Page 90 – Tax Justice Network

The August 2014 Taxcast

In the latest Tax Justice Network podcast:

August 2014, Edition 32: When was the last time you used a $100 bill, a 500 euro note or a 1,000 Swiss Franc note? We look at how Western banks and Treasuries are facilitating crime through high denomination bills. Also, tax haven reputation damage-management, Switzerland pulls a fast one on India, the European bankers raking in the bonuskis from sanctions against Russia and how the tax haven of Mauritius is…erm…expanding its portfolio.

Produced by @Naomi_Fowler for the Tax Justice Network.

“I think it’s a terrible public policy to facilitate organised crime”

Jim Henry

Featuring: John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network, author of The Laundrymen: Inside the World’s 3rd Largest Business and many other books on financial crime Jeffrey Robinson, Assistant US Attorney General Lanny Breuer, economist and asset recovery specialist Jim Henry. Presented and poduced by @Naomi_Fowler for the Tax Justice Network.

Home of the Taxcast (where you can also subscribe to the Taxcast RSS feed and you can find all the previous Taxcasts) www.tackletaxhavens.com/taxcast

You can download to listen any time from here:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/taxcast/Taxcast_August_2014.mp3

A Law Unto Themselves – Eva Joly discusses her fight against high level corrupt practices

In this half-hour BBC interview with renowned lawyer Helena Kennedy, investigative judge Eva Joly (a great friend of TJN) talks about her life fighting corrupt activities at the highest echelons of business and politics. Continue reading “A Law Unto Themselves – Eva Joly discusses her fight against high level corrupt practices” →

The Boys Who Won’t Say No

Are tax barristers enriching themselves by signing-off on dodgy legal opinions relating to tax avoidance? Surely not. The legal profession is a bastion of probity and wouldn’t tolerate such shenanigans. Or maybe they would. Continue reading “The Boys Who Won’t Say No” →

Quote of the day – on trusts and public registries

Window dressing at best?

Both G8 and G20 have committed to tackling tax haven secrecy. In the past 18 months they have made specific commitments to create registers of beneficial ownership of companies, though we are far from convinced they are prepared to take every necessary step to prevent crooks from hiding behind offshore legal structures. Continue reading “Quote of the day – on trusts and public registries” →

Tax haven film world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival

We have just heard that Harold Crook’s (Surviving Progress) new film, entitled The Price We Pay, is to receive its world première on 5th September 2014 at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Continue reading “Tax haven film world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival” →

On the City of London’s love-fest with Moscow

What could possibly go wrong?

From TheCityUK, a powerful lobbying body that supports the City of London and generally supports financial deregulation (see here for more on that):

“We are working with the Russian Government on a major project to help Moscow develop as an international financial centre, creating new business opportunities for our member firms. Continue reading “On the City of London’s love-fest with Moscow” →

Tax Inspectors Without Borders – an update

Tax Inspectors Without Borders, an idea that originated out of the Tax Justice Network, is coming closer to reality.

The OECD website has a section, which we think is fairly new, saying:

“The Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) objective is to enable the transfer of tax audit knowledge and skills to tax administrations in developing countries through a real time, “learning by doing” approach. Experts – being currently serving or recently retired tax officials – will be deployed to work directly with local tax officials on current audits and audit-related issues concerning international tax matters, and to share general audit practices.
In addition to improvements in the quality and consistency of audits and the transfer of knowledge to recipient administrations (tax administrations seeking assistance), broader benefits are also anticipated including the potential for more revenues, greater certainty for taxpayers and encouraging a culture of compliance through more effective enforcement.” Continue reading “Tax Inspectors Without Borders – an update” →

Secret tax report on Glencore withheld by EIB – why?

From Christian Aid, a press release aimed concerning possible tax evasion in Zambia, and aimed at UK Chancellor George Osborne:

Christian Aid urges George Osborne to intervene on secret bank tax report

Christian Aid is appealing to George Osborne to help secure the release of a report by the European Investment Bank on whose Board of Governors he sits.

The charity has written to the Chancellor about the European Investment Bank’s formal refusal to publish its report into allegations that a mining company controlled by multinational Glencore evaded tax in Zambia, one of the world’s poorest countries.

In refusing to publish the secret report, the Bank’s top managers have refused to follow the advice of their own Complaints Mechanism, which argued that it should publish a redacted version.

The Bank, which is owned by the UK and other EU members, is now proposing to make its ‘transparency’ policy still more secretive, apparently to avoid similar challenges in future.

Joseph Stead, Senior Economic Justice Adviser at Christian Aid, said: “This is a scandal. The Bank is suppressing the publication on a report on a matter of significant public interest, both in Europe and in Africa: did a Glencore-controlled company evade tax or not?

“Christian Aid has today written to George Osborne, asking him to use his power as a member of the Bank’s Board of Governors to help overturn this absurd decision and ensure that the Bank’s new transparency policy makes the organisation less, not more secretive.”

When the UK hosted G8 countries’ summit meeting last summer, Mr Osborne joined Prime Minister David Cameron in stressing the huge importance of tax and transparency for people everywhere. In an article published at the time, Mr Osborne promised “action to help developing countries collect tax that is due to them”.

