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TJN unveils its new Financial Secrecy Index

Today the Tax Justice Network launches the 2015 Financial Secrecy Index, the biggest ever survey of global financial secrecy. This unique index combines a secrecy score with a weighting to create a ranking of the secrecy jurisdictions and countries that most actively promote secrecy in global finance.

The full press release is here.

The Financial Secrecy Index is here. For the larger jurisdictions you can click on a country to receive a full historical narrative of how that place became a secrecy jurisdiction or tax haven. Continue reading “TJN unveils its new Financial Secrecy Index” →

Luxembourg – how’s that tax cleanup going?

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]An interesting and important tweet.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_js]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[/vc_raw_js][vc_column_text](The source appears to be this.)

Now the truth is – as we’ll be demonstrating in our imminent Financial Secrecy Index 2015 to be launched worldwide on Monday – that Luxembourg has in fact made *some* improvements recently to its secrecy offering, in the sense that it’s become a bit less secretive and less aggressive in terms of undermining European schemes to boost transparency.

But there is still a long way to go. For a blistering account of Luxembourg’s recent role in financial globalisation, take a look at FT Alphaville’s recent The Case Against Luxembourg.

Here is a taster.

and we can’t ignore this one either: not least for the headline.

There are plenty more where these came from.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

NYT on The Price We Pay: exacting, disturbing, enlightening, must be heard

From the New York Times:

“Throughout the world, inequality is soaring to new heights, and the wealth of nations, which once provided prosperity to the majority, has gone missing.” So begins the narration for “The Price We Pay,” Harold Crooks’s exacting and disturbing documentary about offshore tax havens for multinational corporations, the growing concentration of money within a narrow minority, and the erosion of social benefits. The ideas in this densely packed but enlightening film can be challenging, but must be heard.”

Continue reading “NYT on The Price We Pay: exacting, disturbing, enlightening, must be heard” →

Our 3rd Spanish Podcast: Nuestro Tercer podcast en Castellano

En la tercera edición de Justicia ImPositiva hablamos con Luis Moreno, economista y coordinador de la Red de Justicia Fiscal de América Latina y el Caribe y responsable del área de justicia fiscal del @latindadd sobre las reformas del sistema tributario mundial.

Y despues ¿quién dijo que estaba todo perdido? Hay una luz de esperanza en el camino. Hablamos con experto y asesor de Tax Justice Network @TaxJusticeNet Krishen Mehta sobre unas alternativas en la lucha por una tributación más justa y equitativa que los gobiernos pueden hacer ya sin esperar más, acciones que de hecho algunos gobiernos ya han implementado. Tambien hablamos con miembro del observatorio de justicia fiscal y financiera global de la organización ATTAC-Madrid @robergonpane y con Andrés Knobel de Tax Justice Network.

Bienvenid@s a este nuevo podcast @J_ImPositiva con @silvia1olmedo y @monicamarchesi y coordinado por @Naomi_Fowler para @TaxJusticeNet www.taxjustice.net

Tambien estamos en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Justicia-ImPositiva/146480…

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAbY0dVbcVQ&feature=youtu.be

Para más información o suscribirte: Justicia ImPositiva: justiciaimpositiva@taxjustice.net

How the wealth managers do it: an in-depth investigation

Brooke Harrington

The Atlantic is carrying a truly fascinating article entitled Inside the Secretive World of Tax-Avoidance Experts. And this researcher, Brooke Harrington, went to town on it:

“Given the little that is known about the profession and its role in global inequality, it seemed imperative to learn more about how wealth managers pull off this sleight of hand. . . . taking advantage of a research fellowship I was awarded in Germany, which freed me from teaching and administrative responsibilities for a few years, I decided to jump into the field with both feet. Reader, I trained to become a wealth manager. That initial part of my study took two years, many thousands of dollars, and hundreds of thousands of miles of travel. Although I never practiced as a wealth manager, training to join the profession opened the door to a secretive realm that would otherwise have remained closed to me.”

