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Big bills: let’s recall them all

In the underworld, this one is known as the “Bin Laden”

In June 2014 we wrote an article about Big Bills: those high-value cash notes that are primarily of use to the world’s criminals (when was the last time you saw a 500 Euro note in the flesh, for instance?) The countries that print them can literally make a killing from so doing.

Big bills have been in the news again recently, with proposals in Europe stop printing the damn things. A New York Times headline today summarises: Getting Rid of Big Currency Notes Could Help Fight Crime. Continue reading “Big bills: let’s recall them all” →

Corruption and the role of tax havens: workshop programme

For our workshop on tax havens and corruption at City University, London, 28th – 29th April 2016, our draft programme is here.

Please click here to register, and follow the links.

Call for articles: corporate tax reform, value theory, post-capitalism

We are calling for expressions of interest in contributing to an issue of Tax Justice Focus, dedicated to exploring the relationship between corporate tax reform, value theory, and the global transition to a post-capitalist, post-patriarchal, post-work society. An introductory essay is available here, setting out some of the linkages that we perceive to exist between these topics.

Tax Justice Focus is the flagship newsletter of the Tax Justice Network. It is issued two to four times a year, and contains four to six articles roughly 1000-1200 words in length. The articles are pitched for an engaged general audience rather than for an academic one.

If you would like to express interest in contributing an article linking corporate tax reform to any of the following topics please email [email protected] by 31 March 2016.

Value theory
Reproductive/productive/unproductive labour
Organic composition of capital, surplus-absorption and the rate of profit
Dematerialised economy
Bullshit jobs
Economic rent
Global value chains
Global inequality
Dependency theory
Negative externalities (and how to quantify them)
Universal basic income (and how to fund it)
Sustainable prosperity
Fully-automated luxury communism
Post-capitalism

Contributions from or related to any country will be considered.

The introduction and manifesto for corporate tax reform and value theory is here.

New analysis: why Google is paying just 2% tax rate in the UK

The Daily Mirror newspaper in the UK is running a story entitled Google is paying even LESS tax than thought as UK deal is just 2%.

This is based on a new TJN analysis, based not on current tax rules but on what Google might pay if the UK were to adopt a fairer tax system that we’ve advocated. We analysed Google’s tax settlement in the UK for 2014, and we find that – even after a deal with the UK tax authorities to pay a little extra tax – just one tenth of the Google’s real profits are actually declared for tax purposes in the UK. This results in a real, effective tax rate of around two per cent.

Continue reading “New analysis: why Google is paying just 2% tax rate in the UK” →

Global Tax Fairness: new book from Oxford University Press

This new book from Oxford University Press, edited by Thomas Pogge and Krishen Mehta, publishes fifteen chapters by leading tax justice scholars on different topics ranging from country-by-country reporting to unitary taxation, from automatic information exchange to tax wars, with clear and practicable policy recommendations for how to move forward on a tax justice agenda. Continue reading “Global Tax Fairness: new book from Oxford University Press” →

The Tax Justice Network February 2016 Podcast

In our 50th Taxcast edition: which country is the second easiest in the world after Kenya to set up an anonymous shell company? We shine the spotlight on tax haven USA and the lawyers secretly filmed by Global Witness advising a fake corrupt African government Minister. Also: we discuss Google’s tiny tax payment in the UK and how politicians are interfering with the independence of our tax authorities, and the rise of the unnoticed tax haven of Taiwan. Plus more scandal and analysis featuring Eryn Schornick of Global Witness, Clark Gascoigne of the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition, John Christensen and Markus Meinzer of the Tax Justice Network, the voices of some (now shamefaced) New York lawyers. Produced and presented by Naomi Fowler for the Tax Justice Network.

