News highlights
This is an edited, shortened version of our longer news summaries page.
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Accounting for poverty: new report
Sep 23 (TJN) - ActionAid has an important new report out about tax, tax dodging, tax havens (secrecy jurisdictions, we prefer) and developing countries. It complements their entertaining Outlandish Revenue Service project which we blogged recently.
G-20 - now is the time for a financial transaction tax
Sep 23 (TJN) - TJN is amongst many civil society organisations signed up the following letter to the G-20 leaders meeting in Pittsburgh.
Cable: the offensive secrecy of tax havens
Sep 23 (TJN) - Amid all the confusion and recrimination of the global economic people, there is one thing that most people seem to agree on in Britain: that one of the country's most prescient politicians is Vince Cable, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats.
Country by country reporting: new US move
Sep 23 (TJN) - Publish What You Pay USA has issued a press release on the Energy Security through Transparency Act of 2009.
Offshore private banking: rotten to the core
Sep 21 (TJN) - There are many reasons for being shocked by the revelations of BBC Panorama’s excellent programme on LloydsTSB bank’s activities in Jersey (20h30, Monday 21st September)
Lloyds faces offshore allegations
Sep 21 (TJN) - The Guardian is running a story this morning which starts with this: "The tax authorities are investigating Lloyds Banking Group after evidence emerged that the bank, kept alive by £17bn of taxpayers' money, encourages wealthy customers to avoid tax by channelling money through China."
Complacency - it's coming back fast
Sep 21 (TJN) – It would appear that the lessons of the crash have not been learned.
Tax havens may well kill "living wills"
Sep 21 (TJN) - We have just blogged about the return of complacency. This takes us back to an article we should have blogged earlier, but overlooked, from the Financial Times. Written on August 13th, it notes the return of complacency, then notes this about living wills (which we have blogged, and which has been very much in the news of late.)
Banks and secrecy: fan the flames, please
Sep 21 (TJN) - Despite the gloom on tax havens generally, we are heartened to see this report, highlighting how existing US efforts against UBS are providing wider leverage.
Anti-tax haven petition launched in France
Sep 21 (TJN) - Our friends and colleagues in France have launched a petition against tax havens and they're calling on activists, trade unionists, businesspeople, faith groups and anyone interested in justice to help them achieve their target of 50,000 signatures.
Timms: tax dodging is immoral and corrosive
Sep 22 (TJN) - Stephen Timms, Britain's financial secretary, has some welcome words on the moral dimension of tax.
Lord Turner versus the Lord Mayor of London
Sep 22 (TJN) - The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London, not to be confused with the Mayor of London, has been sounding off.Inequality: may be even worse in the long run
Sep 16 (TJN) - Last week the Wall Street Journal ran a front page story asserting that inequality in the United States isn't as bad as people think, and said things are getting better. But as the blog author Bruce Judson notes in a post: "These conclusions are just plain wrong."
Bankers, bottlers and candy floss
Senator Carl Levin: tax havens cause resentment, distrust and anger
Sep 17 (TJN) - Senator Carl Levin was in bullish mood when he spoke last night at the annual conference of the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development here in Washington.
London is a huge tax haven - The Spectator
Sep 17 (TJN) - We don't generally see eye to eye with the Spectator magazine, which often tends to support a line in favour of the City of London and its satellites in Jersey, Cayman and elsewhere. Nevertheless, there is a kernel of truth in an article they've just published, whose headline contains the line "Britain is the biggest tax haven of them all."
Task Force statement to G20: a development imperative
Sep 18 (TJN) - Following the conclusion of a two day conference titled “Increasing Transparency in Global Finance: A Development Imperative,” the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development issued a statement to the members of the G-20.
Trafigura: Britain's menacing law to support millionaires
Sep 18 (TJN) – How does Trafigura manage to throw legal threats around like confetti? It's Britain's libel laws, a grave threat to democracy around the world.
Cayman helps Barclays dodge curbs on bad incentives
Sep 18 (TJN) - Yesterday we blogged Barclays Bank, in the context of an obscenely abusive lobbying comment about its tax arbitrage businesses. At the time, they had also just put out a statement concerning the restructuring of $12.3 billion in credit market assets by selling them to a new "fund" called Protium Finance LP, which is a “partnership registered with the Cayman Island Monetary Authority.” What is going on?
Paul Collier: Defending Africa from plunder
Sep 18 (TJN) - The wealth of Africa has halved over the past 30 years, according to Oxford economist Paul Collier, and nothing remains to hand over to future generations. Africa has been plundered on a grand scale, said the author of The Bottom Billion, and western commercial organisations have been complicit in the process.
Financial Task force conference: a short provisional summary
Sep 18 (TJN) - It has been a hugely important an immensely encouraging event. Click here for a short, preliminary summary.
Illicit financial flows and capital flight
Sep 18 (TJN) - Global Financial Integrity defines illicit money as "money that is illegally earned, transferred, or utilised. If it breaks laws in its origin, movement, or use it merits the label."And GFI is rightly keen to use this term, in preference to the more common term "capital flight" (which usually is taken to measure something slightly different.)
British royals behind Obama death scheme
Sep 20 (TJN) - The Royal Family and panicky City of London financiers began implementing, in 2008, a new program to kill elderly and other sick people, precisely repeating the opening phase of Hitler's 1939 T-4 euthanasia program. Supposedly.
"Increasing Transparency" - Annual Conference of the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development, Washington D.C.
Sep 13 (TJN) - The 2009 Annual Conference of the Task Force on
Financial Integrity and Economic Development will take place this week
in Washington, DC (16th and 17th September 2009). Venue: Ambassador
Room, Hilton Embassy Row Hotel, and will highlight how a common
approach to greater financial transparency can benefit rich and poor
nations alike.
World Bank MD urges civil society to demand action against illicit financial flows
Sep 14 (TJN) - The G-20 leaders still haven't grasped the scale of the damage caused by illicit financial flows says the World Bank Managing Director, and she has called on civil society to take to the streets demanding action to protect developing countries from tax havens.
Tackling tax havens is number one priority says Lord Brennan
Sep 11 (TJN) - The progress report submitted to G-20 ministers meeting last weekend is now available here. We are not enormously encouraged by the general lack of commitment to re-regulating financial markets. Nor do we see clear evidence that lessons about systemic market failures have been learned. What little progress is being made remains timid in scope and suggests that lessons have not been learned.
On theorists and practitioners
Sep 11 (TJN) - An old joke goes "economists are people who know 69 ways of making love without ever having had a partner." Ouch! Like all the best jokes, this gets rather close to the knuckle, especially at a time when the economics profession needs to do some serious navel gazing.Sep 11 (TJN) – A blog post a few days ago triggered an exchange with a practitioner who disputes our assessment on Singapore’s shady banking practices. Space constraints prevent us from making a full reply under the original blog, so here is our reply to Mr Velten's points.
G20: focus on tax evasion, illicit flows, corruption
Sep 11 (TJN) - TJN, in partnership with Global Witness, Christian Aid and Global Financial Integrity, have issued a new briefing paper aimed at the G20, focusing on illicit flows.
Sep 10 (TJN) - This is the top headline right now from the UK politics website politics.co.uk, noting that "This morning, activists from Christian Aid handed the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) the charity's Greatest Potential for Tax Reform award at their HQ in Cannon Street, London."
Friedman, Krugman and iceberg economics
Sep 10 (TJN) - The late Milton Friedman, as the Huffington Post reports, noted that “Having something like 500 economists [in the Federal Reserve] is extremely unhealthy.”
Bush tax cuts versus Obamacare
Sep 8 (TJN) - "Newly revised estimates from Citizens for Tax Justice show that the Bush tax cuts cost almost $2.5 trillion over the decade after they were first enacted (2001-2010). Preliminary estimates from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office show that the House Democrats’ health care reform legislation is projected to cost $1 trillion over the decade after it would be enacted (2010-2019)."Sep 9 (TJN) - The OECD has put together a raft of new statistics on child welfare in OECD countries, here.We thought we would see how these compare against tax.
Those whom the gods would destroy . . .
Sep 6 (TJN) – Jersey’s treasury minister Philip Ozouf is quoted in The Observer as saying that “…53 per cent of Jersey’s economy is in financial services, but that's 53 per cent of quality." This in the context of his revised forecast that Jersey is heading for a budget deficit of up to £100 million in the next fiscal year.
Offshore warning - tax evaders beware
Sep 6 (TJN) – Will the government pay as much attention to tax dodgers as they do to benefit fraudsters?
The Outlandish Revenue Service
Sep 8 (TJN) - We are absolutely delighted to see that "ActionAid has brought together The Outlandish Revenue Service to go to ludicrous lengths to achieve tax justice."
TJN letter to the Pittsburgh G-20 summit
Sep 8 (TJN) - With the Pittsburgh G-20 Summit rapidly approaching, our colleagues at Washington-based TJN-USA have submitted the following letter to the Co-Chairs of the G-20 Working Group Two (on reinforcing international cooperation and promoting integrity in financial markets).Sep 8 (TJN) - It is by now almost boring to point out how bankers have taken the champagne home, leaving ordinary people to pay for the party. In the words of the Economist: “A crisis created by investment bankers will be paid for by shop assistants and office cleaners."
Finance, corruption and fake old masters
Sep 7 (TJN) - We have not said much about corruption recently. Well, we've had plenty of other things on our hands. This Washington Post blog is a good opportunity for a reminder of what corruption is, and why we disagree with much of what the World Bank (and Transparency International) have had to say about it for so many yearsTax Justice Focus - Latin American Edition
Sep 6 (TJN) - Volume 5, number 1 of Tax Justice Focus has Latin America as its main theme. Across Latin America the landscape of tax varies dramatically from country to country, as do the responses to the global financial and economic crisis.
Island tax havens shaken by financial hurricane
Sep 6 (TJN) - A lengthy article in today's Observer draws attention to how some of the small island tax havens, those engines of chaos in the global financial markets, have become victims of their own development strategies:Offshore centres not facing imminent G20 sanctions
Sep 4 (TJN) - As Reuters reports: "Finance ministers from the Group of 20 nations meeting in London this week are unlikely to slap tough sanctions on prominent offshore centres like Switzerland after several committed to cooperate more on tax evasion."
Sep 4 (TJN) - Gillian Tett is on form again, in the FT. She notes that these days the Western world is reeling from another massive financial crisis, that eclipses the S&L debacle in terms of wealth destruction. Yet, thus far, very few prison terms have been handed out, compared to 4,410 bankers and S&L officials jailed between 1990 and 1995.
UK continues to exclude NGOs from G20 discussions
Sep 4 (TJN) - The Jubilee Debt Campaign and Bretton Woods Projects, NGOs that have taken an interest in tax and are part of the Put People First platform (of which TJN is a member) note that their access to the meeting venue and press facilities of the G20 discussions have been revoked with no explanation.
Tax, tax havens and the financial crisis, again
Sep 3 (TJN) - Lord Turner, who made some welcome comments recently about the financial services sector, has added more to the debate. We will focus on this comment, from a new interview in the Financial Times.
New report from Oxfam-France, pushing progress
Sep 3 (TJN) - Yesterday we started writing a blog, but didn't finish it until this morning. As a result, it didn't appear until just now - so you may have missed it, if you have already read the blogs posted above it. Click here to read it.
Mission Accomplished? Dream on.
Sep 1 (TJN) - OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria's comments in The Guardian and other international media about the end of tax havens smack mightily of hubris and may come back to haunt him.
Tax havens in the global economy. Pourquoi?
Sep 1 (TJN) - For those who don't read French, the opening paragraphs of this remarkable cross-party report to the French National Assembly by Elisabeth Guigou and Daniel Garrigue, both deputies of that Assembly, says it all.
Perfidious Albion, seedy ads and The Economist
Sep 1 (TJN) - We have just blogged a new report to the French National Assembly on the subject of tax havens. Quite separately, we'd like to draw your attention to Annex 2 of the report, which includes the following image taken from the small ads section of The Economist magazine (we know, we know: they prefer to call themselves a newspaper, but sorry, it's a magazine).
Switzerland: a trillion dollars in black money?
Sep 1 (TJN) - Tucked away low down in an article in the August edition of the Swiss review is an estimate that around 30%, or CHF 1,000 billion, of the CHF 2,800 billion or so of foreign assets in Swiss banks is untaxed “black money”.
U.S. nonprofits, facing withering fire, join tax haven fray
Sep 1 (TJN) - Charles Gnaedinger of the highbrow tax publication Tax Analysts has just published an article, which we reproduce with their permission.
New offshore report from Oxfam-France
Sep 1 (TJN) This picture, dug out of a new report from Oxfam-France, tells it all. This is why development organisations are getting interested in the offshore system and international tax matters, at last.Sep 1 (TJN) - The Cayman Islands government is heading for bankruptcy and the UK government, which has ultimate responsibility for the governance of the Caymans, has declined to bail it out.
Switzerland and tax evasion: more number crunching
Sep 2 (TJN) - Having just blogged estimates from our friend Konrad Hummler, Andreas Missbach of the Berne Declaration provides plenty more information from Switzerland on the extent of potential tax evasion.
Luxembourg: a tax haven attacks its own citizens
Sep 2 (TJN) - We just blogged that things are getting nasty for Luxembourg NGOs seeking to take on the almighty finance industry there. The TJN-Germany blog (rough English translation here) provides us more details.
France gets Swiss banking details
Aug 30 (TJN) - From the Guardian: "France announced it had received the details of thousands of people suspected of evading taxes in undeclared accounts."
On poverty, talent beyond belief, and social silence
Aug 31 (TJN) - Christian Aid organised a fascinating panel discussion on tax avoidance at the annual Greenbelt festival in Cheltenham this weekend.
