Page 70 – Tax Justice Network

The Tax Justice Network Podcast, July 2015

In the July 2015 Taxcast: in a special extended programme we look at the crisis in Greece and ask whatever happened to European unity? Also: we discuss the European Parliament’s vote for multinational corporations to report their activities on a public, country by country basis: the push to give poorer nations a say in international tax rule-making fails after three days of three days of bullying in Addis Ababa BUT Tax Inspectors Without Borders gets the green light. Plus more scandal and unique analysis.

“They don’t care about the conditions in the country, they don’t care about people, they don’t care about macro economic data you bring them, they don’t care about all these things. All they want is…to get money back, and they can get the money back only if they lend more money. So Greece pays. Greece cannot even get caught up with the interest rates. It’s usury what’s happening, it’s total usury.”
Professor of International Politics and Economics from the University of East London, Vassilis Fouskas, co-author of the book Greece, Financialization and the EU: The Political Economy of Debt and Destruction

Produced and presented by @Naomi_Fowler for the @TaxJusticeNet and featuring John Christensen on the Tax Justice Network, Professor of International Politics and Economics from the University of East London, Vassilis Fouskas, @VassilisKFouska, investigative journalist, economist, lawyer and Tax Justice Network senior advisor James Henry @submergingmkt

Listen to the mp3 here:

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Global tax body: “After 3 days of bullying, developing countries were run over”

What a global tax body would look like

The Third International Conference on Financing for Development just held in Addis Ababa has held negotiations for an internationally agreed position to support the post-2015 development agenda. One of the key areas of dispute this year was international tax. More specifically, TJN and others have pushing for years for international tax rule-making to be removed from the clutches of the world’s rich countries, and developing countries being given more of a say. More precisely, we were pushing for a global tax body to help give developing countries more say.

Continue reading “Global tax body: “After 3 days of bullying, developing countries were run over”” →

Quote of the day – Africa hit by global tax intrigues

TJN-Africa’s Alvin Mosioma

Here’s our quote of the day, via the Financial Transparency Coalition:

“African nations are at the epicenter of the crisis of illicit financial flows, yet they are not even in the room when decisions are being made,” said Alvin Mosioma, Executive Director of the Tax Justice Network Africa. “A global tax body is one important step in fixing this global problem.”

Continue reading “Quote of the day – Africa hit by global tax intrigues” →

UK parliament: stop money laundering through UK property

More precisely, what is known as an Early Day Motion, so far signed by 20 UK MPs:

“That this House notes the recent screening of From Russia with Cash on Channel 4; expresses its concern that the proceeds of corruption are being laundered through the London property market via the use of anonymous offshore companies; and recommends that corporate transparency become a Land Registry requirement so that any foreign company intending to hold a property title in the UK is held to the same standards of transparency required of UK registered companies, so preventing London or other locations from becoming a safe haven for the corrupt.”

Continue reading “UK parliament: stop money laundering through UK property” →

Did NGOs invent a pot of gold? (No.)

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]By Alex Cobham, our research director: first posted at Uncounted.

A draft paper by Maya Forstater, circulated by the Center for Global Development in time for the Financing for Development conference in Addis, attacks the integrity of many people and NGOs working on tax justice and illicit financial flows. The claims include: Continue reading “Did NGOs invent a pot of gold? (No.)” →

Call for papers on Gender, Development, and Fiscal/Economic Equality

FemLaw [a collaborative research network of the Law and Society Association (LSA)] is seeking expressions of interest in presenting papers in its program at two interdisciplinary international conferences being sponsored by the Law and Society Association: the New Orleans LSA conference (June 2-5, 2016) and the Mexico City International Conference on Law and Society (June 20-23, 2017).

Continue reading “Call for papers on Gender, Development, and Fiscal/Economic Equality” →

Should Nation States Compete? – download the workshop presentations here

TJN recently held its annual research workshop in conjunction with the Association for Accountancy & Business Affairs and City University at City University London. You can download the presentations given at that workshop from the links below.

Matthew Watson – ‘Following in John Methuen’s Early Eighteenth-Century Footsteps: Ricardo’s Comparative Advantage Theory and the False Foundations of the Competitiveness of Nations’ Download the presentation here

Atul Shah – Systemic Regulatory Arbitrage: the Role of KPMG. Download the presentation here.

