From the Equity and Justice Working Group Bangladesh:
“No exclusive research or study (has been) conducted so far in Bangladesh to identify what amount of money has been evaded the MNCs out of the payable taxes.” Continue reading “Revenue mobilisation and tax evasion in Bangladesh”
A quote about the tax haven of Panama:
“The country is filled with dishonest lawyers, dishonest bankers, dishonest company formation agents and dishonest companies. The Free Trade Zone is the black hole through which Panama has become one of the filthiest money laundering sinks in the world.”
– An anonymous U.S. customs official, quoted in Jeffrey Robinson’s book The Sink
They deny being a tax haven, of course: tax havens always do. But if you’re in any doubt, here’s a useful laundry list of the kinds of stuff that Panama is up to.
More on this filthy subject fairly soon.
Photo: Brian Gratwicke, creative commons
We are delighted to announce – finally – that Treasure Islands is now available in Spanish.
Details here. Please forward to anyone who might be interested.
Read praise for Treasure Islands here.
Update: A list of all the different editions of Treasure Islands, beyond the original UK edition, is available below.
| Contract date | Publisher | Language / Country |
| Jan 2013 | Fondo de Cultura Economica | Spanish Argentina |
| Sept 2011 | Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore srl | Italian Italy |
| Aug 2011 | Bookie Publishing House | Korean South Korea |
| July 2011 | André Versaille | French France |
| March 2011 | Nakladatelstvi Academia | Czech Czech Republic |
| March 2011 | Papadopoulos Publishing | Greek Greece |
| Feb 2011 | China Youth Publishing House | Chinese Simple (in China) China |
| Feb 2011 | Asahi Shimbun | Japanese Japan |
| Feb 2011 | Business Weekly Publications | Chinese Complex (in Taiwan) Taiwan |
| Feb 2011 | Rotpunktverlag | German Germany |
| Jan 2011 | Into Kustannus | Finnish Finland |
| Nov 2010 | Eksmo | Russian Russia |
| Dec 2009 | Palgrave Macmillan | USA |
Update: new details about how the EC sees the EUSTD meshing with other initiatives.
We recently wrote that there were positive signs that the all-important Amendments to the European Union Savings Tax Directive was likely to be approved, in the face of long-standing intransigence by Luxembourg, Austria (and, outside the EU, Switzerland.)
Well, as the Financial Times reported on Friday:
“Luxembourg and Austria lifted their longstanding veto on a key EU law that will extensively bolster national governments’ ability to crackdown on tax cheats.” Continue reading “EU Savings Tax Directive moves forwards”
We recently wrote about a new double tax agreement (DTA) signed on March 20th with Argentina. This is the latest in a series of worrying DTAs that Switzerland has been signing with countries from the Global South, despite the OECD Global Forum’s explicit criticism of Switzerland for signing only DTAs with other nations.
Continue reading “Swiss tax treaty policy thwarts new era of automatic information exchange”
PRESS RELEASE
The UK Law Commission consultation on the fiduciary duties of investment intermediaries:
Response from the Tax Justice Network Continue reading “TJN response: the UK Law Commission and investment intermediaries”
In the March 2014 Taxcast: Russia, Ukraine, Londongrad and the offshore threat to global security. Also, modern day colonialism? Niger battles France over fairer revenues for its uranium; it’s official – inequality IS bad for economic growth: the IMF becomes an unlikely advocate for tax justice. And the European Parliament moves against anonymous ownership of companies by voting for public registers of beneficial owners. Continue reading “The March 2014 Taxcast: Russia, Ukraine, Londongrad”
Firtash signs the deal with Cambridge. Source: http://en.dmitryfirtash.com
Update: the Daily Mail covers our story here.
It seems that Britain’s Cambridge University hasn’t learned anything from the London School of Economics (LSE).
The LSE was red faced in 2011 when it was revealed that they had received millions from the Gadhafi regime. The scandal led to a resignation of the LSE’s director Howard Davis, and an independent investigation from a former Lord Chief Justice, Lord Wolf.
