of a financial instrument such as Profit Participation Loans as a capital investment in one country and a debt in another country. A tax planning which involves the use of hybrid mismatches takes advantage of the tax discrepancies between jurisdictions in order to reduce the tax rate, which then erodes the tax base of at least one of the two countries. Continue reading “New report: ‘Hybrid Mismatches in Israel’” →

Trusts and the UK: half a step forward, three steps backwards

Remember our paper calling for the registration of trusts? Back then the British government opposed this. During discussions related to the EU 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive, Treasury spokesperson Lord Newby even said: “We consider registration of trusts to be a disproportionate approach and, in particular, one which undermines the common-law basis of trusts in the UK.”

It may be unfair to ridicule statements made in another era (2014), if it weren’t for the fact that they are still being made in the more modern times of 2017, such as when Jersey Finance claimed, in response to our trust paper, that “the requirement that all persons connected to a trust should be registered is unworkable, disproportionate, costly, and burdensome”.

Now, lo and behold, in 2017 the UK has approved registration of the beneficial owners of trusts…that meet certain conditions. Information will not be publicly accessible – but what were you expecting?! Continue reading “Trusts and the UK: half a step forward, three steps backwards” →

Secrecy, oligarchs and offshore psychology in our December 2017 podcast

In our December 2017 Taxcast: We speak with two time Pulitzer Prize winning author and journalist Jake Bernstein about his new book ‘Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite’. We ask what makes offshore players like Jurgen Mossack and Ramon Fonseca tick, and what do the Panama Papers and now the Paradise Papers tell us about Presidents Putin, Trump and the transnational oligarchy? Plus:

Continue reading “Secrecy, oligarchs and offshore psychology in our December 2017 podcast” →

US tax reform and conflicts with international law: guest blog

The US tax bill will be published on Friday 15th December 2017 and will be voted on by Congress early next week. Senior Policy Advisor Didier Jacobs at Oxfam America has written this blog:

The Exceptionalist Tax Bill

The United States Congress is about to adopt a major tax reform that reflects American exceptionalism – the idea that the United States is too awesome to play by international rules. Foreigners, fasten your seat belts!

The Finance Ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom have written to their US counterpart to warn him that some provisions of the tax bill may contravene trade agreements and tax treaties. The issue is also relevant to emerging countries like China, India or Brazil, which invest in the United States and compete with US companies on global markets. Continue reading “US tax reform and conflicts with international law: guest blog” →

Vive la revolutión… fiscal! Guest blog

Miguel Urbán Crespo, Member of the European Parliament, PODEMOS has produced this guest blog, translated by Luke Stobard which we’re pleased to share:

In his famous work ‘The Ancien Régime and the Revolution’ Alexis Tocqueville held that the French revolution did not really begin in 1789 but two years earlier when the aristocracy refused to pay taxes in the “revolt of the privileged”. The event forced Louis XVI to convene the Estates-General and ally himself with the Third Estate (commoners) to end the aristocracy’s privileges. On 19 June 1790 all hereditary titles of nobility were abolished and associated tax exemptions deemed a “national offence”. Continue reading “Vive la revolutión… fiscal! Guest blog” →

Our December 2017 Spanish language podcast: Justicia ImPositiva, nuestro podcast de diciembre 2017

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

In the December 2017 programme:

Continue reading “Our December 2017 Spanish language podcast: Justicia ImPositiva, nuestro podcast de diciembre 2017” →

Financial Secrecy Index 2018 – Launch Date January, 30th

We are pleased to announce our final launch date for the next Financial Secrecy Index (FSI). The launch will take place on 30 January 2018 at 18.00 CET.

This next FSI will be covering 112 jurisdictions up from 92 in 2015. We have substantially increased the number of Key Financial Secrecy Indicators to 20 (from 15) and implemented many changes that have been suggested during our stakeholder survey in 2016. Many of the indicators are either exploring new uncharted waters (e.g. comparative freeport and public real estate registry research) or drilling deeper into existing indicators. This will be our most comprehensive FSI, and a more rigorous assessment of financial secrecy than any that has been completed so far by academic or regulatory institutions. Continue reading “Financial Secrecy Index 2018 – Launch Date January, 30th” →

We’re Hiring! Finance and Operations Administrator

This is a new post, created to support TJN’s ongoing institutional strengthening by working with TJN’s new Head of Operations to build, manage and run a set of key systems and processes covering a range of organisational capabilities, with a focus on grants management, finance and operations. The post will also provide a limited amount of administrative support to TJN’s Chief Executive. We are looking for someone with experience in finance and administration who is a skilled communicator and team player and can deliver on a wide-ranging set of responsibilities.