Britain's regulator calls much of City "socially useless"
Aug 27 (TJN) - Britain's Financial Services Authority (FSA) has long been seen as supporting the City of London in its race to be lower than everyone else in terms of lax regulation and tolerance of criminality. But the FSA’s benign sentiment towards the City seems to be changing.Aug 27 (TJN) - Complementing this morning's blog: Benjamin Friedman of Harvard University compares financial systems to fertiliser.
UN tax committee warms up for its new mandate
Aug 27 (TJN) - Civil society groups this week attended a meeting in Amsterdam to discuss the agenda of a United Nations committee which is dedicated to improving international cooperation on tax. The mood and outcome of the meeting were very positive.
The UK and the Crown Dependencies
Aug 27 (TJN) - This is the text of an article by William Wallace (Baron Wallace of Saltaire) published in the Jersey Evening Post on 26th August 2009. Unfortunately the JEP does not provide a URL to the original article, but the author has approved its online publication:
UBS Chairman claims systemic tax evasion is limited to USA
Aug 25 (TJN) - In a revealing interview given to Swiss sunday newspaper NZZ am Sonntag, UBS chairman Kaspar Villiger has suggested that the problems of systemic tax evasion uncovered by the indictment of his bank in the USA does not affect other countries. Who does he think he's kidding?
Howitzers on Liechtenstein spiked
Aug 26 (TJN) - Recently we blogged on the tax co-operation agreement between the United Kingdom and Liechtenstein, finding some good parts, but with some fundamental, even fatal, flaws. Britain's exceedingly well informed (subscription-only) magazine Private Eye has now added its voice.
Luxembourg NGO made to withdraw offshore study
Aug 5 (TJN) - A Luxembourg non-governmental organisation, the Cercle de Coopération, has been forced to withdraw a study explaining how their country is a secrecy jurisdiction, and how it causes grave damage to developing countries.
Interview on Swiss bank secrecy in history
Aug 6 (TJN) - The Swiss magazine Hebdo is now carrying an interview with Sébastian Guex, a Swiss historian, who delves briefly into the myths that have been disseminated to protect Swiss Bank secrecy.Aug 7 (TJN) - The Wall Street Journal reports that “Chile’s lower house has approved a bill that would allow the national tax service to access Chileans’ bank-account information and share it with other countries’ tax authorities.
OECD whitewashes another tax haven
Aug 8 (TJN) - Belgium, like Luxembourg, Singapore, San Marino, the Seychelles, the Isle of Man and Monaco, is a tax haven. Yet the OECD has now declared Belgium to be "clean" because it has signed some of its pitifully weak exchange of information agreements with 12 countries, getting it over the hurdle required for the country to be declared "clean."
Value Added Tax and Adam Smith
Aug 10 (TJN) - The Liberal Conspiracy blog is carrying a piece by Paul Sagar on Britain's Conservative Party, and reports that it is studying plans to increase Value Added Tax (VAT). One can argue about the merits of Value Added Taxes as part of a broader tax system, but their big drawback is that these taxes tends to be highly regressive - that is, the poor pay a higher share of their income in VAT than the rich do.
Reform tax code to curb risk-taking
Aug 11 (TJN) - The headline is from a letter in the FT yesterday. It asks whether government regulation of executive pay in the financial sector will help curb risk-taking.
Tax havens and transfer pricing: new study
Aug 11 (TJN) - Germany's Institute for Development has published a new study into tax havens, transfer pricing and global governance. Its introduction has some rather nice turns of phrase.
US and UBS initial deal in tax dispute
Aug 12 (TJN) - From Reuters a few minutes ago: "The U.S. government and Swiss bank UBS AG (UBSN.VX)(UBS.N) have initialled agreements to settle their tax evasion dispute, a U.S. government attorney said on Wednesday, ending weeks of tough negotiations between the two sides.
Britain and Liechtenstein: another curate's egg
Aug 12 (TJN) - A little out of date, as we're down to a skeleton staff of bloggers in the holiday season, we note that: "Britain on Tuesday signed a tax cooperation agreement with Liechtenstein that would allow British holders of assets in secret accounts to declare their holdings voluntarily in exchange for a reduced penalty fee or face the closure of their accounts."
Britain and Liechtenstein: more odd things
Aug 12 (TJN) - We've just blogged on the innovative but flawed UK-Liechtenstein agreement, and a couple of extra things have been drawn our attention. It's an important one because it contains many new elements, so forgive us for banging on about it a bit.
Channel Island VAT abuse: time for action
Aug 17 (TJN) - The Observer reports that online retailers are facing a crackdown on the use of the British Channel Islands to exploit a VAT loophole. Such a move would be very welcome.
Financial Times: War on Tax Piracy is Making Progress
Aug 17 (TJN) - Today's Financial Times carries an editorial titled "Closing the Havens" which, having noted that "the war on tax piracy is making progress", concludes that tax havens "cannot guarantee to keep clients' wealth hidden if home countries continue wielding their weapons." But the progress to date is just a start.
Lawyers: get your house in order
Aug 18 (TJN) - The banking profession has rightly gained a reputation for greed, incompetence and worse. But what about the lawyers?
G-20: No more business as usual
Aug 18 (TJN) - TJN is a founder member of the Put People First coalition in the UK. Here are details about forthcoming events planned for Autumn 2009:Aug 19 (TJN) - Breaking news: We are picking up reports that sanctions are being considered against Austria due to that country's lack of cooperation in the fight against tax evasion.
Swiss to process 4,450 American UBS client accounts
Aug 19 (TJN) - The Swiss Federal Administration has just issued the following agreement, where the United States will submit a new treaty request to Switzerland and will withdraw the John Doe summons that demands disclosure of the identity of 52,000 UBS account-holders. In return, Switzerland has undertaken to process the new treaty request, concerning approx. 4,450 accounts, within a year.
Senator Carl Levin on the UBS settlement: 19th August 2009
Aug 20 (TJN) – This is the statement of Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.) on the settlement of the UBS John Doe summons proceeding.
Grown-up thinking in the European fight against tax fraud
Aug 20 (TJN) - Sorry to distract our readers away from the UBS settlement, but here's something interesting coming out of Brussels (Euro-phobes might want to stop reading now, since the idea that anything interesting might come out of Brussels will doubtless induce choking, vomiting and worse).Aug 21 (TJN) - We recently blogged about lawyers and their part in the tax evasion scandal that has engulfed Swiss banking giant UBS and the Swiss Federal Bank. Bang on cue, the US Department of Justice has charged Matthias Rickenbach, and Swiss lawyer, with conspiring to defraud the United States.
TJN-USA - Comment on the Agreement between UBS, the Swiss Government and the IRS
Aug 21 (TJN) - The agreement between UBS, the Swiss Government and the IRS is a good first step toward putting banks out of the business of selling to wealthy Americans tax evasion assistance under the guise of "wealth management." But it is only a first step.
Banking in the Shadows: A trip to Jersey
Aug 21 (TJN) - In March 2009, during the run-up to the G-20 Summit in London, activists from all over Europe visited the British Channel Island of Jersey to highlight the role of tax havens in the global crisis. Along with TV teams from far and wide, film-maker Zoe Young covered the events in Jersey, described in the London Review of Book as "an awfully genteel protest", and she has now released this short film. We think its great and hope you will enjoy it and share it with your friends.
Eva Joly tackles BNP Paribas on its tax haven subsidiaries
Aug 21 (TJN) - According to the French press, Eva Joly, Member of the European Parliament and former French examining magistrate, has called on the Board of French banking giant BNP Paribas to explain the purpose of its secrecy jurisdiction affiliates.
BNP Paribas aux Iles Caïman: Mais qu'est ce qu'ils foutent là bas?
Aug 24 (TJN) - Notre directeur, John Christensen, était parmi les invités à la 37ème Fête de la Rose de Frangy en Bresse (Saône-et-Loire). Après un toast à la Mairie de Frangy et une cuisse de poulet de Bresse, il a pris son place sur la plateforme à cote de Arnaud Montebourg, Député de Saône-et-Loire, et Benoît Hamon, Porte-parole du Parti socialiste français.
Aug 24 (TJN) - Our colleagues at Citizens for Tax Justice in Washington have published some interesting comments on the UBS settlement. Whilst welcoming the investigation into the 4,450 banking clients whose names UBS is now required to disclose to the IRS, they are concerned about some of the messages that can be read into the settlement, starting with the clients whose names won't be being handed over:
Swiss misinformation in the New York Times
August 3 (TJN) The New York Times is carrying an article by a Swiss ideologue, Pierre Bessard, entitled Leave Swiss Banks Alone. Anyone reading it might be forgiven for thinking that Swiss bank secrecy somehow is a benefit to the world. We would like to correct a few points of fact, and of interpretation.
The Curse of the Heritage Foundation
August 4 (TJN) We can't help noticing that every time the Heritage Foundation (or the Center for Freedom and Prosperity or the Cato Institute) praise a country, usually calling it a "tiger" of some sort -- the country in question soon seems to plunge into some sort of toxic economic spiral.
Tax pain for America
August 4 (TJN) From an analysis conducted by the Associated Press on the fiscal situation facing the United States: "Tax receipts are on pace to drop 18 percent this year, the biggest single-year decline since the Great Depression, while the federal deficit balloons to a record $1.8 trillion."
Developing countries: new research resource
August 4 (TJN) A new website is now available called Raising Tax Revenues, with the support of TJN-Netherlands and partners. Hosted by the Development Policy Review Network, it contains a range of academic and other materials on the subject of taxation and international development -- a field which has been almost entirely neglected for a very long time.
On private information and social uselessness
August 3 (TJN) The Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has a useful article looking at things such as high-frequency trading. As he says, "If you aren’t outraged, you haven’t been paying attention" (we've noted a more colourful version of this here.)
Non-doms: Britain's integrity postponed
August 3 (TJN) Recently we expressed contentment that at least one thing seems to have been done right: an effort to curb abuse of Britain's democracy by political donors who are not domiciled in the country for tax purposes. Credit where credit is due, and all that.
Tax specialists - in indecent haste?
July 31 (TJN) We linked to this FT story a couple of days ago but now feel it's worth dwelling on.
Tax evaders confess
July 30 (TJN) From the Wall St. Journal: "Wealthy taxpayers have inundated the Internal Revenue Service in recent weeks with requests to come clean for past tax evasion, amid a government crackdown on undeclared income from overseas accounts.
TJN's congressional briefing and a bowl of jello
July 30 (TJN) Recently we blogged a forthcoming Congressional Briefing by Jack Blum and Sarah Lewis of TJN-USA, alongside Raymond Baker of Global Financial Integrity and Bob McIntyre of Citizens for Tax Justice. We now have the document from the Congressional Briefing entitled Tax Evasion and Incorporation Transparency: Show U.S. The Money.
In trusts we trust
Jul 22 (TJN) - This long blog offers a simplified primer on trusts, to help foster better understanding of how trusts are used to create secrecy, to evade or avoid tax, and to get around rules, laws and regulations.
TJN - USA in House briefing on US legislation
Jul 23 (TJN) – “Tax Evasion and Incorporation Transparency: Show U.S. the Money," a breakfast briefing on new legislation dealing with tax evasion and incorporation transparency. This will be held on July 24th 9:00-10:00am, at the Rayburn House Office Building, B-354, (U.S. House of Representatives).
Another day, another regulatory race
Jul 23 (TJN) – The offshore-steeped British Conservative Party have backed down from the kind of sensible reform that would see "casino" investment banking separated from "utility" real banking: the stuff that gives me a trustworthy place to park my savings, and reinvests it into real businesses. The reason? Regulatory competition.
More tax incentive folly
Jul 23 (TJN) - We recently remarked on the IMF's extremely belated finding (where have they been?) that tax incentives and lower corporation taxes offered by developing countries as enticements to foreign investors don't seem to promote growth. Now here's another issue to consider, from a paper from McGill University, looking at international tax issues.
More abuse in Jersey
Jul 23 (TJN) - Priests in Jersey seem to have a rather close relationship with the local financial services industry, even to the extent of quitting organisations which raise legitimate questions about the tax evasion industry, the appalling state of financial regulation - not just in Jersey but right the way across the world - and ignoring invitations to engage in open debate rather than (let's be blunt) abusing their positions of power.
Australia: America is a secrecy jurisdiction
Jul 23 (TJN) - We have long pointed to the fact that the United States is, to a very significant degree, a secrecy jurisdiction, not least through dirty practices offered in places such as Delaware. Now we're very heartened to see the Australian tax office has written an open submission on this matter to the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Interviews: tax evasion hurts the poor
Jul 23 (TJN) - If you're a French speaker or reader, you might be interested to see this interview that Switzerland's Le Temps newspaper has with TJN's director, John Christensen. It outlines the scale of the problems developing countries face from the offshore problem, and more besides.
Illicit flows: we finally reveal the official data
Jul 23 (TJN) – TJN finally reveals the contents of the recently published Global Development Finance: Illicit Flows Report, 2009, put together by the Brussels-based non-governmental organisation Eurodad.
Channel Islands - 1.8 voluntary information transfers per year
Jul 23 (TJN) - The fabulously irreverent but hard-hitting British political-satirical magazine Private Eye has just put in a most important Freedom of Information request to find out just how much information is being exchanged through woefully inadequate "on request" systems of information exchange between jurisdictions.
Fair-Trade Promises Hide the Reality of Tax Losses
Jul 24 (TJN) - Something sweet seems to be happening in otherwise bitter cocoa markets, as the Guardian tells us: Cadbury’s is going fair-trade; Mars is teaming up with the Rainforest Alliance; and Nestlé supports initiatives by two trade bodies: World Cocoa Foundation and the International Cocoa Initiative. So is cocoa all sweet now?