Now we note that Cambridge University has developed its own questionable links with Ukraine. Continue reading “Ukraine’s dirty money: the Cambridge University connection”
We have been rather complimentary recently about the OECD’s emerging project to deliver automatic information exchange globally. It contains many positive (and important elements), but we also noted some shortcomings. One of the loopholes we noted was:
“It is increasingly easy for individuals to move residency elsewhere, as more jurisdictions offer easy residency packages. This could be another way to escape reporting.”
Well, it seems that offshore jurisdictions are already slavering at the prospect of this particular escape route Continue reading “Secrecy jurisdictions already aiming at loopholes in OECD project”
The construction of One, Hyde Park, a symbol of extremes of wealth. Gareth Jones, Creative Commons
Guest blog by George Turner
One to the most pronounced and damaging impacts of offshore finance in London is the housing crisis. In London a home is no longer a home, but an investment product. The offshore system allows questionable money from all over the world to be effectively laundered through the UK property market. Despite government attempts to rein in the excesses of the system the modest tax increases on property held by offshore vehicles have not had an impact.
Holding property in the UK is still cheap and prime property remains an attractive commodity for those looking for a place to stash their cash. Continue reading “A small but telling victory in London’s offshore housing crisis”
From the New York Times, an article by former Moscow mayoral candidate Alexey Navalny that begins with the words “As I write this, I am under house arrest.” He argues:
“Western nations could deliver a serious blow to the luxurious lifestyles enjoyed by the Kremlin’s cronies who shuttle between Russia and the West. This means freezing the oligarchs’ financial assets and seizing their property. Continue reading “Putin, the U.S. and the City of London: The Much-Too-Special-Relationship”
As you can see, the Tax Justice Network has recently set up a new website, which we hope you’ll agree is an improvement on the old one.
Now we have two more pieces of exciting news. Continue reading “TJN launches new APP and a Take Action page”
Not long ago we published a Switzerland edition of our newsletter Tax Justice Focus, in which a contributor wrote:
“Developing countries wanting OECD-type tax agreements with Switzerland risk being forced into tax concessions on Swiss foreign investments, in exchange for information sharing on tax evaders.”
And the quality of the information they were likely to receive in exchange for those enormous concessions is likely to be exceedingly poor. Now we see a recent article in the Buenos Aires Herald, which looks at an imminent new Double Tax Agreement between Argentina and Switzerland, Continue reading “Guest blog: should Argentina sign a tax treaty with Switzerland?”
From an exchange in the UK parliament, via Tax Research, the UK Exchequer Secretary David Gauke:
“A year or so ago I had a meeting at Euston tower with the HMRC [the UK tax authorities] officials who deal with transfer pricing matters. They said it would help them to have a relatively simple form to provide information about the companies into which they enquire so they know where those companies make their profits and where they pay tax. Continue reading “UK government believes in country by country reporting. Or does it?”
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[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]We just blogged the excellent news that our friend Charmian Gooch of Global Witness has just won the prestigious TED prize. Now, from Global Witness:
“This year’s TED Prize winner – Charmian Gooch of Global Witness – has announced that she will use the prestigious million-dollar award “to make it impossible for criminals and corrupt dictators to hide behind anonymous companies.”
The announcement was made live and online from the TED stage in Vancouver, with support from leading members of the business, political, law enforcement and campaigning community.
Delivering a powerful talk, Charmian described the abuse of anonymous companies as a “devastating problem that spans the globe…negatively affecting all of us.” Describing the ease with which people can hide their identities behind anonymous companies, Gooch recounted harrowing tales of the impact of this problem, particularly on some of the poorest people in the world. She called on leaders around the globe to make a simple commitment “to enact laws to create public registries which list the true owners of companies, and that can be accessed by all – with no loopholes.”
Now there is a campaign worth supporting. Go to their Facebook page – we will also place this on our new Take Action page. And now watch this video – The Grin. It’s short, and powerful.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]How can you help? Well, Global Witness have a whole lot of suggestions.
Join the movement for global change
Build a global movement to make it impossible for criminals and others to hide behind anonymous companies. Global Witness – along with partners around the world – is leading a campaign to end anonymous companies.
