Page 50 – Tax Justice Network

Good news from Slovakia: light cast onto shell companies

Second time lucky? About a year ago in Slovakia some opposition politicians pushed hard for a promising law to shed light onto anonymous ownership through shell companies. The Tax Justice Network supported their efforts by writing a letter to the Prime Minster at the time. Despite widespread public anger about corrupt practices, the law was blocked by the legislature. Now, after a second attempt the law has been passed, pretty much in its original form. This is great news.

An assistant to an opposition Member of the Slovak Parliament now takes up the story:

Continue reading “Good news from Slovakia: light cast onto shell companies” →

Politicians and their tax returns: a new project from Finance Uncovered

We’re pleased to share this information on a very important new project – the Tax Disclosure Project – just launched by our friends at Finance Uncovered, a project originally set up by the Tax Justice Network.

The project is requesting that politicians around the world disclose their tax returns, and is inspired by the incredible work of journalist Umar Cheema of the Centre for Investigative Reporting. Umar succeeded in making Pakistan the fourth country in the world to publish the tax returns of its Parliamentarians. We interviewed him here on our monthly podcast below, the Taxcast back in 2015. It’s well worth a listen. It’s cued up to start from the special feature featuring his interview: Continue reading “Politicians and their tax returns: a new project from Finance Uncovered” →

An Alternative Approach to Taxing Multinational Companies: new book

We’re pleased to announce this latest important book which you can download and read for free here. We’re sharing here a blog written by Alex Cobham of the Tax Justice Network, originally published here by the International Centre for Tax and Development: Continue reading “An Alternative Approach to Taxing Multinational Companies: new book” →

A great day for tax justice: coming closer to ending anonymous ownership

Today will be remembered as a milestone for progress on tax justice. We’d like to think of it as the first steps into a true post-#PanamaPapers era when real, concrete action was taken by Members of the European Parliament towards achieving financial transparency in the public interest. Today we’re suddenly much closer to ending anonymous ownership of companies and trusts that operate in the European Union.

Markus Meinzer of the Tax Justice Network says:

“This is a great moment for tax justice and for the European Union, set to lead again on financial transparency which counters corruption and helps restore fair market competition. The most important measure was the inclusion of public registries that cover all companies and trusts. But the EU Parliament went further and successfully pushed back on a fatal loophole that would have allowed senior managers of companies to be registered as beneficial owners. The icing on the cake is the broadening of the definition of a beneficial owner to a threshold of 10% of ownership/control in an entity (instead of 25% and above previously), and that a business relationship has to be terminated if no beneficial owner can be identified.”

So, what now? As transparency campaigner Richard Murphy says here,

“The coming months will be crucial to ensuring Member States do not backtrack on this step towards full company and trust ownership disclosure. The European Parliament, the Commission and the Members States will discuss the changes to the Directive in trialogue negotiations and a final decision is expected before the summer.”

Continue reading “A great day for tax justice: coming closer to ending anonymous ownership” →

New book: The Despot’s Guide to Wealth Management

There’s a new book out that looks very interesting reading from Professor Jason Sharman with the rather catchy title: The Despot’s Guide to Wealth Management: On the International Campaign against Grand Corruption. It has been reviewed here in The Economist. We haven’t read it yet, but this study of kleptocracy looks worth reading, and the amounts of money stolen are staggering. The estimates on Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak are as high as $70bn. Continue reading “New book: The Despot’s Guide to Wealth Management” →

Tax justice annual conference: Call for papers and registration

GLOBAL TAX JUSTICE AT A CROSSROADS

SOUTHERN LEADERSHIP AND THE CHALLENGE OF TRUMP AND BREXIT

City University London, 5-6 July 2017

Tax justice stands at a crossroads. After a period of sustained but partial progress, 2017 brings with it a strong risk of deterioration. In this year’s annual conference we will: Continue reading “Tax justice annual conference: Call for papers and registration” →

Our February 2017 podcast: Financial transaction taxes to protect us from our finance sectors plus more

In the February 2017 Taxcast, our monthly podcast: how financial transaction taxes can protect us from finance sectors dragging our economies down. Plus: the Swiss referendum – taxpayers have refused to pick up the tab for corporate tax ‘reforms’. What does that mean for one of the world’s biggest tax haven players? Also, we discuss President Trump’s valentine gift for kleptocrats and the extractives industry as he repeals anti-corruption regulations – the criminal race to the bottom is on. And, the influence of dark money, the experts in distorting democratic debate and the results of the 2017 Transparify report.