Jersey creates foundations
Jul 27 (TJN) - As if we hadn't identified enough dirt on Jersey, now they come up with this. Foundations.
Debt, equity and corporate welfare
Jul 28 (TJN) - Recently we blogged on the scandal of tax relief on corporate debt payments -- both the IMF waking up to the problem, and Richard Murphy's astute observations on this issue, in his blog "Rebuilding the bias to equity." Now we have Prem Sikka writing on the same issue. This is such an important article that we hope we will be forgiven for reproducing nearly all of it. The effects of this system are momentous. Read it all to see why this matters so much.
UBS Client Case Implicates Swiss Bankers, Official
Jul 28 (Reuters) - An American client of UBS pleaded guilty on Tuesday to using Swiss bank accounts to hide more than $8 million (4.8 million pounds) from U.S. tax authorities and said a Swiss government official received $45,000 to help cover up the fraud.
Regulatory arbitrage and the fool at the poker table
Jul 28 (TJN) - Eliot Spitzer, the former governor and Attorney-General of New York, came crashing down in flames after a scandal over prostitutes. Yet that doesn't invalidate what he has to say. Now take a look at this video of him on MSNBC, and what he had to say about it (scroll down to see it; his comments start at about 5:30).
Well done, The Guardian
Jul 28 (TJN) - The Guardian newspaper patted itself on the back yesterday for its expensive campaigning efforts on corporate tax. They are quite right to congratulate themselves – it hasn’t been easy.
Non-dom's bluff called
Jul 28 (TJN) - Last week Lord Swraj Paul of Marylebone, a non-domiciled UK resident who has been funding Britain's Labour party, threatened to stop bankrolling the party because of a government-backed bill that forbids party funding from people who do not pay tax on all income from abroad. Now we are delighted to report that, for once, the tax bullies have not got their way.
Secrecy havens: new US congressional report (+ French news)
Jul 28 (TJN) - The U.S. Congressional Research Service (CRS) has issued a detailed new report looking at secrecy jurisdictions (also sometimes known as tax havens). The report, which references our work in several places, is packed with data and useful material.
Tax Justice seminar in Dutch senate
July 20 (TJN) - A symposium on tax justice on June 17th in the Dutch
Senate. You can now see the presentations by video, here (click on
Verslagvideo, and scroll down. In English.)
TJN's 2008 accounts
July 20 (TJN) - We can now publish our 2008 audited accounts. If you're
bored by numbers, you might find the director's report of interest - it
outlines the main things that we've been up to. Two things may be worth
noting.
Friends Provident rejects tax dodging
July 20 (TJN) - British life insurance company Friends Provident is
doing something unusual in today’s business environment – not only has
it shunned moving offshore to a low tax jurisdiction, it’s insisting
that another company move onshore too before it’ll consider a merger.
Does Society Need Monsters?
July 19 (TJN) In May we remarked on "independent" reviews on the role
of the financial services centre in the heart of Britain's economy: the
epicentre of the corrupt global offshore phenomenon.
More on innovation
July 18 (TJN) A blog mini-review of a new book Traders, Guns and Money
looks interesting: the book (which we admitteldy haven't read) is
written by Satyajit Das, described in the blog as "a hard core
derivatives expert."
Scratch his back
July 17 (TJN) TJN doesn't usually get involved in subjects like US
healthcare reform - we tend to focus on the revenue side of the
picture, not on expenditure decisions.
Britain's industrial policy
July 16 (TJN) Last week Britain's Treasury issued a policy document on
reforming the financial markets. Though it contains many sensible
ideas, it is overall a horrible piece of work, summed up in this policy
objective noted in an article by Martin Wolf of the Financial Times.
European Investment Bank - in tax havens
July 16 (TJN) The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the EU’s house
bank, whose role in developing countries is increasing. Yet a new study
has just been published, showing that many projects and beneficiaries
funded by EIB money involve tax havens and transnational companies that
use them for tax purposes. It is entitled Flying in the face of
development: How European Investment Bank loans enable tax havens.
Channel islands operators encouraging dirty money
July 16 (TJN) From the Wall Street Journal:"Offshore financial centers
might be feeling the heat from Washington, Paris and Berlin but could
yet come out of the financial turmoil with a new ally - the wealthy
from emerging markets."
Time to bury the Oxford report
July 16 (TJN) On several occasions we have written about a report
produced by the Oxford Centre for Business Taxation, which is critical
of estimates of illicit flows and other offshore-related phenomena
published by TJN and its colleagues.
Debt versus equity and the scandal of deductions
July 15 (TJN) Recently we pointed to the IMF waking up to the idea that
distortions in international taxation might be, to use the IMF's ugly
term, "macro-relevant" in terms of the economic crisis. In other words,
these have huge systemic effects.
BAB time for bankers:
July 15 (TJN) "Pay at Goldman Sachs this year is set to beat the boom
levels enjoyed before the financial crisis, when top executives raked
in tens of millions of dollars in year-end bonuses." We thought this
cartoon might be appropriate at a time like this. PS: BAB = Bonuses Are
Back!
Wall Street Journal: Offshore Tax Evaders Deserve No Sympathy
July 15 (TJN) Articles in the media criticising the mess that secrecy
jurisdictions have made of this world are now commonplace. The Wall
Street Journal has often taken an editorial line in support of secrecy
(though some of its journalists, we have to say, have been excellent in
exposing abuses too). We are therefore refreshed to see a comment piece
on its pages, entitled Offshore Tax Evaders Deserve No Sympathy
Is France soft on its own little tax haven?
July 14 (TJN) There is often a symbiotic relationship between small
secrecy jurisdictions (or tax havens, if you must) and wealthy élites
in larger economies. Germany is surrounded by Switzerland,
Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Austria; Portugal has Madeira; the United
States has a string of options in the Caribbean; and Britain has cast a
whole spider's web around the world, not least in the Channel Islands
and the Caribbean. Monaco, of course, is France's special secrecy
jurisdiction.
The OECD thinks Luxembourg is clean. Pull the other one
July 13 (TJN) Luxembourg, it seems from news reports, has graduated
from the OECD's grey list, onto its white list. So the OECD has, in
effect, declared Luxembourg to be clean. If this is the OECD's idea of
a joke, it is in exceedingly poor taste. (If you are still wondering
why we disagree with the OECD, you might start here and read our recipe
for a better way forward here.)
Citizens for Tax Justice proposal mulled
July 13 (TJN) We recently linked to proposals from our friends at
Citizens for Tax Justice in the United States on how to pay for
Medicare reform - arguably President Barack Obama's biggest domestic
project in the long term. It might cost a trillion dollars, some
analysts reckon.
England and Wales: a sedition law for millionaires
July 13 (TJN) A year ago we blogged on Britain's international
hooliganism in the field of libel, noting this remark from a well-known
columnist, quoting this:
Netherlands: group interest box
July 13 (TJN) From our friends at Tax Justice Netherlands: Following
our June 16 blog Fiscal fireworks: Dutch announce a 5% rate, we now
offer an unofficial, unauthorised translation of a proposed change to
the Dutch corporate income tax regulations (it is here.)
IMF: Lower corporation taxes and tax holidays may not boost growth
July 9 (TJN) The IMF has issued a new working paper entitled
Empirical Evidence on the Effects of Tax Incentives which reaches some
conclusions that are contrary to what the IMF so often teaches. And it
seems to be an important one, for as the study says...
Tax Justice in History: The Peasant's Revolt
July 12 (TJN) In the summer of 1381 England was riven by grassroots
revolt. London was invaded and the Tower of London, previously thought
impregnable, was over-run by rioters. Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of
Canterbury and foremost prelate in the land, was beheaded outside the
Tower. One in an occasional series.
IMF: Lower corporation taxes and tax holidays may not boost growth
July 9 (TJN) The IMF has issued a new working paper entitled
Empirical Evidence on the Effects of Tax Incentives which reaches some
conclusions that are contrary to what the IMF so often teaches. And it
seems to be an important one, for as the study says...
Tax Justice in History: The Peasant's Revolt
July 12 (TJN) In the summer of 1381 England was riven by grassroots
revolt. London was invaded and the Tower of London, previously thought
impregnable, was over-run by rioters. Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of
Canterbury and foremost prelate in the land, was beheaded outside the
Tower. One in an occasional series.
The OECD says Luxembourg is clean. Pull the other one
July 13 (TJN) - Luxembourg, it seems from news reports, has
graduated from the OECD's grey list, onto its white list. So the OECD
has, in effect, declared Luxembourg to be clean. If this is the OECD's
idea of a joke, it is in exceedingly poor taste.
England and Wales: a sedition law for millionaires
July 13 (TJN) - "The Commons select committee on culture, media and
sport is due in a few weeks to publish its report on "press standards,
privacy and libel" – note the order. They will be tempted to use the
latest scandal to do the opposite of what they should. Instead of
loosening libel, they are likely to harden rules on privacy."
Citizens for Tax Justice proposal mulled
July 13 (TJN) - 'If the only income Paris Hilton gets is capital
gains, stock dividends, interest and other types of investment income,
currently she is completely exempt from the one big tax we have right
now that is dedicated to health care,” Wamhoff said. “We’re saying that
probably doesn’t make sense.'"
Netherlands: group interest box
July 13 (TJN) Following our June 16 blog Fiscal fireworks: Dutch
announce a 5% rate, we now offer an unofficial, unauthorised
translation of a proposed change to the Dutch corporate income tax
regulations (it is here.)
Paying Taxes is Public in Finland
July 11 (TJN) The Nordic countries have peculiar tax practices –
not only do we pay taxes but we do so as a public matter. Every year
around October-November the tax administration publishes a publicly
available (though pay-per view at 0.36 cents per line) list of
taxpayers income and capital gains taxes, for the previous tax year. As
the wealth tax was abolished in 2006, wealth no longer is public.
Switzerland thumbs its nose
July 9 (TJN) Recently we asked whether the United States was at war
with Switzerland. The New York Times reports the latest salvo from
Switzerland:
G8 communiqué: what it says on tax
July 9 (TJN) The text of the final G8 communiqué in Italy has this on tax
Ditch your confidentiality law, Cayman Islands
July 9 (TJN) We have long been treated to the sight and sound of
those in positions of authority in the Cayman Islands claiming that
they are not a tax haven (well, they are all at it, aren't they?) - but
saner voices do sometimes emerge.
Tunisia: on the crisis, secrecy and discredited accounting practices
July 8 (TJN) I have just returned from a fascinating conference in
Tunisia. The theme of this event was the current crisis, which is
rapidly deepening in developing countries as remittances, investment,
export demand and other sources of revenue dry up.
An Austrian coin trick
July 8 (TJN) Here's a little story from Spiegel online: "The object
of desire is 37 millimetres in diameter and made of .999 fine silver.
On one side, the coin shows an organ, its country of origin ("The
Republic of Austria") and its face value: €1.50 ($2.12)."
But all is not as it seems.
12 is not enough!
July 8 (TJN) "I blogged the UK / French Summit comments on tax
havens earlier today and mentioned the problems of the ‘international
standard’ for tax havens / secrecy jurisdictions being just 12 Tax
Information Exchange Agreements.
Sarkozy and Lula: Alliance for Change
July 7 (TJN) Nicolas Sarkozy and Luis Inácio Lula da Silva,
presidents of France and Brazil respectively, have published an
editorial in the New York Times ahead of the G8 summit meeting in Italy
(in which the Italian hosts may have rather let themselves down)
entitled Alliance for Change.
Absence of data implies a need for more transparency
July 7 (TJN) In the FT today: today: Sir, As organisations working
on the issue of illicit capital flows out of developing countries, and
including authors of many of the papers reviewed by the Oxford
University Centre for Business Taxation (“Treasury in drive to extend
global tax clamp”, June 22), we write to express our disquiet about the
centre’s conclusions.
TJN event in London Westminster, July 14th
July 7 (TJN) TJN's John Christensen will be speaking at an event in
London entitled “Our Taxes, our Lives” on the evening of July 14th,
hosted by British Member of Parliament John McDonnell.
McIntyre on combined reporting
July 6 (TJN) - As we recently noted, TJN is just launching a
project on Transfer Pricing - one of the great (largely unprobed)
issues of our age - and we are inviting other organisations to join us
in our research. We have promised to issue a series of materials on
this subject, and in this spirit this blog contains an impressive piece
of work on the subject by law professor Michael J. McIntyre.
Absence of data implies a need for more transparency
July 7 (FT) - In the FT today: "From Mr John Christensen and others.
Sir, As organisations working on the issue of illicit capital flows out
of developing countries, and including authors of many of the papers
reviewed by the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation
(“Treasury in drive to extend global tax clamp”, June 22), we write to
express our disquiet about the centre’s conclusions.
TJN event in London Westminster, July 14th
July 7 (TJN) - TJN's John Christensen will be speaking at an event
in London entitled “Our Taxes, our Lives” on the evening of July 14th,
hosted by British Member of Parliament John McDonnell.
We are not a tax haven - they are
Jul 6 (TJN) - A curious characteristic of tax havens (or secrecy
jurisdictions as we usually like to call them) - they do like to deny
being tax havens. How about the territories repeatedly fingered as
secrecy jurisdictions come up with their own definition of what a
secrecy jurisdiction is – and why they are not one.
The non-perils of information exchange
Jul 6 (TJN) – A selection of issues that came up in response to the “leakage” argument for non-exchange of information.
Tracking banks' secrets
Jul 2 (TJN) - A group of organisations has put together a new
website that examines links between banks and blacklisted companies
supporting dictators, causing irreversible environmental damage or
producing indiscriminate weaponry, such as cluster munitions, The
thirteen researched banks together invest 39.6 billion euros in 14 such
companies and projects.