“If I were corrupt foreign official I’d be looking to the United States…The rest of the world is leaping ahead of the United States in tax transparency stuff and the United States is continuing to go it alone.”
Clark Gascoigne, Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition
The United States is “so hostile to moving anywhere nearer, you know, full-fledged membership of international community and it’s geared towards US first, US interest alone and above everyone else’s.”
Markus Meinzer, Tax Justice Network
“I regret to say this, I really do, we cannot trust the tax authorities any longer to act in the public interest, it is quite clear that as a result of of political lobbying and state capture that the politicians in many countries…can no longer be trusted to not interfere constantly with the supposedly independent tax authorities”
John Christensen, Tax Justice Network
Watch the videos in full and learn about Global Witness’s undercover sting here.
Never miss a Taxcast: subscribe to our youtube channel Tax Justice TV or email naomi[at]taxjustice.net or grab our rss feed or find us on iTunes

Illicit financial flows: the links to peace and security concerns

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, the global framework guiding policy until 2030) include a target to reduce illicit financial flows (IFF), under SDG 16 on peace and security.

Our research director, Alex Cobham, has written an article for the European Centre for Development Policy Management tracing the linkages between illicit flows and security, and the basis for this important target – along with a few additional suggestions for indicators, to ensure its effectiveness. Continue reading “Illicit financial flows: the links to peace and security concerns” →

TJN in New York Review of Books: Missing Trillions

Offshore, underworld

In the New York Review of Books:

The Offshore Trillions
John Christensen and James Henry, reply by Cass R. Sunstein

MARCH 10, 2016 ISSUE

In response to: Parking the Big Money from the January 14, 2016 issue

To the Editors:

Continue reading “TJN in New York Review of Books: Missing Trillions” →

Apply withholding taxes to tackle tax haven USA

We get a nice name check in an article in this week’s Economist, which goes after a subject we’ve been particularly exercised about for some time: Tax Haven USA.

It cites one player in the spreading game:

“It’s going nuts. Everyone is doing it or looking into it,” says a tax consultant, speaking of the American loophole.”

Continue reading “Apply withholding taxes to tackle tax haven USA” →

Image of the day: IKEA

From the European Green Party:

The full report finds that IKEA structured itself to dodge €1 billion in taxes over the last 6 years using onshore European tax havens.

Continue reading “Image of the day: IKEA” →

Remembering Rebecca Wilkins, champion for tax justice

Rebecca Wilkins, tax justice hero. Photo from CTJ

The tax justice movement has lost a treasured colleague and friend. Rebecca Wilkins, of razor-sharp intellect and with a powerful gift for tax justice advocacy, passed away on Sunday 14 February 2016.

While serving as legal counsel for Citizens for Tax Justice in Washington DC, Rebecca was diagnosed with cancer which went into remission following treatment. With her customary energy and drive, and her desire to serve the tax justice cause, Rebecca also took on the role of executive director of TJN-USA and the FACT Coalition. Tragically, cancer returned, but Rebecca continued working and serving the cause as long it was humanly possible to do so.

CTJ, in their tribute to Rebecca, speak of “her unyielding passion for tax justice”: Continue reading “Remembering Rebecca Wilkins, champion for tax justice” →

HSBC: a very different relocation, tax haven to muckier tax haven

We’ve just written about HSBC’s extensive lobbying effort to water down UK banking reforms by pretending it was planning to ~~throw its toys out of the pram~~ relocate its head office from London to Hong Kong if it didn’t get what it wanted. But inside HSBC, a very real relocation is underway.

Via TJN contacts, this email has been sent out:

“We would like to inform you of a planned change in the place of incorporation and headquarters of HSBC Bank Middle East Limited (HBME).
. . . HBME intends to move its place of incorporation and head office to the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), following which it will become lead regulated by the Dubai http://humanrightsfilmnetwork.org/cialis Financial Services Authority (the Migration).”

This has been flagged previously, but it seems things are now moving.

Anyone who thinks this relocation is going to contribute to the financial or ethical health of this scandal-happy global bank needs to consider this, about the “twisted Switzerland of the Middle East”. Continue reading “HSBC: a very different relocation, tax haven to muckier tax haven” →

TJN’s Cobham in top-ranked UK & Ireland economists

From the ~~right wing~~ UK finance publication City A.M., a ranking of the top 100 economists in the U.K.