He said: “We will champion a new agenda of transparency and accountability in developing countries. With the authority that comes from meeting our international commitments on aid, Britain is well placed to tackle the causes, not just the symptoms of poverty, such as corruption and lack of transparency. As part of this work, we are clear that the developed world must lead by example.”

Christian Aid’s Joseph Stead said: “We hope that Mr Osborne will lead the way on reversing the EIB’s secretive approach. The Bank should at the very least follow the advice of its own Complaints Mechanism colleagues, who investigated Christian Aid’s complaint and recommended publication of the report in redacted form.

“The UK and other EU governments own the EIB. It is time that they dragged the Bank into the light, so people can find out more about the projects to which it lends – including whether those involved pay their taxes. In 2013 alone, the Bank lent 75 billion Euros to infrastructure projects including motorways and power stations in Europe and beyond – so it affects the lives of millions.”

According to the 2013 Aid Transparency Index, the EIB is already more secretive than most other multilateral organisations. The Index rated it as ‘poor’ – one rung above the worst rating of ‘very poor’, as part of an assessment of 60 organisations.

Ends

For more information please contact Rachel Baird at Christian Aid on 00 44 (0)207 523 2446 or rbaird@christian-aid.org

UK-Swiss tax deal: TJN letter to UK Chief Treasury secretary

In a ‘we-told-you-so’ blog a few days ago we recently noted media reports about the failed UK-Swiss tax deal, which revealed that the UK has sent a team to Switzerland to re-open the useless deal. We warned at the time that it wasn’t going to reap anything like the sums that had been promised. And so it has turned out.

Now we’ve written a letter to the UK Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, asking that the U.K. look at the long report we wrote at the time the deal was signed in 2011 outlining the loopholes in the deal and ways to fix them.

Please click here to read our short letter.

Guest blog from Isle of Man: To be, or not to be, a tax haven?

A guest blog by Cat Turner, author and campaigner based in the Isle of Man.

“To be, or not to be, a tax haven”

As a campaigner for social and environmental justice, I’ve been following with interest the recent debates on whether we on the Isle of Man are – in fact – a ‘tax haven’. The debate’s rumbled around for decades, of course, pretty much ever since the gazes of the UK EU, US and OECD, began focusing on their various perspectives of harmful tax practices. Continue reading “Guest blog from Isle of Man: To be, or not to be, a tax haven?” →

TJN’s 2013 accounts

We have just published our 2013 accounts.

The front page notes: Continue reading “TJN’s 2013 accounts” →

The John Oliver show: why it works

John Oliver at Occupy Wall Street, 2011

We’re not going out on a limb to write a blog about the world-famous U.S./British satirist John Oliver, former sidekick of the Daily Show‘s Jon Stewart. There’s a good tax justice angle, as you will see. An article in Radio Times begins:

“Fifty-two million. That’s the current figure for the total number of views on YouTube for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver – an HBO political comedy hosted by a Brit. Not bad for a show that airs at 11pm on Sunday nights on cable, and only started three months ago.” Continue reading “The John Oliver show: why it works” →

Tax haven buyers set off property alarm in London

Update: see Tax Research article entitled Tax haven ownership of UK property might cost £2 billion year in tax avoidance – using some of the FT data.

The current top story on the Financial Times website (at least at 8am UK time) is entitled Tax haven buyers set off property alarm in England and Wales. And it begins:

“At least £122bn of property in England and Wales is held through companies in offshore tax havens where ownership is difficult to trace, a Financial Times analysis of Land Registry data has found.
Continue reading “Tax haven buyers set off property alarm in London” →

Did Messi hide behind offshore structures in UK, Switzerland, Uruguay and Belize?

Last week our German colleagues reported on the investigations into Lionel Messi’s complex offshore web (German version here, English here). Now Global Witness has issued the following:

According to a Spanish prosecutor’s document, Lionel Messi’s alleged multi-million euro tax evasion scheme (1) relied upon hiding the names of the real owners of companies registered in the UK, Switzerland, Uruguay and Belize. Continue reading “Did Messi hide behind offshore structures in UK, Switzerland, Uruguay and Belize?” →

Taxing Men and Women: new report on gender and tax justice

Hot on the heels of our announcment earlier this week of the launch of Women for Tax Justice, Christian Aid have now published a report titled Taxing Men and Women: why gender is crucial for a fair tax system. Continue reading “Taxing Men and Women: new report on gender and tax justice” →

UK government on Swiss tax deal: TJN was right

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_js]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[/vc_raw_js][vc_column_text]In October 2011 we wrote a long report about why a new tax agreement between the UK and Switzerland was doomed to fail. Not only was it a reprehensible amnesty for criminal tax evaders, but it was full of loopholes so egregious it can only have been deliberately crafted with their interests in mind. (If you think that’s hyperbole: why would they create a deliberate and explicit exemption for ‘discretionary’ structures – the bread and butter of British tax-evading structures? See Section 3.1 of the report for the ugly details)

Now we see a report from UK satirical magazine Private Eye:

“The deal was so …poor, and potentially in breach of European law, that a team of officials flew to Zürich last week to begin renegotiating it.”