Journalist under threat
Jul 2 (TJN) - TJN and some of our partners in France have just
issued a statement expressing great concern about a Cameroonian
journalist, Jean Bosco Talla, who is being harrassed and intimidated as
a result of his work in publicising a huge and detailed report
outlining the scale of dictators' and élites' assets in a wide number
of countries around the world, including in Cameroon.
Short cuts in Jersey
Jul 2 (TJN) - From the latest edition of the London Review of
Books, an article that begins:" There was an awfully genteel protest
organised by the Tax Justice Network in Jersey earlier this year." The
article isn't that long, and it's very nicely written - go and read it!
In Search of Pro-Poor Taxation in Bangladesh
Jul 2 (TJN) - Tax Justice Network in partnership with Action Aid
Bangladesh organised a workshop in Dhaka on the 23rd June titled
“Understanding Tax Dynamics: Issues and Perspectives”. Going to
Bangladesh gave TJN the opportunity to familiarise with tax issues in
Bangladesh, and approach the issue of tax justice form the perspective
of one of the most unequal countries on earth.
Tour de France (et des paradis fiscaux)
Jul 2 (TJN) - Coming shortly after last April's G-20 Summit, which
called for an end to secrecy jurisdictions, the 2009 Tour de France
gets under way in Monaco tomorrow, passing via Andorra before heading
on to Switzerland. Given this opportunity just a few days before the
G-8 meeting in Italy, a group of organisations will be carrying out a
series of symbolic actions to remind the public that the problem of
secrecy jurisdictions remains largely unresolved.
Capitalism's dirty secret
Jul 2 (TJN) - Just why is there so much debt in the Anglo-Saxon
world? writes Ben Funnell, an asset manager. "The answer is
capitalism’s dirty little secret: excessive lending was the only way to
maintain the living standards of the vast bulk of the population at a
time when wealth was being concentrated in the hands of an elite."
The bomb-thrower's crystal ball
Jul 2 (TJN) - The bomb-throwing Dutch FT columnist Willem Buiter
accurately predicted the 2008 financial crisis in 2000. With that in
mind, be reminded of another of his headlines: Blockade the Tax Havens.
Helsinki calls for financial transparency
July 1 (TJN) The city of Helsinki, known for its global leadership
in matters of peace and security in convening the Organisation for
Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) in 1975 that by signing the
Helsinki Declaration helped to put an end to the Cold War (having the
Eastern Block sign up to human rights), has now looked into yet another
peace and security threat in the form of secrecy jurisdictions. Times
certainly are 'a changin'!
The fairness of inheritance tax
July 1 (TJN) Winston Churchill warmed to its qualities as "a certain corrective against the development of a race of idle rich."
TJN's new transfer pricing project
June 30 (TJN) The Tax Justice Network is launching a new project on transfer pricing and mispricing.
CDC: going offshore to help the poor?
June 30 (TJN) In 1948, under the premiership of Clement Atlee, the
British Government created CDC (the Colonial Development Corporation).
Being pretty much what it said on the tin, CDC's initial mandate was to
strengthen the economies of the former UK colonies by providing finance
for businesses.
Country by Country reporting: new Task Force report
July 1 (TJN) For those who missed it last week (apologies for the
delay) the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development
has published a new report on country-by-country reporting.
Is the United States at war with Switzerland?
June 30 (TJN) Three recent articles highlight the hostilities that
have broken out between Switzerland and other countries, not least the
United States. For the record, we're firmly on the Americans' side on
this one.
Shadowing the G-8
June 29 (TJN) How the mighty are fallen. G-7 was once the colossus
that ruled the world. When Russians bigged-up on oil and gas wealth
they were invited to the table.
Swiss bank secrecy - and Guantanamo
June 29 (TJN) Martin Sullivan at Tax Analysts has pointed out
critical factors impacting the political will to pursue, or to drop,
the US Department of Justice case against UBS.
Luxembourg refered to European Court of Justice
June 29 (TJN) The European Commission has decided to refer
Luxembourg to the European Court of Justice over its incorrect
application of certain provisions of the Savings Tax Directive as
regards interest payments made to beneficial owners who benefit from
so-called "non-domiciled resident" status in their country of residence.
Parliamentarians should declare offshore interests
June 29 (TJN) Here's an interesting new idea from Dan Hind, who
makes the rather subversive suggestion that elected representatives
should declare any interests in offshore holdings.
Letter from the UN in New York
June 27 (TJN) Christian Aid's Dr David McNair attended last week's
United Nations summit meeting on responding to the global crisis. Here
is his letter from New York
Ghana loses millions in uncollected taxes
June 23 (TJN) - a new Tax Justice Ghana Report, produced together
with ISODEC, focuses on the ways in which the tax system and revenue
collection are the biggest missing piece in national poverty
eradication programmes.
UN conference wording gets mugged
June 23 (TJN) _ The United Nations is convening a three-day summit
of world leaders from June 24-26 in New York to assess the global
economic crisis. We've been privy to a couple of snapshots of the
suggested wordings of the outcome document. An earlier version, which
we very much liked, appears to have been mugged along the way.
Symposium on Tax Justice in Dutch Senate
June 23 (TJN) - This week the Standing Committee on Finance of the
Dutch Senate organised a Symposium on Tax Justice, aiming to create an
opportunity to discuss and evaluate tax practice in the Netherlands
from different perspectives and in an international context.
Congitive regulatory capture breaking out again?
June 23 (TJN) - "The chairman of the Financial Services Authority
also claimed there were signs that some countries were losing their
zeal for radical regulatory reform. ”There’s a real danger we don’t
seize the opportunities of this crisis,” he told the Commons treasury
committee."
French government makes French banks open up
June 22 (TJN) This just in from Tax-news.com: "The French
government is introducing a new measure requiring all French banks to
disclose information regarding their links to tax havens."
Country by Country reporting: new Task Force report
June 22 (TJN), “For those who missed it last week (apologies for
the delay) the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic
Development has published a new report on country-by-country reporting.
Available for free download, the report details a new system of
accounting for multinational corporations (MNCs) designed to increase
transparency and curtail tax evasion.”
Fiscal Fireworks: Dutch Announce a 5% Tax Rate
June 16 (TJN), "In February, we blogged about preparations by the
Dutch government to change the way it taxes income from international
financing operations of multinationals. Yesterday, the government
published its proposals, which include a 5% effective tax rate on
interest income."
Cayman has signed a double tax treaty with the UK
June 15 (Tax Research), "Signed today – and slipped out on HMRC’s
web site without a press release (I wonder why?) is a double tax
agreement (yes, I mean that – a DTA, not a Tax Information Exchange
Agreement) with the Cayman islands."
Tax havens and development: a damning report
June 19 (TJN) Times are a'changing, however, and the new report
issuing from the Norwegian Commission on Capital Flight From Developing
Countries is a sign that the more progressive governments are taking
this issue very seriously indeed.
Stop the reverse finger pointing!
June 19 (TJN), “The Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement
Bill was originally introduced during the previous Administration, at
the time co-sponsored by the then Senator Barack Obama.
Tax havens: macro-relevant?
June 18 (TJN), "Tax distortions are likely to have encouraged
excessive leveraging and other financial market problems evident in the
crisis." These are the opening words of the executive summary of the
IMF's new report on Debt Bias and Other Distortions: Crisis-Related
Issues in Tax Policy, published earlier this week. "These effects" the
summary continues "have been little explored, but are potentially
macro-relevant."
Wilmington, Delaware, receives unwelcome attention
June 18 (TJN), "Tax havens aren't what they used to be. Graham
Greene famously coined the phrase "sunny places for shady people", but
images of islands in the sun are quickly receding as more and more of
these secrecy jurisdictions come under the spotlight."
Obama administration pushes for automatic information exchange
June 17 (TJN), "Our senior adviser David Spencer, based in New
York, has just submitted the following, which links back to our earlier
blog about the Obama administration's wider plans to tackle tax
evasion."
Beyond the London Summit
June 17 (TJN), "The Put People First alliance, of which we are an
active member, has issued a report on the steps required in response to
the current economic crisis."
Brazil cuts to the chase on tax havens
June 12 (TJN) Brazil is developing some useful new legislation
related to transansactions with tax havens. Will other countries take
note?
Another flat tax bites the dust
June 11 (TJN) News from Latvia: "Latvian Prime Minister Valdis
Dombrovskis announced Tuesday that his government would ditch the
country's flat-rate tax system in favour of a form of progressive tax."
Good riddance.
Alfred Hitchcock and Tricky Tax
June 10 (TJN) We have just been sent a most useful document: a
really clear explanation of two highly important tax issues: transfer
pricing and outward domestication. It's called Tricky Tax: Two Tax
Avoidance Schemes Explained. The author has sent us these words to
accompany it.
Confessions of the London regulator
June 10 (TJN) This just in, from the Financial Times. "The City
regulator will put less emphasis on maintaining London’s
competitiveness in relation to other financial centres, its head said
on Tuesday, in a striking acknowledgement that the approach had
undermined the stability of the financial system.
Richard Murphy speaks to HMRC
June 10 (TJN) A few snippets are worth bringing out from a speech
yesterday to a HMRC (UK Revenue and Customs) conference on tax and
corporate transparency, by our Senior Adviser Richard Murphy. A few
extracts are worth noting.
Another Step Towards Unitary Taxation?
June 10 (TJN) TJN supports unitary taxation with formula
apportionment of the income of transnational corporations (TNCs), as
outlined in our Action Programme `Ending the Offshore Secrecy System'
and our submission to UK Revenue and Customs in 2007.
Libya, Iran, Kazakhstan: direct distribution mulled
June 9 (TJN) Oraz Jandosov, a former Prime Minister of Kazakhstan,
has recently responded to a comment article in the Financial Times
(co-authored by a TJN blogger) by about a radical proposal to
distribute the proceds of oil extraction to all of a country's citizens.
Libya, Iran, Kazakhstan: direct distribution mulled
Jun 9 (TJN) - Oraz Jandosov, a former Prime Minister of Kazakhstan,
has recently responded to a comment article in the Financial Times
(co-authored by a TJN blogger) by about a radical proposal to
distribute the proceds of oil extraction to all of a country's
citizens.
Challenge to the European Investment Bank
June 9 (TJN) The Tax Justice Network, in partnership with Eurodad,
Friends of the Earth Europe and Counter Balance, are protesting in
front of the EU Council about the activities of the European Investment
Bank in tax havens.
Switzerland: companies in one tax haven seek other tax havens
June 5 (TJN) Recently we have highlighted separate reports, one by the US General Accountability Office (GAO) looking at US companies, and subsequently by TJN looking at companies in the UK, the Netherlands and France, which looked at where these companies had their tax haven subsidiaries.
UK Treasury may scrap anti-tax-avoidance measure
June 5 (TJN) Thanks to our colleague Paul Sagar, who first raised the alarm on this, an important story has appeared in The Guardian.
New evidence on Bush's tax amnesty
June 5 (TJN) "It was called the “Homeland Investment Act,” and was sold to Congress as a way to spur investment in America, building plants, increasing research and development and creating jobs. It gave international companies a large one-time tax break on overseas profits, but only if the money was used for specified investments in the United States."
Paxman asks where Ashcroft is resident for tax
June 4 (TJN) This is fabulous. There have long been questions over the tax status of Lord Ashcroft, one of Britain's most well-known offshore operators and the Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, about whether he is resident of the UK for tax purposes. This is about Britain's notorious domicile rule.
Christian Aid's Alternative Tax Awards on Youtube
June 4 (TJN) We recently remarked on Christian Aid's Alternative Tax Awards. Now you can see it on YouTube.
British aid joins up its thinking
June 4 (TJN) The UK's parliament has produced a new report entitled Aid Under Pressure: Support for Development Assistance in a Global Economic Downturn.
Country by Country reporting in Financial Times, New York Times
June 2 (TJN) The New York Times has a good editorial today which looks at recent work by Global Witness. A longer piece focusing on country-by-country reporting is in the FT.
OECD Forum in Paris - helping taxpayers fight abuse?
June 2 (TJN) The OECD forum on tax administration met in Paris on May 28-29. As happened last time in Cape Town, some pleasing results have emerged. And we had a colleague who attended the press conference, which produced some interesting results.
Conclusions from EU / Latin America Caribbean Forum in Montevideo
June 1 (TJN) Last month we blogged on the recent expert forum in Montevideo, Uruguay on the challenges of fiscal policy in response to the deepening crisis in the LAC (Latin American and Caribbean) region. We now have a copy of the concluding messages from this forum, and draw your attention to the following issues which, amongst others, our Director John Christensen raised at the forum:
Bernard Kouchner Calls for Currency Transaction Tax
June 1 (TJN) The French foreign minister surprised his audience, and not least the British, in the annual meeting of the Leading Group on Innovative Finance for Development, by proposing to implement the Currency Transaction Tax (CTT).
Britain's skewed middle
June 1 (TJN) - The Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Britain published a detailed pamphlet last week looking at the British middle classes, and find that the media has been living under something of an illusion - the middle classes appear to have been doing better than they actually have been.
Briefing paper: Tax Information Exchange Agreements
June 1 (TJN) Following a draft briefing paper last month, and a series of blogs about the relative merits of automatic exchange of tax information between jurisdictions, versus the far weaker "on request" exchange of information, we now publish our briefing paper on the subject.
OECD Forum in Paris - helping taxpayers fight abuse?
June 1 (TJN) - The OECD forum on tax administration met in Paris on May 28-29. We’ve criticised the OECD much recently – but we are very pleased at what has emerged in this Forum.
Britain's skewed middle
June 1 (TJN) The Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Britain published a detailed pamphlet last week looking at the British middle classes, and find that the media has been living under something of an illusion - the middle classes appear to have been doing better than they actually have been.
The Netherlands as a tax haven - a misunderstanding?