Follow Alex on Twitter here.

Alex Cobham, TJN's esteemed Director of Research

Our esteemed Director of Research

Why Google (and other multinationals) are still not paying their fair share of corporation tax

This guest blog by Tommaso Faccio of Nottingham business school complements a guest blog we ran on Friday by Sol Picciotto, also about Google’s all-important tax affairs.

Why Google (and other multinationals) are still not paying their fair share of corporation tax

Google says that it pays the tax required by every company in every country it operates. This is true apart from where the odd tax audit has resulted in tax settlements which have marginally increased the corporation tax it paid in some countries.

We learned in last week’s Public Accounts Committee meeting in the UK, with representatives from Google and HMRC [the UK tax authorities] how current international tax rules set by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), allow Google to earn revenue from UK (and pretty much all non-US) customers and have them booked in Ireland, where the associated profits are taxed at a lower corporation tax rate (12.5%) than would be applied in most countries. Continue reading “Why Google (and other multinationals) are still not paying their fair share of corporation tax” →

TTIP threatens ability to enforce fair taxes on corporations – report

In light of a new report showing how corporations are using secretive corporate courts to undermine national tax sovereignty, TJN has signed a letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron calling on him to call a halt to negotiations on so-called Investor-State Dispute Settlement provisions included in the framework of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and a separate framework deal with Canada, known as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

A copy of the letter is attached at the foot of this blog.

London, 15 February 2016 – Corporations are regularly using secretive corporate courts to undermine the ability of countries to pass effective tax legislation, according to a new report, Taxes on trial: How trade deals threaten tax justice. The report warns that if the free trade deal being proposed between the EU and the USA were to come into force, it would massively increase the ability of corporations to sue member states of the EU over measures such as windfall taxes on exceptional profits, or use of taxation as a policy instrument such as a possible ‘sugar tax’. Continue reading “TTIP threatens ability to enforce fair taxes on corporations – report” →

Netherlands, UK push for more transparency

From the Financial Transparency Coalition:

Dutch government plans to grant public access to beneficial ownership register

Earlier this week, the Dutch Finance Minister, Mr Dijsselbloem, announced that the government would make the upcoming register of beneficial ownership, the so-called UBO-register, open to the public. This is in line with what the majority of parliament voted for in March 2014, and means the Netherlands will join a growing list of countries that have decided that the public should have access to this information.

Read the full details here.

On a second matter the UK Chancellor (Finance Minister), George Osborne, has continued to move towards our position, as earlier indicated, with this statement (about 29:25 minutes in):

“On the issue of Country by country reporting, it’s a big step forward, but i think we should be moving towards more public Country by Country R, in other words making this information publicly available: and this is something that he UK will seek to promote internationally.”

Which countries have the right to tax Google’s income?

Recently, amid the furore over Google’s surprisingly low tax payments in the UK and in other countries, it has been suggested, as one observer put it to us:

“The claim is that international tax law accrues profits to where products are created, and not where sales are made. For example, a UK company that makes lots of sales in the US still pays most of its corporation tax in UK.”

Continue reading “Which countries have the right to tax Google’s income?” →

Call for Papers: Third Annual Amartya Sen Prize Competition

Call for Papers: Third Annual Amartya Sen Prize Competition

Submission Deadline: August 29, 2016

The third Amartya Sen Prize is soliciting papers on the non-revenue impact of curbing illicit financial flows.

Poor populations are hurt when rich individuals and multinational corporations surreptitiously shift trillions of dollars in wealth and profits out of less developed countries. One harm arises from the loss of tax revenues incurred by their governments. By concealing their profits or wealth, MNCs and individuals evade taxes on profits, dividends, interest and/or capital gains—taxes that could fund social spending or tax reductions for ordinary citizens.

This year’s submissions are to focus on the other harm from illicit financial outflows: the loss of capital to a poor country’s economy, which may well substantially exceed the revenue loss.