– “Like” and share the End Anonymous Companies page on Facebook
– Share the short animation illustrating the problem of anonymous shell companies
– Tweet support for the wish using #AnonymousCompanies and follow @global_witness and @charmian
– Keep informed as to what’s happening with legislation in the EU, US and around the world via the Facebook page
– Visit the Global Witness website to find out more about the campaign
Mobilize your communities
The first step to ending anonymous companies is to educate people, encourage them to join the campaign and inspire others to take action.
– Share Charmian’s TED Prize talk (coming soon)
– Translate Charmian’s TED Prize talk
– For local groups, civil society, and TEDx organisers, here’s a checklist of ways to support
– Tell us what your community is doing to support the wish on the Facebook page and Twitter
Contribute to the public registry
Help create the first-ever prototype of a public registry for collecting and publishing critical information on who ultimately owns a company. This prototype will serve as a guide for governments that want to end anonymous companies.
Help us make this prototype public registry a reality. Email us at [email protected] to contribute funds and technical expertise.
Convene the business community
Transparency is good for businesses and consumers. We all want to know whom we’re buying from and whom we’re doing business with. If you own or work in a company — big or small, publicly listed or privately held—join the global campaign, take part in the conversation, and support this wish.
We’re going to bring together as many companies as possible to a meeting in NYC to figure out how we can collectively advance a movement away from anonymous companies, and towards transparency. Join us. Email [email protected].
Add your businesses name to those calling for an end to anonymous companies. Email [email protected]
Tell the story
Creatives, animators, broadcasters, photographers, and app designers: this wish needs you. The story of anonymous companies and their effect on real people’s lives remains largely untold. Bring your communicative and artistic gifts to bear on this global problem and, in doing so, inspire others to act.
Email [email protected] if you have an idea and want to collaborate with us, and our partners around the world.
Filmmakers can respond to the Sundance Institute request for proposals to make a film on this issue.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]
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From U.S. Senator Carl Levin:
WASHINGTON – The bipartisan leadership of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations today urged the Department of Justice to seek extradition of Swiss residents whom the DOJ has charged with tax evasion offenses. Continue reading “Top US senators urge extradition of Swiss bankers”
We are delighted to report that the tax justice network now has its own app, for the Android system.
It is free, simple, and packed with all the latest news, views and analysis from around the world.
You can find it by searching the Google Play store, or download it here. An Apple iOS version will be available shortly. Continue reading “The tax justice app is now available – and it’s free”
Brett Robson, Global Photographics, Creative Commons
A few days ago we were delighted to read an article about the enormously influential UK band One Direction, which began like this.
“George Osborne [the UK Chancellor] can expect a bombardment from One Direction fans after the boyband urged its army of followers to lobby the Chancellor to maintain the UK’s international aid budget and crack down on corporate tax avoidance. Continue reading “One Direction get tax justice. Or do they?”
From a book review in The Economist:
“(the author) cites Thomas Kuhn’s theory of scientific revolutions. First, the existing models are proved wrong by the facts. Second, the experts try to adjust the theory to account for the anomalies, leading to ever-greater complexity. Third, a new theory is put forward that throws away the existing framework. Fourth, the theory is attacked by the experts as being incompatible with the existing model. Finally, younger, more open-minded scientists accept the new theory and it becomes the consensus.” Continue reading “Scientific revolutions and the tax justice consensus”
Source: Walt McDougall, New York World, Oct 30, 1884.
From Shifting Grounds, our quote of the day:
“New political eras begin when the ideas that define them are embraced by those most reluctant to accept their logic.”
The quote is about inequality – but it could just as well be about tax justice. Continue reading “Quote of the day: inequality”
A month ago we published a short, quick reaction to a new report by the OECD, outlining the nuts and bolts of a major new international system for information exchange. We have now spent quite some time exploring the OECD’s report, and have written a much more detailed response.
Our new report is entitled OECD’s Automatic Information Exchange Standard: A watershed moment for fighting offshore tax evasion ?.
The announcement was made live and online from the TED stage in Vancouver, with support from leading members of the business, political, law enforcement and campaigning community.