The post is full-time (although we will consider part-time and job-share arrangements), and home-based (we will consider candidates based outside the UK, but are likely to give preference to candidates based in the UK). We are looking for someone who is able to start in early March 2018. The salary is £30,000, and benefits include flexible working arrangements, support with home office setup, 33 days of annual holiday (including public holidays), and a 12% employer pension contribution.

A job description is attached. If you are interested in applying for this post, please upload a CV and answer a series of questions (addressing the skills listed in the person specification as well as your motivation) at https://form.jotformeu.com/73385866144365 by Wednesday 10 January at 23.59 GMT. You do not need to address the attributes; these will be explored at interview. We anticipate that first round interviews will be held between 15 and 19 January (in London or Oxford, or on Skype for candidates based in other parts of the UK), with second interviews the following week. For an informal discussion about the role, contact Will Snell, Head of Operations, on [email protected] or 07928 858882.

Use the following link to download the full job description TJN Finance & Operations Administrator JD

More background about TJN:

The Tax Justice Network (TJN) is an independent international network, launched in 2003. It is dedicated to high-level research, analysis and advocacy in the area of international tax and financial regulation, including the role of tax havens. TJN maps, analyses and explains the harmful impacts of tax evasion, tax avoidance and tax competition; and supports the engagement of citizens, civil society organisations and policymakers with the aim of a more just tax system. TJN pursues systemic changes that address the international inequality in the distribution of taxing rights between countries; the national inequalities – including gender inequalities – that arise from poor tax policies; and the national and international obstacles to progressive national tax policies and effective financial regulation.

Supported by a major five-year grant from the Ford Foundation, and by other funders including Norad and the Adessium Foundation, TJN is in a period of growth and transition, with a focus on institutional strengthening – building systems and capabilities to enable and support growth and impact through our ambitious five-year strategic programme. TJN is a virtual organisation, with staff working from home across multiple countries and continents, although its legal base (and that of many employees) is in the UK.

Indian cess taxes: A call for accountability (Guest blog)

This piece is about cess taxes levied by the current government in India written for us by Ashrita Prasad Kotha, Assistant Professor at Jindal Global Law School whose work on ‘Cesses in the Indian Tax Regime: A Historical Analysis’ has been published as a book chapter in Studies in the History of Tax Law by Hart Publishing. The potential of ring-fenced or ear-marked taxes is an interesting one in building public trust in the taxation process and accountability structures, but the path is far from smooth, as Assistant Professor Ashrita Prasad Kotha explains here:

The Indian government is empowered to levy special levies called cesses, in addition to taxes and fees. A cess is an earmarked levy, or a ring-fenced tax, its purpose identified by the name. A cess may bear the characteristics of a tax or a fee.

The national government has increased the share of cess taxes from 2% in 1999-2000 to a staggering 10 % in 2016-2017 as you can see in the Receipts Budget of the Union Government. At the heart of their popularity is an exception under Article 270 of the Constitution. While the general rule is that the proceeds from tax revenue must be shared among State governments, the proceeds from a cess tax are national government initiatives, and are not shared. However, in practice, successive national governments have proven to be ill-equipped in administering cess taxes, with large amounts not being utlised. Continue reading “Indian cess taxes: A call for accountability (Guest blog)” →

The EU Tax Haven Blacklist – a toothless whitewash

Continuing our coverage of the EU Tax Haven Blacklist, we are reposting this article which first appeared in Public Finance International. The original can be found here: http://www.publicfinanceinternational.org/opinion/2017/12/eu-tax-blacklist-whitewash