Featuring: Professor Avinash Persaud, chair of Intelligence Capital and author of Improving Resilience, Increasing Revenue: the case for modernising the UK’s stamp duty on shares, David Hillman of the Robin Hood Tax Campaign and John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network. Produced and presented by Naomi Fowler for the Tax Justice Network. Continue reading “Our February 2017 podcast: Financial transaction taxes to protect us from our finance sectors plus more” →

Verdict on EU Finance Ministers’ blacklist: ‘whitewashing tax havens’

It’s not all bad news coming out of the European Union this month. European Union rapporteurs have made some excellent proposals on the implementation of public country-by-country reporting for multinational companies which you can read about here and here. Now we hope the EU Commission will listen and take on board their recommendations.

Sven Giegold MEP

But, what’s not good news is that EU Finance Ministers have come up with their criteria for the identification of tax havens for their planned tax haven blacklist, which is supposed to be finalised by September 2017. Tax haven blacklists have always been farcical and politicised. If they really wanted to do this properly, the work’s already been done for them – with the best objective ranking available – the Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index.

Continue reading “Verdict on EU Finance Ministers’ blacklist: ‘whitewashing tax havens’” →

Event: The Brexit tax haven threat, assessed

As part of a series of seminars looking at the future of public services, the Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU) and Tax Justice Network are organising a seminar entitled ‘The Brexit tax haven threat assessed’ to be held on Tuesday 14 March 2017, 2pm to 5 pm, HH103, University of Greenwich, SE10 9LS.

The aim of this seminar is to discuss different stakeholders’ views on what UK tax policy will look like or should look like post-Brexit. How can parliamentarians ensure that a tax haven strategy isn’t adopted? Will the UK seek to use tax strategy as a form of industrial policy and, if so, how will the EU react? How can we avoid a race to the bottom that would spell the end of the British social model as we know it? The seminar is aimed at anyone interested in the future of progressive taxation in the UK. Trade unions, tax justice campaigners, students, NGOs and civil society organisations will be especially welcome. Continue reading “Event: The Brexit tax haven threat, assessed” →

How could a global public database help to tackle corporate tax avoidance?

A new research report published today looks at the current state and future prospects of a global public database of corporate accounts. We are cross posting this OpenDemocracy article written by Jonathan Gray, with permission from our partners on the open data for tax justice project at Open Knowledge International. You can read more about that about in our blog here.

Shipyard of the Dutch East India Company in Amsterdam, 1750. Wikipedia.A new research report published today looks at the current state and future prospects of a global public database of corporate accounts.

The multinational corporation has become one of the most powerful and influential forms of economic organisation in the modern world. Emerging at the bleeding edge of colonial expansion in the seventeenth century, entities such as the Dutch and British East India Companies required novel kinds of legal, political, economic and administrative work to hold their sprawling networks of people, objects, resources, activities and information together across borders. Continue reading “How could a global public database help to tackle corporate tax avoidance?” →

Open Data For Tax Justice: the creation of a public database of country-by-country reporting data

How much tax do multinational companies pay in your country? Leading tax justice campaigners (including the Tax Justice Network) and open data specialists are working on helping you find out with their open data for tax justice project. Today they’re publishing a white paper entitled What Do They Pay? which sets out a roadmap for the creation of a global public database on the tax contributions and economic activities of multinational companies. More details about the project can be found at datafortaxjustice.net. Hashtag for following developments on social media is as you see it on the right #od4tj Continue reading “Open Data For Tax Justice: the creation of a public database of country-by-country reporting data” →

Find your local Fair Tax business: Launch of the Fair Tax Map

Our good friends at the Fair Tax Mark in the UK have been pioneering a means for businesses to demonstrate their commitment to tax transparency, and to paying the right amount of tax at the right time and in the right place. (And what business wouldn’t want to do that?) Already the Fair Tax Mark has been obtained by businesses ranging from local traders to some of the biggest UK companies in the FTSE100 – and now people in the UK can find their nearest Fair Tax shop or office at over 2000 locations with the interactive Fair Tax Map.

Why does Fair Tax matter? You know why. Please check out http://www.fairtaxmap.com and spread the word.

Our February 2017 Spanish language Podcast: Justicia ImPositiva, nuestro podcast de febrero 2017

Welcome to this month’s 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 radiofonica! (abajo en castellano). In this month’s programme: Continue reading “Our February 2017 Spanish language Podcast: Justicia ImPositiva, nuestro podcast de febrero 2017” →

Trusts – Weapons of Mass Injustice: new Tax Justice Network report

It is a fact that the trust laws of some tax havens openly promote illegality. The reality that some tax havens will not enforce foreign laws (e.g. ensuring non-recognition of foreign laws and judgements that favoured legitimate heirs and former spouses) is even publicly advertised by some offshore service providers, not on the deep web like drugs and illegal weapons, but on the internet, accessed by a simple google search on tax or estate planning.