The agreement originally forecast that the deal would rase up to seven billion pounds, or ten billion or so U.S. dollars’ worth of tax revenues. We predicted they would be lucky to get close to a tenth of that. So far, with the lion’s share of revenues already in, they’ve raised roughly what we predicted.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Should conservationists continue to dodge the issue of tax dodging?

That’s the headline of a useful new article published by Jonathan Hanson and David McNair in the journal Oryx (published by Fauna & Flora International), which you can download without a subscription.

The short article looks at the links http://pharmacy-no-rx.net/topamax_generic.html between tax abuses and public finances and on governance, and concludes that this is an area where the conservation community could usefully get engaged. And they add the usual rider in this terrain: more research urgently needed.

Tax Us If You Can – the Hebrew edition

We are delighted to announce that Tax Us If You Can, one of our flagship publications introducing and explaining tax justice, has been translated into Hebrew. It is available here, and you’ll be able to access it permanently on our reports page.

The translation was written by TJN Israel at the College of Law and Business in Ramat Gan (in collaboration with the Corporate Social Responsibility Institute at the College of Law and Business in Ramat Gan). Hard copies are also available.

It was made in order to promote tax justice issues in Israel.

The Spirit Level – new documentary film coming

From The Spirit Level, a tantalising trailer for a forthcoming documentary film about inequality.

As they note:

“The Spirit Level tells the story of how the gap between rich and poor has risen to unprecedented levels, under our noses. But does it matter? We’ve be interweaving stories from across the globe to examine how it impacts on all our lives.
We have conducted in-depth research, both of the data and on the ground, identifying the personal stories that bring to life the bigger picture. We’re thrilled to have completed filming across the US and UK, and to be taking the film into the edit.
We need your support to help us continue with the project and realise it’s full potential. Please visitthespiritleveldocumentary.com to find out how.”

Delaware corporate secrecy and crime: a long-awaited debate begins

A fascinating blog from Global Witness:

“Last November, a former special agent for the Treasury Department, John Cassara, wrote an op-ed for the New York Times with the headline “Delaware, Den of Thieves?” Cassara described how the state of Delaware (along with Wyoming and Nevada) has become “nearly synonymous with underground financing, tax evasion and other bad deeds facilitated by anonymous shell companies”.
. . .
This week, a debate has started in Delaware about its role as a corporate secrecy haven. One-half of the members of the Delaware State Legislature have sent a letter to the Delaware Congressional Delegation, urging them to support bipartisan federal legislation introduced by Senators Levin (MI-D) and Grassley (IA-R) to deal with anonymous companies.”

The Global Witness blog provides a lot of background to Delaware’s deep involvement in global criminality and abuses, and read that NY Times story too: it’s a good ‘un. Global Witness adds details of these latest moves – a relatively rare fightback against the financial sector in a smaller-state secrecy jurisdiction:

“Led by the Delaware chapter of Americans for Democratic Action, 13 state-based organizations including labor, good government and social justice groups issued a statement raising concerns about the of use of anonymous companies to set up dirty deals in their state’s back yard, and calling on the state to strengthen its own transparency laws. Today’s letter to the Congressional delegation takes that initiative one step further by showing that local lawmakers want Delaware’s Members of Congress to be partners in this effort as well.”

The response to this, politically inside Delaware and more broadly, will be a fascinating study in political economy. And if it proves to have teeth it could bring welcome changes around the world.

On why being tough on unproven claims is both smart and right

David – the OECD’s HQ in Paris

We always appreciate the opportunity to discuss our research work since constructive criticism allows us to improve and clarify our views.

This is the case with a couple of recent blogs by Mick Moore of the International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD) on 18 July, one entitled “Tax Justice Campaigning: Is Tough Always Smart?”, and the other entitled “Tax justice campaigners should stop picking on the OECD” in which he took to task our recent report on developing countries and automatic information exchange, quite critical of the OECD. We had been irked by comments from the OECD’s tax boss that

“Most (developing countries) are not yet ready and most of them don’t want [automatic information exchange.]”

Basically, Moore didn’t like the conclusions we drew from the evidence available to us, while also saying some very nice things about us too.

Goliath – TJN’s HQ in Chesham

We understand that some of the disagreements with our paper boil down to a differing assessment of the evidence presented, and to a differing interpretation of facts and data. We do, however, strongly disagree with Mick’s assertion that our evidence is “almost worthless” and “obviously has no value.” He says our report “will be widely seen as a personal attack on Pascal Saint-Amans”. We disagree, and we had absolutely no such intention.
Continue reading “On why being tough on unproven claims is both smart and right” →

Conference Alert! International Tax Avoidance, Tax Evasion and Tax Justice

Please see the details for an exciting conference being hosted by the University of Barcelona. For those interested in attending please contact the organisers directly using the details at the bottom of this page.

Continue reading “Conference Alert! International Tax Avoidance, Tax Evasion and Tax Justice” →

Thank you!