May 25 (TJN) – A White House press briefing fingered the Netherlands as a tax haven. The next day, after lobbying, the sentence was removed, and the Dutch embassy said it was a “misunderstanding.” SOMO went to see whether it really was a misunderstanding.
Netherlands wants more automatic information exchange
Another indication of more actors keen to push forwards with multilateral and automatic exchange of information.
Britain's Conservative Party sets out its stall
June 1 (TJN) We have long lamented the fact that Britain's Labour Party has been captured by interests in Britain's financial and offshore sectors, and that they have failed to crack down where it is needed. Britain's Conservative party, however, are more vociferous and constant supporters of the offshore system.
European Investment Bank and tax havens
May 25 (TJN) - Step forward the European Investment Bank, the "house bank" of the European Union, which our colleagues at Counter Balance finds has been structuring major investment programmes in developing countries via offshore companies registered in tax havens.
Netherlands wants more automatic information exchange
May 25 (TJN) - The Dutch Deputy Finance Minister, Jan Kees de Jager, has said in a letter to parliament that, unofficially translated, says: "The Netherlands would like to go a step further in the relationship with these countries, and make agreements on the automatic exchange of information.
The Netherlands as a tax haven - a misunderstanding?
May 25 (TJN) - First the White House called the Netherlands a tax haven, then the Dutch embassy in Washington did some lobbying, then the text mysteriously disappeared. It was claimed to be a “misunderstanding.” Digging by our partners at SOMO found otherwise.
French banks seek tax haven crackdown?
May (TJN) We recently published detailed research surveying European companies' presence in tax havens, finding that the biggest user of tax havens in every country surveyed was a bank. And we recently noted all sorts of financial dirty dealings in France, involving the banking system. Now for something completely different.
Global Witness testifies in US Congress
May (TJN) While our bloggers were away, the path-breaking non-governmental organisation Global Witness has been busy testifying to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee. As their press release says: "Some of the world’s major banks, including Barclays and Citibank, have been facilitating corruption and undermining development in some of the worst-governed countries in the world."
Winners Of New ‘Alternative Tax Awards’ Revealed
May (TJN) Christian Aid today (Thursday 21 May) announces the winners of its new Alternative Tax Awards. Categories include Tax Haven Enthusiast of the Year, Low Tax Rate Achievement and Most Surprising Use of Tax Havens.
FT forum: Does aid work?
May (TJN) From the Financial Times: “The notion that aid can alleviate systemic poverty, and has done so, is a myth. Millions in Africa are poorer today because of aid; misery and poverty have not ended but have increased.” Thus writes Dambisa Moyo, a brilliant former Goldman Sachs economist, of Zambian origin.
CTJ on US healthcare reform options
May (TJN) Citizens for Tax Justice in the US have produced a detailed analysis of options for paying for healthcare reform. "After propping up major corporations and their CEOs and shareholders, Congress might find it reasonable to make the following deal. Main Street is paying to make Wall Street healthy. Wall Street, when it is healthy, will return the favor."
Exchange of information: the Yossarian approach
May (TJN) From Paul Sagar's Bad Conscience blog: "I recently had direct experience of trying to break this circular logic when I met some representatives of a prominent Offshore Financial Centre, which I would certainly class as a secrecy jurisdiction. I asked them to prove that they weren’t committed to banking secrecy by detailing how many pieces of information they had exchanged with other nations. I asked when their company accounts would be open to audit by being placed on public register. I wanted to know when the Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) they claimed to have signed were actually coming into force.
Challenging times for Christians in Jersey
May (TJN) There is something rotten in the higher strands of the Christian community in Jersey. Last Autumn this blogger commented about the behaviour of the Dean of Jersey. Before posting the blog I discussed our concerns with Mr Keys who, instead of engaging in discussion, lost his temper, swore and put the phone down. He subsequently called back, apologised and, in the spirit of reconciliation, agreed to meet me next I came to Jersey.
Cayman doesn't make the cut
May (TJN) This from Cayman News Service, following our blog about the OECD considering whether to strike them off their grey list.
No taxation without celebration
May (TJN) This from MarketWatch, not known for these kinds of views on taxes: "Northern Europeans are the happiest people on the planet, according to a new survey. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says people in Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands are the most content with their lives. The three ranked first, second and third, respectively, in the OECD's rankings of "life satisfaction," or happiness.
Cayman's unilateral mechanism
May (TJN) We have been aware for some time that Cayman has a "unilateral mechanism" for information exchange, that is neither "on-request", "automatic", or "spontaneous" (see our draft briefing paper for more details, which we'll be updating before too long.)
Task Force on Financial Integrity & Economic Development
May (TJN) Its website has just gone live. As it notes: "The Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development is a unique global coalition of civil society organizations and more than 50 governments working together to address inequalities in the financial system that penalize billions of people. Launched by Global Financial Integrity in January 2009, the Task Force advocates for greatly improved transparency and accountability in the global financial system.
India seeks offshore tax information
May (TJN) From TaxAnalysts' Worldwide Tax Daily: "CBDT Chair S.S.N. Moorthy acknowledged that notices have been sent to individuals whose names were on a list provided by Germany, including some prominent businessmen and industrialists. "Whatever action can be taken under law will follow," he said."
OECD to look at Cayman
May (TJN) Following our publication of the startling Cayman letter, we note that Cayman Net News is reporting that, "The Cayman Islands is on the agenda at today’s (Thursday, 14 May) closing session of an Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) committee meeting, which will decide whether to allow Cayman off the international financial-services “grey list”.
Letter from the Cayman Isles
May (TJN) An internal letter has come into our possession, from the Cayman Islands. It suggests that the OECD's list has caused considerable alarm there. It was originally reported in Cayman news wires, but not in full. We now reproduce the startling letter in full, transcribed from the original hard copy.
Tina was wrong: globalisation without tax havens
May (TJN) The Friedrich Ebbert Stiftung has published another in its occasional papers on globalisation. Re-defining the Global Economy (paper No.42, 2009) comprises views on how a globalised economy could be shaped to produce alternative outcomes with a stronger bias in favour of social justice and democracy (and non-militarism).
And tomorrow children, we'll set up a Panamanian tax shelter
May (TJN) For those who think that setting up an offshore tax shelter is a complex and covert process, Jessica, a sophomore college student and intern at Global Trade Watch, called up a Panamanian company formation agent to show just how farcically easy it is for tax dodgers to get underway.
Foreign Policy: Africa's missing billions
May (TJN) Khadija Sharife, whom we've just taken on to help us with some research, has an article in the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine in the US. This is most welcome, not least because they have been resistant to tackling this issue for some time.Take a look!
Avi Yonah on US tax cheating
May (TJN) Guest blogger: Prof. Sol Picciotto, TJN Senior Adviser: 'Reuven Avi-Yonah, who is probably the leading US tax academic, has an article in the current issue of Tax Notes International called “Obama's International Tax Plan a Major Step Forward.” It's a little surprising he is so optimistic, because the Obama proposals (presumably originating from Larry Summers) aim to strengthen residence taxation of multinational enterprises (MNEs), while Avi-Yonah favours source taxation.'
Carl Levin on automatic exchange of information
May (TJN) We have been banging on about automatic exchange of information for some time. We've just spotted this from US Senator Carl Levin, from last week
Fox conducts new review of henhouse safety
May (TJN) Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman is on form again in the New York Times, reminding us of scary problems still out there:
"It’s my sense that the prospects for fundamental financial reform are fading.
Swiss tax competition in full swing
May (TJN) Tax competition isn't only a problem between countries; it can be a problem within countries. Switzerland is no exception: its cantons indulge in a race to the bottom with each other as they steadily lower standards and taxes to attract the wealthy away from each other.
A willing taxpayer in The Office
The British comedian Ricky Gervais has made a fortune from The Office, the smash hit comedy he created."Tax exiles are “unsavoury”, he says. He welcomes the educational and health benefits his family enjoyed: “I like paying tax. If it wasn’t for the welfare state I wouldn’t be where I am today.” Well said.
Isle of Man considers automatic exchange of information
The Isle of Man, one of Britain's Crown Dependencies, is considering whether to adopt automatic exchange of information, a move that TJN would greatly welcome, if it is done right. As IOM Today reports:
French investigating magistrate to probe African leaders
May (TJN) A story in French media has gained little attention in the English-language press: the fact that a French investigating magistrate, Françoise Desset, has agreed to allow investigation of a case brought in December by human rights lawyer William Bourdon, involving the alleged possession by three oil-rich Francophone west African leaders.
Argentina may take new action against tax havens
May (TJN) Argentina's Pagina 12 newspaper is carrying a story suggesting that the government is about to get tough on tax havens. Its subtitle says "In the next few days the government will issue a resolution which prohibits operations in tax havens."
Event on June 9: Tax Havens in Crisis
May (TJN) An event is to be held in Berlin, with TJN participation, on June 9: Tax Havens in Crisis: Transparency and New Rules for Tax and Regulatory Havens
Questions for Britain's Conservative Party
May (TJN) Prem Sikka has some interesting questions today in The Guardian newspaper, directed at Britain's Conservative Party, long an enthusiastic cheerleader for secrecy jurisdictions, tax and regulatory "competition" and the offshore world.
Automatic information exchange can work
May (TJN) We recently wrote critically about the OECD for suggesting that developing countries couldn't possibly handle automatic information exchange. Richard Murphy has added useful insights here. TJN's Senior Adviser David Spencer has more to add.
Citizens for Tax Justice analyse Obama's tax deferral plan
May (TJN) Citizens for Tax Justice in the US provides a high-quality platform for clear and concise analysis of topical tax issues. Their latest analysis, Obama’s Proposals to Address Offshore Tax Abuses Are a Good Start, but More Is Needed, is no exception
We need a global tax plan
May (TJN) Another very excellent article in the Guardian, this time by David McNair, Senior Economic Justice Adviser at Christian Aid. It rightly notes that President Barack Obama's much publicised tax measures are, while welcome, addressing just one part of a much bigger global picture.
On chums regulating chums
May (Tax Research) TJN's Senior Adviser Richard Murphy is writing in the Guardian today, looking at the similarities between a current scandal in Britain over parliamentarians' expenses, and what happens in tax havens. In a nutshell: "the system for MPs' expenses was, in effect, identical to that which exists in tax havens. There are rule books in those places that look tough, but to which little attention is given and where all but the most blatant abuse is ignored.
UN draft outcome document on economic crisis
May (TJN) The United Nations has published its draft outcome document of the UN Conference on the Financial Crisis from 1-3 June. Its purpose was to take a broader perspective than the G20 meeting, bringing in a panel of global experts to advise on the big picture. The resulting group chaired by Joseph Stiglitz produced a report that adopted a number of recommendations submitted by TJN. The key paragraph is:
Good times are over for the Celtic Tiger
May (TJN) The signs were there for all to see. The massive commercial property speculation. The rising house prices index. The astonishing levels of personal and commercial debt. The sheer hubris of a government that thought it could defy economic gravity.
General Anti-Avoidance Principle to be proposed in UK parliament
May (TJN) Michael Meacher MP, working with TJN's Richard Murphy, has tabled an anti-avoidance measure in the British parliament.
Lies, damned lies and tax haven nonsense
May (TJN) Something pernicious is going on in the undergrowth. British tax havens are trying to establish clear blue water between their activities and those of their commercial rivals in Austria, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
Spot the difference
May (TJN) Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Barack Obama have both committed through the G-20 process to tackling tax avoidance and evasion. But which one is the more serious about taking practical steps in this direction?
Financial Times: How tax havens helped to conjure up the current crisis
May (TJN) Tax Justice Network has argued for years that the faults in the international tax system cause significant market distortions at micro and macro levels. Tax havens, in particular, divert investment and trade flows as capital seeks opportunities for tax and regulatory arbitrage. The Financial Times has published an opinion piece by Professor Sol Picciotto, senior adviser to TJN, in which he explains how tax havens have contributed to the current crisis.
Letter to the Jersey Evening Post
May (TJN) The following letter has been published in the Jersey Evening Post. Signed by organisations and coalitions representing the majority of development NGOs in Europe, it sets out the background to the events in Jersey in mid-March, and invites the Jersey public to engage constructively in a dialogue to remedy the problems caused to the world's poorest by the activities of tax havens.
Time to tackle the offshore trusts
May (TJN) A fascinating debate on tax avoidance and evasion took place in Westminster yesterday, at the request of David Taylor MP (North-West Leicestershire). You can find the transcript here. And you will find a link to Paul Sagar (TJN's man on the spot) here.
How information exchange agreements may restrict access to information
May (TJN) The Swiss government has made an intervention in the case in Florida, in which the US Internal Revenue Service has asked Swiss Bank UBS to divulge details of bank accounts of US citizens suspected of tax evasion. According to press reports (e.g. by Reuters) the Swiss government says that the US court should not order UBS to divulge this information because such an order would violate Swiss sovereignty and international law.
Obama's plans for curbing tax havens
May (TJN) Press Release - Full Text: Curbing Tax Havens: White House press release on removing tax incentives for shifting jobs overseas.
Obama: Common sense, fairness and corporate nonsense
May (TJN) For several weeks the sceptics have been clucking about Obama's commitment to tackling corporate tax scams and the tax havens. "The corporate lobbies will stand in the way of any meaningful measures", has been the standard riposte from too many doubting-Thomases. Well now he has taken tentative steps, see below, and we are delighted at the tone of the remarks he made to the White House briefing on Monday.
Just say No to the Swiss president
May (TJN) Will Rogers once quipped that income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has. We now know that Switzerland played a major part in this process.
UBS case: Switzerland outlines its position
May (TJN) 'Switzerland's official position on the UBS case has been published this morning on the official website. It seems to be playing hardball.'