Filomeno III Sta Ana – Questioning Fiscal Incentives as a Policy Instrument for Competitiveness: The Case of Southeast Asia. Download the presentation here

Darian Heim – Justice, Migration, and the Competition for Talent. Download the presentation here

Jakob Engel – Regulating the Commodity Trading Industry: Comparing firm strategies to evade stricter regulation at three levels of governance. Download the presentation here

Linda Arch – Competition amongst the London Clearing Banks, 1946 to 1979. Download the presentation here

Michael Tyrala – The Changing Role of the USA in the Regulation of the Offshore Economy. Download the presentation here

John Christensen, Nick Shaxson, Duncan Wigan – The Finance Curse and Competition through Finance. Download the presentation here

Hagai Kalai – Back to Source: From international corporate tax neutrality to efficient investment policy and its implication for a desirable international tax policy. Download the presentation here

Matti Ylönen – Politics of Intra-Firm Trade: Corporate Price Planning and the Double Role of the Arm’s Length Principle. Download the presentation here

Quote of the day: City of London and the drugs trade

Fresh from our brief discussion of the explosive documentary From Russia with Cash, we have a quote of the day from Roberto Saviano, an expert on the Italian crime organisation Camorra, via The Indendent:

“The British treat it as not their problem because there aren’t corpses on the street.”

Continue reading “Quote of the day: City of London and the drugs trade” →

From Russia with cash: the London laundry exposed

From Britain’s Channel 4, a superb exposé of Britain’s high-end property ~~circus~~ market and the willingness of sellers to accept money from all sources, no matter how dubious. It is hilarious and ghastly, at the same time.

This is money stolen from some of the world’s poorest people, going into luxury property in London (and, by the way, also squeezing many of Britain’s poorest people out of the housing market.) Overall, a loss for unequal Britain, and a loss for other countries looted by wealthy crooks.

Continue reading “From Russia with cash: the London laundry exposed” →

Fake residency: the yawning loophole the OECD must close

Dubai: the race-to-the-bottom specialists

The OECD’s Common Reporting Standards (CRS) is the big game in town for curbing cross-border financial transparency. As we’ve often noted, it is a good project, with global reach, but with loopholes.

One of the biggest of these loopholes, perhaps — after Loophole USA — is the problem of ‘fake residency’, where countries allow wealthy people from elsewhere to “buy” their way into being residents of that jurisdiction, perhaps in exchange for their investing a certain amount there, or paying a flat fee.

How does this enable people to escape the CRS?

Continue reading “Fake residency: the yawning loophole the OECD must close” →

IMF: US isn’t doing enough to curb financial secrecy

Tax haven USA, seen from space: where financial information disappears from view

From Agence France Presse:

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday that the United States was moving too slowly to prevent the use of shell and front companies to hide ownership.

Continue reading “IMF: US isn’t doing enough to curb financial secrecy” →

New US study lends support to Financial Transaction Tax

Click to enlarge

A new report from the Tax Policy Center (TPC), a U.S. nonpartisan joint project of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, looks at the potential revenue yields from a Financial Transactions Tax (FTT) and how the burden of the tax would fall on the U.S. population. It also notes that the FTT concept has a long and venerable history, going back at least as far as 1694.

Continue reading “New US study lends support to Financial Transaction Tax” →

Debate: Has corporation tax had its day?

We have previously commented on the lobbying effort to kill off the corporate income tax (CIT). In a debate published in the latest edition of Tax Journal, TJN’s director John Christensen goes head to head in discussion with Stephen Herring, head of taxation at the UK’s Institute of Directors. Continue reading “Debate: Has corporation tax had its day?” →

Stop the bleeding: new African tax justice campaign

Via the Global Alliance for Tax Justice:

Last week the Interim Working Group of the African IFF Campaign Platform launched the “Stop the Bleeding” campaign in Uhuru park, a place historically associated with the struggle for freedom in Nairobi, Kenya.

Continue reading “Stop the bleeding: new African tax justice campaign” →

The sorry tale of the offshore wheeler-dealer

Every now and then, a court case comes up that gives curious insight into the offshore world of tax havens. This rather sad tale is quite suggestive of the mindset that one so often finds offshore.

“The level of conflict between these parents is shameful. They can take credit for having two lovely children but their current behaviour is making their children miserable.”

Continue reading “The sorry tale of the offshore wheeler-dealer” →

Guest blog: how Switzerland corrupted its courts to nail Rudolf Elmer

Rudolf Elmer, whistleblower and victim of the Swiss banking secrecy complex

Update, Oct 10, 2018 – Swiss top court knocks down bid to extend banking secrecy. Good news for Elmer, following his partial victory in 2016.

Update, Jan 4, 2016: Elmer has won a partial victory, underlining the main point of this blog. In a civil suit brought by Elmer, the Swiss Federal Court has overturned one of the rulings against him because, it ruled, the Zurich judges broke Federal law when they turned down Elmer’s complaint. Elmer told us that two judges in question face investigation and possibly even a court trial. See the Neue Zürcher Zeitung on the case and the court ruling itself here.

Background

Today, Switzerland tightens up its legislation to be able to crack down more effectively on whistleblowers. On this occasion we’re proud to host a guest blog by Rudolf Elmer, a Swiss whistleblower who has been subject to severe harassment by the Swiss courts for around a decade now.