New signs that Cayman might dismantle its secrecy law

Cayman: From Paolo Woods' and Gabriele Galimberti's book The Heavens

Cayman: From the tax haven book The Heavens

Cayman politicians love to pretend that they aren’t living in a tax haven. No, they’re part of a responsible international financial centre. And, as we’ve remarked ad nauseam, they all say that. It’s almost a defining feature of tax havens (or, if you prefer to emphasise one important aspect, secrecy jurisdictions.)

Now Cayman has a particularly pernicious piece of secrecy legislation, known as the Confidential Relationships (preservation) Law, under which you can go to jail for up to four years, not only for divulging confidential information, but merely for asking for it. (See Sections 5(1) and 5(2) here if you don’t believe us, then ponder what it would be like to sit in a Cayman jail for four years. Nasty.) We should also add that this is just one aspect of Cayman’s secrecy offerings: scroll down to the bottom here for more details.

Well, now some interesting developments. From Cayman News Service:

“Opposition Leader McKeeva Bush has accused the financial services minister of failing to protect Cayman’s financial services sector because of what he claims are agreements made with the UK and plans to dismantle Cayman’s secrecy law.”

Continue reading “New signs that Cayman might dismantle its secrecy law” →

PwC: using ‘competitiveness’ as crowbar to lobby for mining cos

From Fools’ Gold:

Recently we wrote an article entitled The Ideologists of the Competitiveness Agenda, in which we fingered the Big Four firm of accountants as among the most important vectors for the general idea that countries simply have to ‘compete’ in certain ways: namely, to shower goodies at wealthy people and multinationals, for fear that they’ll relocate elsewhere. As we’ve often argued: that attitude is not just misplaced, but generically harmful.

Now, here’s a recent example of a Big Four firm, PwC, playing the “competitiveness” game, in a ~~lobbying document~~ report purporting to assess the fiscal regimes for gold mining in four African countries. (Thanks to Mark Zirnsak of Tax Justice Network Australia for pointing this one out.)

Continue reading “PwC: using ‘competitiveness’ as crowbar to lobby for mining cos” →

KPMG: Professional Chameleons Or Independent Public Auditors And Regulators?

A new guest blog by Atul K. Shah, Senior Lecturer, Suffolk Business School, University Campus Suffolk, UK. This is based on a paper Shah first presented at a Tax Justice Network Research Workshop at City University in June 2015, and it follows a more focused piece last month calling for a probe into KPMG: a call that was cited in the Financial Times. Cross-posted with Tax Research UK, slightly adapted.

Dr. Atul Shah

Guest blog: Professional Chameleons Or Independent Public Auditors And Regulators?

A Case Study of KPMG and its Regulatory Arbitrage Services

By Atul Shah

Recent news regarding tax avoidance and unethical banking cultures are putting an increasing spotlight on the Big 4 Accounting Firms and their independence, professionalism and conflicts of interest. Scholars are beginning to question their huge power and influence in global accounting, auditing and tax, yet little is known about exactly how they practice regulatory arbitrage and the extent to which it is structural and systemic, and how they continue to get away scot free from major financial crises and corporate failures. In the case of the audit failure at HBOS, KPMG have still not been independently investigated eight years after the loss of billions of pounds, thousands of jobs and huge losses for investors, pensioners and retirees. Continue reading “KPMG: Professional Chameleons Or Independent Public Auditors And Regulators?” →

Taiwan – the un-noticed Asian tax haven?

This is a speculative blog based initially on a couple of conversations with people in the industry, with some supporting evidence.

A (slightly tidied-up) conversation we’ve just had went along these lines:

“You’ll never guess what is the new Switzerland for Asia. And I mean big time. The Asian money is heading there. Banks set up there as its a financial centre that doesn’t tax foreigners. And its perceived as safe, and not a signatory to the CRS [The OECD’s Common Reporting Standard.] TAIWAN.”

Now, what to make of this?

Continue reading “Taiwan – the un-noticed Asian tax haven?” →

Guest blog: Professional Chameleons Or Independent Public Auditors And Regulators?

Thank you!