The IMF and the Tax Consensus - new evidence
May (TJN) A major new report on the IMF's tax policies has just emerged from Christian Aid, looking into the IMF's tax policies.
Illicit flows: the OECD's swaggering myopia
May (TJN) The OECD has now responded to Raymond Baker's excellent comment article in the Financial Times, with a swaggering letter seeming to add little to the debate other than to question his impertinence (though not his data).
Bankers, still Beltway royalty
May (TJN) From the Huffington Post: "You heard me right. America's bankers -- those wonderful folks who brought us the economic meltdown -- are still being treated as Beltway royalty by those in Congress."
On tax, wealth and waste
April (TJN) From a letter in the Financial Times, entitled Don’t tell me the private sector hasn’t wasted my money. TJN doesn't generally take positions on tax rates like this, but this letter is worth reproducing in full:
TJN writes to the G20
April (TJN) 'The following letter has gone by post to the members of the G20 working group number two - the group working on secrecy jurisdictions - and to the list of members of the working group working on the G20 final report - and all the expert advisers of those groups. It focuses exclusively on the need for automatic information exchange, a much more effective deterrent than the "by request" approach adopted by the OECD.'
Just say No to the Swiss president
04/05/09 (TJN) The Swiss president has tried to help its bank UBS by offering a deal to the USA administration: “Drop the legal actions against UBS and we'll make it easier to negotiate a new bilateral tax treaty for information exchange”. The Obama administration should say no.
UBS case: Switzerland outlines its position
01/05/09 (TJN) Switzerland's official position on the UBS case has been published this morning on the official website. Switzerland continues to defend the bank secrecy against the U.S. court.
The IMF and the Tax Consensus - new evidence
01/05/09 (TJN) A major new report on the IMF's tax policies has just emerged from Christian Aid, and finds “strong empirical support for the claim that the IMF has promoted the ‘tax consensus’ – often in spite of evidence that the implied policies are failing to meet their objectives.”
Tax haven seeks taxpayer compliance
April 30 (TJN) - Bahamas is running short of money. There is outrage that non-compliance by local taxpayers is at the root of the problem. They might take a moment to consider the revenue costs that offshore centres like the Bahamas force on other developing countries.
Inequality - in shocking pictures
Apr 27 (TJN) – At the LEAP conference in London over the weekend, Richard Wilkinson presented data that amounted to the starkest demonstration we have ever seen on the perils of inequality.
Grimy Panama: new report
April 30 (TJN) - "President Obama's ability to deliver on his campaign commitments to close tax loopholes that promote offshoring and re-regulate the financial sector would be dealt a sharp blow if the U.S.-Panama Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is passed."
Britain's budget doublethink
April 27 (TJN) - Much attention has been paid recently to the new 50p tax rate in Britain's budget, raising taxes on high earners. Yet in the same budget, something completely different emerged.
Report from the Offshore Alert conference
April 29 (TJN) - Our colleague Sarah Lewis at TJN-USA has been blogging from the 7th Annual Offshore Alert Financial Due Diligence Conference in Miami. We are delighted to host her as part of our "Guest Blogger"
New EU proposals on tax and transparency
April 28 (TJN) - From the EU: "The European Commission today has adopted a Communication identifying actions that EU Member States should take to promote "good governance" in the tax area (i.e. more transparency, exchange of information and fair tax competition). The
Climate of fear in British tax haven
April 27 (TJN) - Take a look at these remarkable words published in Britain's Hansard (official parliamentary publication) last Thursday, concerning a British Foreign Affairs Committee inquiry into Britain's Overseas Territories, notably looking at the Turks & Caicos islands.
Gordon Brown's indecent love affair
April 27 (TJN) - John Kay says the British government "conducted an indecent love affair with the financial services industry."
TJN and the round-the-world cyclist
Apr 27 (TJN) - Julian Sayarer who will be setting off from Rouen Cathedral in France on 10th June 2009 in an attempt to set a new world record for circumnavigating the world while drawing attention to a number of small organizations which he feels are tackling the core issues.
Gordon Brown's indecent love affair
Apr 27 (TJN) - John Kay has been writing another of his insightful comments in the Financial Times. It is a reminder of something we already know - the government was hopelessly in bed with the bankers - and that it still seems to be true, despite the occasional sign of real fresh thinking.
Climate of fear in British tax haven
Apr 27 (TJN) - Take a look at these remarkable words published in Britain's Hansard (official parliamentary publication) last Thursday, concerning a British Foreign Affairs Committee inquiry into Britain's Overseas Territories, notably looking at the Turks & Caicos islands. Britain has a lot of control and influence over its tax havens, and it could and should act.
Britain's budget - tax sea change
Apr 24 (TJN) - A truly important element has emerged in Britain's budget, and it is not just the 50% tax rate on the seriously rich.
Raymond Baker of Global Financial Integrity in the FT
Apr 24 (TJN) - Our good friend Raymond Baker at Global Financial Integrity in Washington has a wonderful comment piece in the FT today. It starts by mentioning the extraordinary political impact his data has been having in India, which we have already noted too.
Economic crisis - an end in sight?
Apr 24 (TJN) - Many people seem to think that the world economy, after a bad period, may have put the worst behind it. The cover of this week's Economist Magazine vividly illustrates the alternative opinion.
Jon Stewart demolishes Jim Kramer
Apr 23 (TJN) - We missed this when it came out last month. This astonishing demolition by Jon Stewart of CNBC's Jim Kramer is unforgettable. More on the failures of financial journalists here, with additional reasons here.
Foot: A safe pair of hands
Apr 22 (TJN) – Michael Foot’s Progress Report seems to be another of those reviews that toe the party line, in this case on tax havens.
Dismembering a tax haven
Apr 22 (TJN) - Some French protesters dismantling a tax haven, in front of the Stock Exchange in Paris, ahead of the G20 summit. (OK, we're a bit late . . . )
On tax-free charities
Apr 22 (TJN) - A Cayman news organisation, bridling at the attack on offshore financial centres, recently accused charitable organizations of hypocrisy in the area of tax evasion.
Foot: A safe pair of hands
April 22 (TJN) - A more detailed look at Michael Foot’s curious proposals on Britain’s offshore centres.
The Foot progress report into Britain's tax havens
April 21 (TJN) - Recently we had felt real signs of hope when we received copies of letters that Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown had sent to these places, appearing to push for real change. This report appears to come from a very, very different angle. In short, it shocks us.
Google avoids £100m UK tax
The Sunday Times reports: "Google’s accounts show that the highly profitable search engine paid just £600,000 of UK corporation tax in 2007, despite generating revenues of more than £1.25 billion in this country." Based on work by Richard Murphy.
BJP shifts focus of India's voters to tax evaders
April 21 (FT) - Capital flight to western tax havens has shot to the top of the campaign agenda in India's parliamentary elections as the Hindu nationalist opposition seeks to shame tax evaders, embarrass corrupt officials and win favour among voters. GFI’s research has been attracting a lot of attention.
Event: Offshore Alert Conference, Florida, April 26
April 22 (TJN) - The 7th Annual Financial Due Diligence Conference specializes in cutting edge information and intelligence on Fraud, Money Laundering, Tax Evasion, Compliance, Risk Management & Asset Recovery as they relate to Offshore Financial Centers. Click here for the programme.
LEAP Conference - London - April 25
Apr 20 (TJN) - Speakers and contributors include: John Christensen (Tax Justice Network), Penny Cole, Bob Crow (RMT), Andrew Fisher, Paul Feldman, Professor Gregor Gall, Gerry Gold, Colin Hampton, John Hilary (War on Want), Jerry Jones, John McDonnell MP, Rosamund Stock, Graham Turner, Professor Richard Wilkinson, Matt Wrack (FBU).
Tax and Corporate Responsibilty - ESRC event May 29
April 19 (TJN) - A discussion on the forgotten side of the corporate responsibility debate. Read more on the issues at front_content.php?idcat=131
On tax-free charities
April 22 (TJN) - Charities are only 'tax free' when they make a surplus. It's not the job of charity to run a surplus. They are, by definition, not profit-making. This looks like an exercise in sophistry - dressing up bogus arguments in a false veneer of legitimacy - from a professional who should know better.
The Roadshow to Serfdom
April 21 (TJN) – On John Christensen’s trip to Austria, which garnered very wide publicity. On Hayek, Thatcher – and a roadshow attended by, among others, members of the mysterious Montpellerin Society.
Tax rates
Apr 17 (TJN) - . . . have been higher before. US Cartoon from http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2009/04/great-april-15th-cartoon.html
A reminder: exchange of information can work
Apr 14 (TJN) - Accountancy magazine quotes a senior chartered accountant as saying that the cost of filtering through information obtained in the proposed global crackdown on tax havens may outweigh the revenue raised. One might call this viewpoint “nonsense.”
Over 70% support tax crackdown on wealthy
Apr 14 (TJN) - The British organisation Compass has published new research that reveals that 77% of the British population that they surveyed indicated they agree that the government should do everything it can to close this £15 billion gap lost through personal tax avoidance.
Guernsey press on Brown: playground bully
April 15 (TJN) – Jersey pretends not to care about the new UK letters. Guernsey’s press responds by calling Brown the “playground bully.”
A reminder: exchange of information can work
April 15 (TJN) - Accountancy magazine quotes a senior chartered accountant as saying that the cost of filtering through information obtained in the proposed global crackdown on tax havens may outweigh the revenue raised: "There’s so much data they don’t know what to do with it. How will HMRC deal with it?" This is nonsense, as Richard Murphy points out.
Over 70% support tax crackdown on wealthy
April 14 (TJN) - The British organisation Compass has published new research: "The results reveal that 77% indicated they agree that the government should do everything it can to close this £15 billion gap lost through personal tax avoidance."
OECD vs EU
April 16 (TJN) - Richard HayHard line European countries are successfully pursuing a competing information exchange philosophy - comprehensive and automatic information exchange - in the recently adopted Savings Tax Directive. If the OECD plan sinks, the EU philosophy will gain ground as the accepted international standard for tax information exchange."
Where next on tax after the London Summit?
Apr 8 (TJN) – Two linked events on tax evasion and avoidance in a new era.
Two quotes - pollution and prediction
Apr 8 (TJN) - A reminder of our quotations page. Two quotations for the day.
Tax Analysts Launches Tax.com
Apr 8 (TJN) - TaxAnalysts is a well-respected American tax publication, hosting a variety of opinions, only some of which TJN would agree with. It is a subscription-only service. Now TaxProf informs us that Tax Analysts has launched Tax,com, self-described as "The Tax Daily for the Citizen Taxpayer."
BREAKING NEWS - Britain writes to its tax havens
Apr 9 (TJN) - We have just received copies of letters to the British tax havens from No. 10, Downing Street (for non-British readers, that's the British Prime Minster's office.) TJN is extremely encouraged by the content of these letters, notwithstanding the diplomatic language in which the points are made.
U.S. wealthy - how much tax do they pay?
Apr 13 (TJN) - This is a recurring theme in newspapers and the blogosphere. We note this new fact sheet from Citizens for Tax Justice in the U.S., which has crunched the numbers.
Swiss banker to EU: we knew we were tricking you
Apr 13 (TJN) - Konrad Hummler, the head of the Swiss private bankers' association, has made some fiery and anti-democratic statements in his time, but his recent comment on the EU Savings Tax Directive is particularly interesting.
Ghana loses millions in uncollected taxes
June 23 (TJN) - a new Tax Justice Ghana Report, produced together
with ISODEC, focuses on the ways in which the tax system and revenue
collection are the biggest missing piece in national poverty
eradication programmes.
UN conference wording gets mugged
June 23 (TJN) _ The United Nations is convening a three-day summit
of world leaders from June 24-26 in New York to assess the global
economic crisis. We've been privy to a couple of snapshots of the
suggested wordings of the outcome document. An earlier version, which
we very much liked, appears to have been mugged along the way.
Symposium on Tax Justice in Dutch Senate
June 23 (TJN) - This week the Standing Committee on Finance of the
Dutch Senate organised a Symposium on Tax Justice, aiming to create an
opportunity to discuss and evaluate tax practice in the Netherlands
from different perspectives and in an international context.
Congitive regulatory capture breaking out again?
June 23 (TJN) - "The chairman of the Financial Services Authority
also claimed there were signs that some countries were losing their
zeal for radical regulatory reform. ”There’s a real danger we don’t
seize the opportunities of this crisis,” he told the Commons treasury
committee."
French government makes French banks open up
June 22 (TJN) This just in from Tax-news.com: "The French
government is introducing a new measure requiring all French banks to
disclose information regarding their links to tax havens."
Country by Country reporting: new Task Force report
June 22 (TJN), “For those who missed it last week (apologies for
the delay) the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic
Development has published a new report on country-by-country reporting.
Available for free download, the report details a new system of
accounting for multinational corporations (MNCs) designed to increase
transparency and curtail tax evasion.”
Fiscal Fireworks: Dutch Announce a 5% Tax Rate
June 16 (TJN), "In February, we blogged about preparations by the
Dutch government to change the way it taxes income from international
financing operations of multinationals. Yesterday, the government
published its proposals, which include a 5% effective tax rate on
interest income."
Cayman has signed a double tax treaty with the UK
June 15 (Tax Research), "Signed today – and slipped out on HMRC’s
web site without a press release (I wonder why?) is a double tax
agreement (yes, I mean that – a DTA, not a Tax Information Exchange
Agreement) with the Cayman islands."
Tax havens and development: a damning report
June 19 (TJN) Times are a'changing, however, and the new report
issuing from the Norwegian Commission on Capital Flight From Developing
Countries is a sign that the more progressive governments are taking
this issue very seriously indeed.
Stop the reverse finger pointing!