Despite this, there has been some reluctance from governments to take on the issue of trusts, and some difficulties posed for governments that have attempted to deal with some of their more problematic features. Today, a new paper called Trusts – Weapons of Mass Injustice from the Tax Justice Network attempts to reopen the debate on trusts, and argues that there is urgent need for effective measures to curtail their activities. This paper is also available in Spanish here. Continue reading “Trusts – Weapons of Mass Injustice: new Tax Justice Network report” →

The Tax Justice Network’s webinar on the next Financial Secrecy Index

The Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index ranks jurisdictions according to their secrecy and the scale of their offshore financial activities. It’s a politically neutral ranking, the world’s most effective tool for understanding global financial secrecy, tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions, and illicit financial flows or capital flight. The Tax Justice Network is working hard on the results of the next Financial Secrecy Index.

What’s coming next?

We’re calling campaigners, researchers and lovers of tax justice and financial transparency to make sure you know that tomorrow, on 14^th February 2017 at 14:00 CET we warmly welcome you to attend our first Financial Secrecy Index monthly call in the form of a webinar. Continue reading “The Tax Justice Network’s webinar on the next Financial Secrecy Index” →

Panama Papers Committee investigates in London UK, home to 2,000 ‘enablers’

UPDATE: 15 February 2017, London – Bloomberg has reported that the chairman of the EU’s Panama Papers inquiry has criticised the UK Treasury for refusing to meet with its investigatory team during the recent fact-finding visit to London. Read more here.

Last year the Panama Papers scandal shook the world and lifted the lid on murky offshore dealings in spectacular fashion. The political consequences and investigations, criminal and otherwise are far from over. The European Parliament set up the Panama Papers inquiry committee tasked with investigating “alleged contraventions and maladministration in the application by the EU Commission or member states of EU laws on money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion.” Today Bloomberg reports that the committee begins a series of ‘secret fact-finding meetings’ in London for two days. It has come to the heart of the beast. Continue reading “Panama Papers Committee investigates in London UK, home to 2,000 ‘enablers’” →

Transparency, Lobbying and Fake News: how transparent are think tanks?

Never has it been more critical to understand think tanks and their activities which often shape the news and are highly influential. But how transparent are they about who funds them? And how confident can we be in the integrity of their research and their intellectual independence? The organisation Transparify provides the first-ever global rating of the financial transparency of major think tanks and today released its 2017 report on 27 British think tanks. This is something that’s much needed elsewehere in the world in the age of ‘fake news’ and the so-called ‘post-truth era’. According to the report ‘Seven dark money groups spend £22 million to influence UK politics.’ More on dark money later.

Continue reading “Transparency, Lobbying and Fake News: how transparent are think tanks?” →

Tax Justice and Women’s Rights, global days of action are coming

The Tax Justice Network is supporting global partners in highlighting the impact of regressive tax policies and financial secrecy on women’s fundamental human rights, something we campaign on and write about. Here’s some information about the #TaxJustice for Women’s Rights Global Days of Action. The dates for your diary are 8-24 March 2017.

Continue reading “Tax Justice and Women’s Rights, global days of action are coming” →

Brexit Britain: what does the public think about tax haven plans?

In January 2017 Britain’s finance minister Philip Hammond and prime minister Theresa May signalled that Britain could deepen its role as a tax haven if it left the European Single Market post-Brexit. Continue reading “Brexit Britain: what does the public think about tax haven plans?” →

TJN moves forward with work on 2017 Financial Secrecy Index

The next financial secrecy index has now reached its first big milestone with questionnaires being sent out to 112 jurisdictions.

Continue reading “TJN moves forward with work on 2017 Financial Secrecy Index” →

Is tax avoidance at the heart of Ireland’s economic miracle?

Coming out of the economic crisis Ireland was one of the best performing economies, with GDP growth rates of 8.5% in 2014 and an extraordinary 26.3% in 2015. But how much of this economic activity was real, and how much a fiction created by Ireland’s tax haven status? A new paper by Heike Joebges of the University of Applied Science in Berlin considers the evidence.

Continue reading “Is tax avoidance at the heart of Ireland’s economic miracle?” →

The Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation is hiring

The Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation is a unique body of prominent and influential thinkers, from both developing and developed nations which promotes international corporate tax reform from the perspective of global public interest. The Steering Group of ICRICT is seeking to recruit a Head of Secretariat, to lead a small Secretariat that supports the Commissioners in their work. Continue reading “The Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation is hiring” →

Thank you!