Continue reading “How the wealth managers do it: an in-depth investigation” →

The Tax Justice Network Podcast, October 2015

In the October 2015 Tax Justice Network Podcast:

We look at the ‘remittance cartel’, their ‘taxing of the poor’ with monopoly prices in a juicy $450-500 billion market. Also: ‘comfort letters’ and the game changing European Commission ruling that the tax agreements between Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Fiat and Starbucks constitute illegal state aid. We analyse the rich country club of the OECD’s BEPS proposals for reform of the global corporate tax system: will it really address corporate tax avoidance and evasion?

The taxcast is also available here.

Featuring: John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network, economist, lawyer and senior Tax Justice Network advisor James Henry, Somalian wife and mother Shamso Abdullahi (interviewed by CCTV Africa), and Pope Francis.

Produced and presented by @Naomi_Fowler for the Tax Justice Network.

You can subscribe to our youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/TackleTaxHavens or email Naomi [at] taxjustice.net to be added to the subscriber email list. You can also follow @TheTaxcast on Twitter

Fiscal Policy and Human Rights in the Americas: mobilizing resources to guarantee rights

There is a new initiative emerging from the international strategy meeting, “Advancing Tax Justice through Human Rights,” held in Lima, Peru in April 2015:

Via email from Niko Lusiani of the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR):

The first-ever thematic audience of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on fiscal policy, begins today in Washington, DC.

Economic policies – and consequently fiscal policies – are not normally debated by human rights accountability bodies, but working together we are increasingly building the foundations for them to become forums for fiscal accountability.

Various participants interested in the initiative in Lima teamed up to petition the Inter-American Commission to hold this hearing, and we produced a report – Fiscal Policy and Human Rights in the Americas: mobilizing resources to guarantee rights along with it. (English summary here.)

We’d encourage you to share this news with your networks, watch live here on Thursday, Oct 22nd at 14:45 (local time in Washington DC) and participate on Twitter: #derechosyfiscalidad #tax4humanrights.

European Commission determines state sponsored tax avoidance schemes illegal

Today the European Commission is expected to announce that the ‘comfort letters’ signed between European tax havens and companies are a form of illegal state aid. Continue reading “European Commission determines state sponsored tax avoidance schemes illegal” →

Will civil society shake up the world of tax treaties?

Data source: index based on the forthcoming ActionAid tax treaties dataset

When a multinational company makes a cross-border investment, the relevant tax treaty between the two countries will generally sort out which country gets to tax which part of the ensuing activity and income streams. (Read more about tax treaties here.) A key question is this: how do the ensuing taxing rights over the ensuing income get shared out between a) the country receiving the inward investment (which is the source of the profits, often a poor country); and b) the country where that multinational has residence (often a rich country)?

Given political realities, it’s hardly a surprise that most tax treaties, following an OECD model, generally favour ‘residence’ over ‘source.

Now Martin Hearson has an interesting new post about the UK-Senegal tax treaty. Take a look at that graph (click to enlarge). Continue reading “Will civil society shake up the world of tax treaties?” →

Finance Uncovered: a proper introduction

We’ve linked to Finance Uncovered on several occasions — not least this week — but never as comprehensively as this. From the Byline website, a proper introduction, which nicely illustrates our operating model.

Introducing Finance Uncovered

Global finance has no borders – neither do we. Finance Uncovered is a network of investigative journalists and campaigners from over 50 countries. Nick Mathiason explains how we follow the money and what’s been uncovered so far.

Three years ago, Tax Justice Network director, John Christensen asked me if I would run a course to equip journalists with skills and tools to investigate tax abuse, money laundering and corruption.

On the spot, I said “yes”. Continue reading “Finance Uncovered: a proper introduction” →

What will BEPS fix, and who will gain?

Prof. Sol Picciotto, a TJN Senior Adviser and co-ordinator of the BEPS Monitoring Group

A guest blog by Sol Picciotto, co-ordinator of the BEPS Monitoring Group.

What will BEPS fix, and who will gain?

The launch this week of the final reports from the G20/OECD project on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) has sparked two frequently asked questions. The first is: can we give examples of methods used for tax dodging by multinationals which will not be fixed by these proposals?