June 19 (TJN), “The Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement
Bill was originally introduced during the previous Administration, at
the time co-sponsored by the then Senator Barack Obama.
Tax havens: macro-relevant?
June 18 (TJN), "Tax distortions are likely to have encouraged
excessive leveraging and other financial market problems evident in the
crisis." These are the opening words of the executive summary of the
IMF's new report on Debt Bias and Other Distortions: Crisis-Related
Issues in Tax Policy, published earlier this week. "These effects" the
summary continues "have been little explored, but are potentially
macro-relevant."
Wilmington, Delaware, receives unwelcome attention
June 18 (TJN), "Tax havens aren't what they used to be. Graham
Greene famously coined the phrase "sunny places for shady people", but
images of islands in the sun are quickly receding as more and more of
these secrecy jurisdictions come under the spotlight."
Obama administration pushes for automatic information exchange
June 17 (TJN), "Our senior adviser David Spencer, based in New
York, has just submitted the following, which links back to our earlier
blog about the Obama administration's wider plans to tackle tax
evasion."
Beyond the London Summit
June 17 (TJN), "The Put People First alliance, of which we are an
active member, has issued a report on the steps required in response to
the current economic crisis."
Brazil cuts to the chase on tax havens
June 12 (TJN) Brazil is developing some useful new legislation
related to transansactions with tax havens. Will other countries take
note?
Another flat tax bites the dust
June 11 (TJN) News from Latvia: "Latvian Prime Minister Valdis
Dombrovskis announced Tuesday that his government would ditch the
country's flat-rate tax system in favour of a form of progressive tax."
Good riddance.
Alfred Hitchcock and Tricky Tax
June 10 (TJN) We have just been sent a most useful document: a
really clear explanation of two highly important tax issues: transfer
pricing and outward domestication. It's called Tricky Tax: Two Tax
Avoidance Schemes Explained. The author has sent us these words to
accompany it.
Confessions of the London regulator
June 10 (TJN) This just in, from the Financial Times. "The City
regulator will put less emphasis on maintaining London’s
competitiveness in relation to other financial centres, its head said
on Tuesday, in a striking acknowledgement that the approach had
undermined the stability of the financial system.
Richard Murphy speaks to HMRC
June 10 (TJN) A few snippets are worth bringing out from a speech
yesterday to a HMRC (UK Revenue and Customs) conference on tax and
corporate transparency, by our Senior Adviser Richard Murphy. A few
extracts are worth noting.
Another Step Towards Unitary Taxation?
June 10 (TJN) TJN supports unitary taxation with formula
apportionment of the income of transnational corporations (TNCs), as
outlined in our Action Programme `Ending the Offshore Secrecy System'
and our submission to UK Revenue and Customs in 2007.
Libya, Iran, Kazakhstan: direct distribution mulled
June 9 (TJN) Oraz Jandosov, a former Prime Minister of Kazakhstan,
has recently responded to a comment article in the Financial Times
(co-authored by a TJN blogger) by about a radical proposal to
distribute the proceds of oil extraction to all of a country's citizens.
Libya, Iran, Kazakhstan: direct distribution mulled
Jun 9 (TJN) - Oraz Jandosov, a former Prime Minister of Kazakhstan,
has recently responded to a comment article in the Financial Times
(co-authored by a TJN blogger) by about a radical proposal to
distribute the proceds of oil extraction to all of a country's
citizens.
Challenge to the European Investment Bank
June 9 (TJN) The Tax Justice Network, in partnership with Eurodad,
Friends of the Earth Europe and Counter Balance, are protesting in
front of the EU Council about the activities of the European Investment
Bank in tax havens.
Switzerland: companies in one tax haven seek other tax havens
June 5 (TJN) Recently we have highlighted separate reports, one by the US General Accountability Office (GAO) looking at US companies, and subsequently by TJN looking at companies in the UK, the Netherlands and France, which looked at where these companies had their tax haven subsidiaries.
UK Treasury may scrap anti-tax-avoidance measure
June 5 (TJN) Thanks to our colleague Paul Sagar, who first raised the alarm on this, an important story has appeared in The Guardian.
New evidence on Bush's tax amnesty
June 5 (TJN) "It was called the “Homeland Investment Act,” and was sold to Congress as a way to spur investment in America, building plants, increasing research and development and creating jobs. It gave international companies a large one-time tax break on overseas profits, but only if the money was used for specified investments in the United States."
Paxman asks where Ashcroft is resident for tax
June 4 (TJN) This is fabulous. There have long been questions over the tax status of Lord Ashcroft, one of Britain's most well-known offshore operators and the Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, about whether he is resident of the UK for tax purposes. This is about Britain's notorious domicile rule.
Christian Aid's Alternative Tax Awards on Youtube
June 4 (TJN) We recently remarked on Christian Aid's Alternative Tax Awards. Now you can see it on YouTube.
British aid joins up its thinking
June 4 (TJN) The UK's parliament has produced a new report entitled Aid Under Pressure: Support for Development Assistance in a Global Economic Downturn.
Country by Country reporting in Financial Times, New York Times
June 2 (TJN) The New York Times has a good editorial today which looks at recent work by Global Witness. A longer piece focusing on country-by-country reporting is in the FT.
OECD Forum in Paris - helping taxpayers fight abuse?
June 2 (TJN) The OECD forum on tax administration met in Paris on May 28-29. As happened last time in Cape Town, some pleasing results have emerged. And we had a colleague who attended the press conference, which produced some interesting results.
Conclusions from EU / Latin America Caribbean Forum in Montevideo
June 1 (TJN) Last month we blogged on the recent expert forum in Montevideo, Uruguay on the challenges of fiscal policy in response to the deepening crisis in the LAC (Latin American and Caribbean) region. We now have a copy of the concluding messages from this forum, and draw your attention to the following issues which, amongst others, our Director John Christensen raised at the forum:
Bernard Kouchner Calls for Currency Transaction Tax
June 1 (TJN) The French foreign minister surprised his audience, and not least the British, in the annual meeting of the Leading Group on Innovative Finance for Development, by proposing to implement the Currency Transaction Tax (CTT).
Britain's skewed middle
June 1 (TJN) - The Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Britain published a detailed pamphlet last week looking at the British middle classes, and find that the media has been living under something of an illusion - the middle classes appear to have been doing better than they actually have been.
Briefing paper: Tax Information Exchange Agreements
June 1 (TJN) Following a draft briefing paper last month, and a series of blogs about the relative merits of automatic exchange of tax information between jurisdictions, versus the far weaker "on request" exchange of information, we now publish our briefing paper on the subject.
OECD Forum in Paris - helping taxpayers fight abuse?
June 1 (TJN) - The OECD forum on tax administration met in Paris on May 28-29. We’ve criticised the OECD much recently – but we are very pleased at what has emerged in this Forum.
Britain's skewed middle
June 1 (TJN) The Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Britain published a detailed pamphlet last week looking at the British middle classes, and find that the media has been living under something of an illusion - the middle classes appear to have been doing better than they actually have been.
The Netherlands as a tax haven - a misunderstanding?
May 25 (TJN) – A White House press briefing fingered the Netherlands as a tax haven. The next day, after lobbying, the sentence was removed, and the Dutch embassy said it was a “misunderstanding.” SOMO went to see whether it really was a misunderstanding.
Netherlands wants more automatic information exchange
Another indication of more actors keen to push forwards with multilateral and automatic exchange of information.
Britain's Conservative Party sets out its stall
June 1 (TJN) We have long lamented the fact that Britain's Labour Party has been captured by interests in Britain's financial and offshore sectors, and that they have failed to crack down where it is needed. Britain's Conservative party, however, are more vociferous and constant supporters of the offshore system.
European Investment Bank and tax havens
May 25 (TJN) - Step forward the European Investment Bank, the "house bank" of the European Union, which our colleagues at Counter Balance finds has been structuring major investment programmes in developing countries via offshore companies registered in tax havens.
Netherlands wants more automatic information exchange
May 25 (TJN) - The Dutch Deputy Finance Minister, Jan Kees de Jager, has said in a letter to parliament that, unofficially translated, says: "The Netherlands would like to go a step further in the relationship with these countries, and make agreements on the automatic exchange of information.
The Netherlands as a tax haven - a misunderstanding?
May 25 (TJN) - First the White House called the Netherlands a tax haven, then the Dutch embassy in Washington did some lobbying, then the text mysteriously disappeared. It was claimed to be a “misunderstanding.” Digging by our partners at SOMO found otherwise.
French banks seek tax haven crackdown?
May (TJN) We recently published detailed research surveying European companies' presence in tax havens, finding that the biggest user of tax havens in every country surveyed was a bank. And we recently noted all sorts of financial dirty dealings in France, involving the banking system. Now for something completely different.
Global Witness testifies in US Congress
May (TJN) While our bloggers were away, the path-breaking non-governmental organisation Global Witness has been busy testifying to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee. As their press release says: "Some of the world’s major banks, including Barclays and Citibank, have been facilitating corruption and undermining development in some of the worst-governed countries in the world."
Winners Of New ‘Alternative Tax Awards’ Revealed
May (TJN) Christian Aid today (Thursday 21 May) announces the winners of its new Alternative Tax Awards. Categories include Tax Haven Enthusiast of the Year, Low Tax Rate Achievement and Most Surprising Use of Tax Havens.
FT forum: Does aid work?
May (TJN) From the Financial Times: “The notion that aid can alleviate systemic poverty, and has done so, is a myth. Millions in Africa are poorer today because of aid; misery and poverty have not ended but have increased.” Thus writes Dambisa Moyo, a brilliant former Goldman Sachs economist, of Zambian origin.
CTJ on US healthcare reform options
May (TJN) Citizens for Tax Justice in the US have produced a detailed analysis of options for paying for healthcare reform. "After propping up major corporations and their CEOs and shareholders, Congress might find it reasonable to make the following deal. Main Street is paying to make Wall Street healthy. Wall Street, when it is healthy, will return the favor."
Exchange of information: the Yossarian approach
May (TJN) From Paul Sagar's Bad Conscience blog: "I recently had direct experience of trying to break this circular logic when I met some representatives of a prominent Offshore Financial Centre, which I would certainly class as a secrecy jurisdiction. I asked them to prove that they weren’t committed to banking secrecy by detailing how many pieces of information they had exchanged with other nations. I asked when their company accounts would be open to audit by being placed on public register. I wanted to know when the Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) they claimed to have signed were actually coming into force.
Challenging times for Christians in Jersey
May (TJN) There is something rotten in the higher strands of the Christian community in Jersey. Last Autumn this blogger commented about the behaviour of the Dean of Jersey. Before posting the blog I discussed our concerns with Mr Keys who, instead of engaging in discussion, lost his temper, swore and put the phone down. He subsequently called back, apologised and, in the spirit of reconciliation, agreed to meet me next I came to Jersey.
Cayman doesn't make the cut
May (TJN) This from Cayman News Service, following our blog about the OECD considering whether to strike them off their grey list.
No taxation without celebration
May (TJN) This from MarketWatch, not known for these kinds of views on taxes: "Northern Europeans are the happiest people on the planet, according to a new survey. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says people in Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands are the most content with their lives. The three ranked first, second and third, respectively, in the OECD's rankings of "life satisfaction," or happiness.
Cayman's unilateral mechanism
May (TJN) We have been aware for some time that Cayman has a "unilateral mechanism" for information exchange, that is neither "on-request", "automatic", or "spontaneous" (see our draft briefing paper for more details, which we'll be updating before too long.)
Task Force on Financial Integrity & Economic Development
May (TJN) Its website has just gone live. As it notes: "The Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development is a unique global coalition of civil society organizations and more than 50 governments working together to address inequalities in the financial system that penalize billions of people. Launched by Global Financial Integrity in January 2009, the Task Force advocates for greatly improved transparency and accountability in the global financial system.
India seeks offshore tax information
May (TJN) From TaxAnalysts' Worldwide Tax Daily: "CBDT Chair S.S.N. Moorthy acknowledged that notices have been sent to individuals whose names were on a list provided by Germany, including some prominent businessmen and industrialists. "Whatever action can be taken under law will follow," he said."
OECD to look at Cayman
May (TJN) Following our publication of the startling Cayman letter, we note that Cayman Net News is reporting that, "The Cayman Islands is on the agenda at today’s (Thursday, 14 May) closing session of an Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) committee meeting, which will decide whether to allow Cayman off the international financial-services “grey list”.
Letter from the Cayman Isles
May (TJN) An internal letter has come into our possession, from the Cayman Islands. It suggests that the OECD's list has caused considerable alarm there. It was originally reported in Cayman news wires, but not in full. We now reproduce the startling letter in full, transcribed from the original hard copy.
Tina was wrong: globalisation without tax havens
May (TJN) The Friedrich Ebbert Stiftung has published another in its occasional papers on globalisation. Re-defining the Global Economy (paper No.42, 2009) comprises views on how a globalised economy could be shaped to produce alternative outcomes with a stronger bias in favour of social justice and democracy (and non-militarism).
And tomorrow children, we'll set up a Panamanian tax shelter
May (TJN) For those who think that setting up an offshore tax shelter is a complex and covert process, Jessica, a sophomore college student and intern at Global Trade Watch, called up a Panamanian company formation agent to show just how farcically easy it is for tax dodgers to get underway.
Foreign Policy: Africa's missing billions
May (TJN) Khadija Sharife, whom we've just taken on to help us with some research, has an article in the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine in the US. This is most welcome, not least because they have been resistant to tackling this issue for some time.Take a look!
Avi Yonah on US tax cheating
May (TJN) Guest blogger: Prof. Sol Picciotto, TJN Senior Adviser: 'Reuven Avi-Yonah, who is probably the leading US tax academic, has an article in the current issue of Tax Notes International called “Obama's International Tax Plan a Major Step Forward.” It's a little surprising he is so optimistic, because the Obama proposals (presumably originating from Larry Summers) aim to strengthen residence taxation of multinational enterprises (MNEs), while Avi-Yonah favours source taxation.'