The harassment has extended to his family: it is the sort of treatment one might expect of a totalitarian regime, not of an advanced Western nation.

The harassment is not just from the courts and the financial sector: we should add that, with a fair few honourable exceptions, Swiss media have largely taken the financial centre’s line: that Elmer is a thief and a scoundrel, rather than a whistleblower acting in the public interest.

The truckload of evidence Elmer provides here will, we think, convince you beyond any doubt that the Swiss financial sector has successfully corrupted its courts system.

Continue reading “Guest blog: how Switzerland corrupted its courts to nail Rudolf Elmer” →

Quote of the day: JFK and secrecy

JFK

The quote is from John F. Kennedy, speaking in 1961 (hat tip: the Cayman Reporter):

“The very word “secrecy” is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings. We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it.”

The context for the quote was not tax but the Cold War and the rivalry between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Still, it expounds a strong set of general principles which multinational firms and wealthy individuals might like to ponder.

Tax Justice Research Bulletin 1(6)

June 2015. Surprising everyone by actually arriving within the stated month, here’s the sixth Tax Justice Research Bulletin – a monthly series dedicated to tracking the latest developments in policy-relevant research on national and international tax, available in full over at TJN.

This issue looks at a new paper in The Lancet on the potential links between direct taxation and health outcomes including child mortality; and at research on the suitability or otherwise of accounting data for tax purposes. The Spotlight falls on tobacco taxes, the shameful manipulation of economic arguments by Big Tobacco, and a paper entitled The Single Best Health Policy in the World: Tobacco Taxes.

If this issue were any more health-y, you could put a vest on it and send it out to do a half-Iron Man with Owen Barder. Continue reading “Tax Justice Research Bulletin 1(6)” →

Runways expansion: a curious tax haven link

There are a number of ways in which the interests of environmental groups align with those of the tax justice community. Here’s a curious one, showing how lobbyists against the expansion of major airports in Britain could wield a tax haven tool in their defence.

A new Airports Commission will soon publish its report on the next steps for aviation in Britain, and whether Britain needs more runways. Now, from Andrew Simms, writing in The Guardian:

“The only problem is that many feel it avoided the far more important questions: whether Britain needs any more runways at all and if a better approach would be to tackle the small numbers of very frequent flyers.
. . .
The places in Britain which are home to the most frequent flyers are shown to be the City of London, the boroughs of Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea, and Surrey. He found the most common destinations these UK residents are flying to are recognised tax havens.”

Now there’s an interesting little tale.

And for those interested in the UK, a rather separate point from Philip Baker QC, one of the country’s leading tax experts, also via The Guardian:

“I don’t think in the last 20 years or so one can say that governments have driven corporation tax policy. It’s the large companies that have driven the direction of corporate tax policy.”

You can find some fascinating data to back that assertion up, here. And of course this comment backs up our Finance Curse thesis.

Business as usual for Egypt’s tax avoiders

By Hussein Kamal

Cross-posted with permission from Egyptianomics Continue reading “Business as usual for Egypt’s tax avoiders” →

Tax havens: beyond illicit financial flows

Prof. Sol Picciotto

Capital flows, tax havens and offshore secrecy

A guest post by Prof. Sol Picciotto, a TJN Senior Adviser. This was first published in African Agenda, vol. 18 No. 2, published June 2015

The discussion of the Mbeki Panel report in the last issue of African Agenda, in both the Editorial and the article by Tetteh Hormeku, rightly drew attention to the need to look beyond the issue of ‘illegal flows’. While the Panel’s concern with ‘money illegally earned, transferred or used’ is important, there are much wider implications raised by the report. Continue reading “Tax havens: beyond illicit financial flows” →

The Lima Declaration on Tax Justice and Human Rights

Please endorse the Lima Declaration on Tax Justice and Human Rights!

The initial list of signatories will be announced on World Public Services Day, 23 June 2015, the culmination of the Global Week of Action for #TaxJustice. Additional signatories will be continue to be welcomed beyond that date.

The Lima Declaration arises from the international strategy meeting, “Advancing Tax Justice through Human Rights,” held in Lima, Peru in April 2015, convened by the Center for Economic and Social Rights, the Global Alliance for Tax Justice, Oxfam, Red Latinoamericana sobre Deuda, Desarrollo y Derechos (LatinDADD), Red de Justicia Fiscal de América Latina y el Caribe and the Tax Justice Network.

For more info, contact: [email protected] or [email protected]

Read the full text of the declaration at the following web links. Please sign below!
English: http://bit.ly/1H2fADr
Español: http://bit.ly/1eDSMh7
Français: http://bit.ly/1IdbsQa

See the Declaration with initial signatories here.

Continue reading “The Lima Declaration on Tax Justice and Human Rights” →

Background

Thank you!