The answer is: they will not “fix” any.

Continue reading “What will BEPS fix, and who will gain?” →

Seychelles: the ex-billionaire and the captured state

We’ve never laid down hard and fast definitions of the terms ‘tax haven’ or ‘secrecy jurisdiction’ because there’s so much to say about what makes these places tick, and no short definition captures the whole picture. But we offer this way of thinking about these places. Among other things, it says:

“Secrecy jurisdictions tend to be ‘captured states’, where offshore financial services tends to be deliberately insulated from any domestic political opposition, and relevant laws and approaches to the industry are instead created by small numbers of professional insiders in the jurisdiction in collaboration with offshore financial services interests from elsewhere.”

Continue reading “Seychelles: the ex-billionaire and the captured state” →

Finance Uncovered: how Africa’s biggest cell phone firm shifts billions offshore

From the Mail & Guardian

From Finance Uncovered, a TJN-founded project, a press release about a story that is (among other things) front page of South Africa’s influential Mail & Guardian newspaper.

Finance Uncovered reveals how Africa’s biggest cell phone firm shifts billions offshore

The Finance Uncovered global network of investigative reporters have today published a cross-border investigation into South African telecoms giant MTN exposing how billions of rand from its subsidiaries in Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda have been shifted to a shell company in the small island tax haven of Mauritius.

The two year investigation spanning five countries was published today in South Africa’s Mail and Guardian, ?the U?gandan Observer ?and G?hana Business News.?

A report in Nigeria will follow shortly.
Continue reading “Finance Uncovered: how Africa’s biggest cell phone firm shifts billions offshore” →

How 1/8th of Moldova’s GDP vanished, via a Scottish council flat

The equivalent of 1/8th of Moldova’s GDP disappeared via this Scottish ex-council flat

From the BBC:

“The UK is one of the easiest countries in the world to set up a company in, and some agents offer to do it in an hour, for as little as £25.”

In standard parlance, this makes the UK an ‘efficient’ place to set up a company, reassuringly free of that pesky ‘red tape.’ All good stuff. Continue reading “How 1/8th of Moldova’s GDP vanished, via a Scottish council flat” →

On tax credits, economic misunderstandings and the poor

The UK economics writer Chris Dillow has an excellent post making some basic points about tax credits, following a recent speech by the UK’s finance minister (or “Chancellor”) George Osborne, where he says:

“We simply can’t subsidise incomes with ever-higher welfare and tax credit bills the country can’t afford.”

Which begs the question of who “we” and “the country” are.

The first part of Dillow’s response is:

“For a lot of the country, it is not tax credits which are unaffordable, but the cuts in them.”

Continue reading “On tax credits, economic misunderstandings and the poor” →

So: what kinds of corporate tax schemes won’t BEPS stop?

There have been a few inquiries from people in the media looking at our (and others’) recent critiques of the OECD’s recently-released BEPS project proposals to tackle international corporate tax avoidance. One pertinent question is this: which schemes, specifically, won’t BEPS stop?

Prof. Sol Picciotto, a TJN Senior Adviser and co-ordinator of the BEPS Monitoring Group, a network of tax justice groups looking at the project, provided the following answer to this question from a French journalist. Continue reading “So: what kinds of corporate tax schemes won’t BEPS stop?” →

New study: U.S. Fortune 500 cos have $2.1 trillion offshore

From Citizens for Tax justice, via email:

“Today Citizens for Tax Justice and the U.S. PIRG Education Fund released, “Offshore Shell Games,” a new study which found that nearly three-quarters of Fortune 500 companies maintained at least one tax haven subsidiary in 2014, with just 30 companies accounting for 62 percent of earnings stashed offshore.
All told, Fortune 500 companies collectively maintain 7,622 tax haven subsidiaries and hold $2.1 trillion offshore, avoiding up to $620 billion in U.S. taxes. Continue reading “New study: U.S. Fortune 500 cos have $2.1 trillion offshore” →

GATJ: OECD tweaks to tax rules for multinational corporations fall short on transparency, inclusivity

From the Global Alliance for Tax Justice, a press release on the OECD’s BEPS process, which we wrote about yesterday:

“The Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ) is urgently calling for a United Nations-based follow-up process to the “flawed” OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project, in order to deliver an effective and transparent global system for taxing multinational corporations. The Global Alliance for Tax Justice, representing regional networks of civil society groups around the world, says a truly inclusive global tax body and public country-by-country reporting for multinationals are two key measures that need to be established.”