Continue reading “The EU Tax Haven Blacklist – a toothless whitewash” →

Human rights costs of the proposed U.S. tax cuts

The UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights Philip Alston is making an official visit to the United States to investigate the links between the growing phenomenon of poverty and human rights deprivations. This comes at a time when the current administration is working on passing some of the most regressive tax reform proposals in U.S. history. Our friends and colleagues at the Center for Economic and Social Rights have raised their deep concerns over the devastating consequences, not just for citizens in that country, but for people around the world. They’ve detailed their view on the human rights costs of these proposals in a formal submission Fiscal Impoverishment in the United States, In it they warn that these tax plans will deepen poverty and inequality for those living in the United States, enable transnational tax abuse and undermine the ability of countries around the world to invest in human rights. Continue reading “Human rights costs of the proposed U.S. tax cuts” →

The Bogota Declaration on Tax Justice for Women’s Rights

The Bogota Declaration on Tax Justice for Women’s Rights is being launched around the world today (7 December 2017) through online platforms and at tax justice events in Argentina and Chile. You can read the Declaration text in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arabic and Swahili here: EN / ES / FR / PT / AR / Swahili Organisations are invited to join the Global Alliance for Tax Justice, Public Services International, the Tax Justice Network, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and many other leading groups in supporting this declaration by signing it here.

From South to North, women are largely excluded from the structures and powerful systems that dominate domestic and international fiscal policy and financial architecture. Women’s rights and tax justice communities are uniting to change this. Earlier this year in Bogota, Colombia, researchers, advocates, public service trade unionists and activists from the tax justice and women’s rights movements convened a global meeting of leading organisations and thinkers.

The Bogota Declaration on Tax Justice for Women’s Rights, a result of this meeting, sets out shared values, and demands rights for women which can be realised through structural, systemic, cultural and fiscal policy changes. In light of the recent Paradise Papers and Panama Papers tax haven investigations, action for tax justice is urgently needed to end inequality. Your organisation is invited to share this vision, to sign up to the commitments of the Declaration and work with us to realise the full range of fundamental human rights for women.

You can read more about the Tax Justice Network’s Tax Justice and Human Rights programme here. And here’s a podcast interview with Liz Nelson, the Tax Justice Network’s director of our Human Rights programme:

Continue reading “The Bogota Declaration on Tax Justice for Women’s Rights” →

The EU flunks the tax haven test

The Tax Justice Network today expresses its deep frustration at the lack of effective action being taken by the EU following the publication of its so-called tax haven blacklist. Commenting on the publication of the list, Alex Cobham, chief executive of the Tax Justice Network said:

“The EU has today missed a great opportunity to tackle the real issues lying behind the large-scale tax avoidance and tax evasion that is bleeding EU countries dry.

“Rather than have a list of tax havens based on an objective set of criteria, as originally envisaged, the list appears to be a political fix with EU members picking their least favourite countries to name and shame. The result of the flawed blacklisting process is a politically led list, that includes only the economically weak and politically unconnected. Continue reading “The EU flunks the tax haven test” →

Dear mining companies, why do you use tax havens?

The Southern African Catholics Bishops Conference has written an open letter to 21 mining companies operating in South Africa asking each to explain why they use tax havens. Their full letter is here and it’s worth reading. They point out, “we are not accusing companies of anything. We believe it is important for companies to provide an explanation for why they use tax havens and the roles of these subsidiary companies.”  Quite so. They ask mining companies pertinent questions, such as:

We’re sharing their press release about it: Continue reading “Dear mining companies, why do you use tax havens?” →

Call for papers: TJN annual conference #tjn18

#tjn18

PARADISE LOST?

DESIGUALDAD E INJUSTICIA FISCAL

(INEQUALITY AND TAX INJUSTICE)

Lima, 13-14 June 2018

Download this call for papers: Spanish / English.

Tax is a crucial tool for challenging inequalities, redistributing incomes and raising revenue for public spending. But the sovereignty of states in pursuing such policies is comprehensively undermined by the ability of elites and multinational companies to hide or otherwise remove their income from the tax net; through broader patterns of corruption; and by lobbying against policies for direct taxation of income, profits and capital gains. And while Latin America is recognised as having had important achievements in reversing the growth of income inequality in recent years, that trend may be weakening, with many countries in the region continuing to exhibit high inequality levels and weak redistribution. Continue reading “Call for papers: TJN annual conference #tjn18” →