Note our emphasis. There is much more in the press release, however: now read on.

(The GATJ is a body that emerged from TJN but is now organisationally independent from it.)

Our Spanish language podcast: Justicia ImPositiva, Edición 2

Our Spanish language podcast: Justicia ImPositiva, Edición 2. En la segunda edición de Justicia ImPositiva nos vamos a México, a ver cómo el gobierno de ese país intenta forzar a las grandes corporaciones a pagar más impuestos. También hablamos con el economista y catedrático de la Universidad de Sevilla, @JuanTorresLopez, sobre el comportamiento irresponsable y criminal de los bancos y el discurso de austeridad. Además, les preguntamos a ustedes, si tuvieran un escoba, ¿cuáles paraísos fiscales barrerían? Analizaremos cómo se alimenta el círculo vicioso de los paraísos fiscales con John Christensen y Andrés Knobel de Tax Justice Network, quienes nos contarán las claves del funcionamiento de estos cuestionados territorios utilizados por los ricos y las empresas grandes para ocultar sus finanzas y sus transacciones. Bienvenid@s a este nuevo podcast @J_ImPositiva con @silvia1olmedo y @monicamarchesi coordinado por @Naomi_Fowler para @TaxJusticeNet

Press release: OECD’s BEPS proposals will not be the end of tax avoidance by multinationals

PRESS RELEASE

EMBARGOED: 14:00 CET

See this press release in pdf form here.

See the BEPS Monitoring Group’s longer technical evaluation here (or in condensed form here.)

See links to further statements by others below.

OECD’s BEPS proposals will not be the end of tax avoidance by multinationals

Continue reading “Press release: OECD’s BEPS proposals will not be the end of tax avoidance by multinationals” →

Belize and the curious tale of the British lord

From Debrett’s: a strong interest in tackling crime

Britons have been titillating themselves recently with some sordid but quite likely untrue allegations made against UK Prime Minister David Cameron by Lord Michael Ashcroft (whom in making the allegations may have been motivated by pique or revenge.)

We won’t dignify these allegations by spelling them out, but we will note that Ashcroft’s considerable financial fortune has been partly tied up with financial activities in the tiny tax haven of Belize. It has long worried us and many others that he had for so many years such a powerful influence in Britain’s ruling Conservative Party. Now, as Jesse Drucker reports for Bloomberg: Continue reading “Belize and the curious tale of the British lord” →

Dear Ambassador, the Bahamas is most definitely a tax haven

Update: condolences to those in the Bahamas who have suffered from Hurricane Joaquin which hit the islands on Saturday. We should add that those who have probably suffered most from the devastation have nothing to do with the Bahamas’ offshore financial industry.

The Bahamas’ Ambassador to the United States has protested “in the strongest terms” against that jurisdiction’s designation as a tax haven by the District of Columbia. The Ambassador claims the Bahamas’ inclusion is based “ on . . . seemingly arbitrary and spurious grounds.”

TJN has written to the Ambassador to support the Bahamas’ designation as a tax haven. Based on the evidence from our Financial Secrecy Index (the 2015 results will be published in just over one month), the Bahamas is among the most secretive and least cooperative tax havens on the planet, and appears to be going against the current by resisting pressure for change. See here and here for example.

Here is the text of the letter we sent this morning to the Ambassador: Continue reading “Dear Ambassador, the Bahamas is most definitely a tax haven” →

Introducing Finance Uncovered

What will BEPS fix, and who will gain?

OECD’s BEPS proposals will not be the end of tax avoidance by multinationals

Thank you!