Carl Levin on automatic exchange of information
May (TJN) We have been banging on about automatic exchange of information for some time. We've just spotted this from US Senator Carl Levin, from last week
Fox conducts new review of henhouse safety
May (TJN) Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman is on form again in the New York Times, reminding us of scary problems still out there:
"It’s my sense that the prospects for fundamental financial reform are fading.
Swiss tax competition in full swing
May (TJN) Tax competition isn't only a problem between countries; it can be a problem within countries. Switzerland is no exception: its cantons indulge in a race to the bottom with each other as they steadily lower standards and taxes to attract the wealthy away from each other.
A willing taxpayer in The Office
The British comedian Ricky Gervais has made a fortune from The Office, the smash hit comedy he created."Tax exiles are “unsavoury”, he says. He welcomes the educational and health benefits his family enjoyed: “I like paying tax. If it wasn’t for the welfare state I wouldn’t be where I am today.” Well said.
Isle of Man considers automatic exchange of information
The Isle of Man, one of Britain's Crown Dependencies, is considering whether to adopt automatic exchange of information, a move that TJN would greatly welcome, if it is done right. As IOM Today reports:
French investigating magistrate to probe African leaders
May (TJN) A story in French media has gained little attention in the English-language press: the fact that a French investigating magistrate, Françoise Desset, has agreed to allow investigation of a case brought in December by human rights lawyer William Bourdon, involving the alleged possession by three oil-rich Francophone west African leaders.
Argentina may take new action against tax havens
May (TJN) Argentina's Pagina 12 newspaper is carrying a story suggesting that the government is about to get tough on tax havens. Its subtitle says "In the next few days the government will issue a resolution which prohibits operations in tax havens."
Event on June 9: Tax Havens in Crisis
May (TJN) An event is to be held in Berlin, with TJN participation, on June 9: Tax Havens in Crisis: Transparency and New Rules for Tax and Regulatory Havens
Questions for Britain's Conservative Party
May (TJN) Prem Sikka has some interesting questions today in The Guardian newspaper, directed at Britain's Conservative Party, long an enthusiastic cheerleader for secrecy jurisdictions, tax and regulatory "competition" and the offshore world.
Automatic information exchange can work
May (TJN) We recently wrote critically about the OECD for suggesting that developing countries couldn't possibly handle automatic information exchange. Richard Murphy has added useful insights here. TJN's Senior Adviser David Spencer has more to add.
Citizens for Tax Justice analyse Obama's tax deferral plan
May (TJN) Citizens for Tax Justice in the US provides a high-quality platform for clear and concise analysis of topical tax issues. Their latest analysis, Obama’s Proposals to Address Offshore Tax Abuses Are a Good Start, but More Is Needed, is no exception
We need a global tax plan
May (TJN) Another very excellent article in the Guardian, this time by David McNair, Senior Economic Justice Adviser at Christian Aid. It rightly notes that President Barack Obama's much publicised tax measures are, while welcome, addressing just one part of a much bigger global picture.
On chums regulating chums
May (Tax Research) TJN's Senior Adviser Richard Murphy is writing in the Guardian today, looking at the similarities between a current scandal in Britain over parliamentarians' expenses, and what happens in tax havens. In a nutshell: "the system for MPs' expenses was, in effect, identical to that which exists in tax havens. There are rule books in those places that look tough, but to which little attention is given and where all but the most blatant abuse is ignored.
UN draft outcome document on economic crisis
May (TJN) The United Nations has published its draft outcome document of the UN Conference on the Financial Crisis from 1-3 June. Its purpose was to take a broader perspective than the G20 meeting, bringing in a panel of global experts to advise on the big picture. The resulting group chaired by Joseph Stiglitz produced a report that adopted a number of recommendations submitted by TJN. The key paragraph is:
Good times are over for the Celtic Tiger
May (TJN) The signs were there for all to see. The massive commercial property speculation. The rising house prices index. The astonishing levels of personal and commercial debt. The sheer hubris of a government that thought it could defy economic gravity.
General Anti-Avoidance Principle to be proposed in UK parliament
May (TJN) Michael Meacher MP, working with TJN's Richard Murphy, has tabled an anti-avoidance measure in the British parliament.
Lies, damned lies and tax haven nonsense
May (TJN) Something pernicious is going on in the undergrowth. British tax havens are trying to establish clear blue water between their activities and those of their commercial rivals in Austria, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
Spot the difference
May (TJN) Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Barack Obama have both committed through the G-20 process to tackling tax avoidance and evasion. But which one is the more serious about taking practical steps in this direction?
Financial Times: How tax havens helped to conjure up the current crisis
May (TJN) Tax Justice Network has argued for years that the faults in the international tax system cause significant market distortions at micro and macro levels. Tax havens, in particular, divert investment and trade flows as capital seeks opportunities for tax and regulatory arbitrage. The Financial Times has published an opinion piece by Professor Sol Picciotto, senior adviser to TJN, in which he explains how tax havens have contributed to the current crisis.
Letter to the Jersey Evening Post
May (TJN) The following letter has been published in the Jersey Evening Post. Signed by organisations and coalitions representing the majority of development NGOs in Europe, it sets out the background to the events in Jersey in mid-March, and invites the Jersey public to engage constructively in a dialogue to remedy the problems caused to the world's poorest by the activities of tax havens.
Time to tackle the offshore trusts
May (TJN) A fascinating debate on tax avoidance and evasion took place in Westminster yesterday, at the request of David Taylor MP (North-West Leicestershire). You can find the transcript here. And you will find a link to Paul Sagar (TJN's man on the spot) here.
How information exchange agreements may restrict access to information
May (TJN) The Swiss government has made an intervention in the case in Florida, in which the US Internal Revenue Service has asked Swiss Bank UBS to divulge details of bank accounts of US citizens suspected of tax evasion. According to press reports (e.g. by Reuters) the Swiss government says that the US court should not order UBS to divulge this information because such an order would violate Swiss sovereignty and international law.
Obama's plans for curbing tax havens
May (TJN) Press Release - Full Text: Curbing Tax Havens: White House press release on removing tax incentives for shifting jobs overseas.
Obama: Common sense, fairness and corporate nonsense
May (TJN) For several weeks the sceptics have been clucking about Obama's commitment to tackling corporate tax scams and the tax havens. "The corporate lobbies will stand in the way of any meaningful measures", has been the standard riposte from too many doubting-Thomases. Well now he has taken tentative steps, see below, and we are delighted at the tone of the remarks he made to the White House briefing on Monday.
Just say No to the Swiss president
May (TJN) Will Rogers once quipped that income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has. We now know that Switzerland played a major part in this process.
UBS case: Switzerland outlines its position
May (TJN) 'Switzerland's official position on the UBS case has been published this morning on the official website. It seems to be playing hardball.'
The IMF and the Tax Consensus - new evidence
May (TJN) A major new report on the IMF's tax policies has just emerged from Christian Aid, looking into the IMF's tax policies.
Illicit flows: the OECD's swaggering myopia
May (TJN) The OECD has now responded to Raymond Baker's excellent comment article in the Financial Times, with a swaggering letter seeming to add little to the debate other than to question his impertinence (though not his data).
Bankers, still Beltway royalty
May (TJN) From the Huffington Post: "You heard me right. America's bankers -- those wonderful folks who brought us the economic meltdown -- are still being treated as Beltway royalty by those in Congress."
On tax, wealth and waste
April (TJN) From a letter in the Financial Times, entitled Don’t tell me the private sector hasn’t wasted my money. TJN doesn't generally take positions on tax rates like this, but this letter is worth reproducing in full:
TJN writes to the G20
April (TJN) 'The following letter has gone by post to the members of the G20 working group number two - the group working on secrecy jurisdictions - and to the list of members of the working group working on the G20 final report - and all the expert advisers of those groups. It focuses exclusively on the need for automatic information exchange, a much more effective deterrent than the "by request" approach adopted by the OECD.'
Just say No to the Swiss president
04/05/09 (TJN) The Swiss president has tried to help its bank UBS by offering a deal to the USA administration: “Drop the legal actions against UBS and we'll make it easier to negotiate a new bilateral tax treaty for information exchange”. The Obama administration should say no.
UBS case: Switzerland outlines its position
01/05/09 (TJN) Switzerland's official position on the UBS case has been published this morning on the official website. Switzerland continues to defend the bank secrecy against the U.S. court.
The IMF and the Tax Consensus - new evidence
01/05/09 (TJN) A major new report on the IMF's tax policies has just emerged from Christian Aid, and finds “strong empirical support for the claim that the IMF has promoted the ‘tax consensus’ – often in spite of evidence that the implied policies are failing to meet their objectives.”
Tax haven seeks taxpayer compliance
April 30 (TJN) - Bahamas is running short of money. There is outrage that non-compliance by local taxpayers is at the root of the problem. They might take a moment to consider the revenue costs that offshore centres like the Bahamas force on other developing countries.
Inequality - in shocking pictures
Apr 27 (TJN) – At the LEAP conference in London over the weekend, Richard Wilkinson presented data that amounted to the starkest demonstration we have ever seen on the perils of inequality.
Grimy Panama: new report
April 30 (TJN) - "President Obama's ability to deliver on his campaign commitments to close tax loopholes that promote offshoring and re-regulate the financial sector would be dealt a sharp blow if the U.S.-Panama Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is passed."
Britain's budget doublethink
April 27 (TJN) - Much attention has been paid recently to the new 50p tax rate in Britain's budget, raising taxes on high earners. Yet in the same budget, something completely different emerged.
Report from the Offshore Alert conference
April 29 (TJN) - Our colleague Sarah Lewis at TJN-USA has been blogging from the 7th Annual Offshore Alert Financial Due Diligence Conference in Miami. We are delighted to host her as part of our "Guest Blogger"
New EU proposals on tax and transparency
April 28 (TJN) - From the EU: "The European Commission today has adopted a Communication identifying actions that EU Member States should take to promote "good governance" in the tax area (i.e. more transparency, exchange of information and fair tax competition). The
Climate of fear in British tax haven
April 27 (TJN) - Take a look at these remarkable words published in Britain's Hansard (official parliamentary publication) last Thursday, concerning a British Foreign Affairs Committee inquiry into Britain's Overseas Territories, notably looking at the Turks & Caicos islands.
Gordon Brown's indecent love affair
April 27 (TJN) - John Kay says the British government "conducted an indecent love affair with the financial services industry."
TJN and the round-the-world cyclist
Apr 27 (TJN) - Julian Sayarer who will be setting off from Rouen Cathedral in France on 10th June 2009 in an attempt to set a new world record for circumnavigating the world while drawing attention to a number of small organizations which he feels are tackling the core issues.
Gordon Brown's indecent love affair
Apr 27 (TJN) - John Kay has been writing another of his insightful comments in the Financial Times. It is a reminder of something we already know - the government was hopelessly in bed with the bankers - and that it still seems to be true, despite the occasional sign of real fresh thinking.
Climate of fear in British tax haven
Apr 27 (TJN) - Take a look at these remarkable words published in Britain's Hansard (official parliamentary publication) last Thursday, concerning a British Foreign Affairs Committee inquiry into Britain's Overseas Territories, notably looking at the Turks & Caicos islands. Britain has a lot of control and influence over its tax havens, and it could and should act.
Britain's budget - tax sea change
Apr 24 (TJN) - A truly important element has emerged in Britain's budget, and it is not just the 50% tax rate on the seriously rich.
Raymond Baker of Global Financial Integrity in the FT
Apr 24 (TJN) - Our good friend Raymond Baker at Global Financial Integrity in Washington has a wonderful comment piece in the FT today. It starts by mentioning the extraordinary political impact his data has been having in India, which we have already noted too.
Economic crisis - an end in sight?
Apr 24 (TJN) - Many people seem to think that the world economy, after a bad period, may have put the worst behind it. The cover of this week's Economist Magazine vividly illustrates the alternative opinion.
Jon Stewart demolishes Jim Kramer
Apr 23 (TJN) - We missed this when it came out last month. This astonishing demolition by Jon Stewart of CNBC's Jim Kramer is unforgettable. More on the failures of financial journalists here, with additional reasons here.
Foot: A safe pair of hands
Apr 22 (TJN) – Michael Foot’s Progress Report seems to be another of those reviews that toe the party line, in this case on tax havens.
Dismembering a tax haven
Apr 22 (TJN) - Some French protesters dismantling a tax haven, in front of the Stock Exchange in Paris, ahead of the G20 summit. (OK, we're a bit late . . . )
On tax-free charities
Apr 22 (TJN) - A Cayman news organisation, bridling at the attack on offshore financial centres, recently accused charitable organizations of hypocrisy in the area of tax evasion.
Foot: A safe pair of hands
April 22 (TJN) - A more detailed look at Michael Foot’s curious proposals on Britain’s offshore centres.
The Foot progress report into Britain's tax havens
April 21 (TJN) - Recently we had felt real signs of hope when we received copies of letters that Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown had sent to these places, appearing to push for real change. This report appears to come from a very, very different angle. In short, it shocks us.
Google avoids £100m UK tax
The Sunday Times reports: "Google’s accounts show that the highly profitable search engine paid just £600,000 of UK corporation tax in 2007, despite generating revenues of more than £1.25 billion in this country." Based on work by Richard Murphy.
BJP shifts focus of India's voters to tax evaders
April 21 (FT) - Capital flight to western tax havens has shot to the top of the campaign agenda in India's parliamentary elections as the Hindu nationalist opposition seeks to shame tax evaders, embarrass corrupt officials and win favour among voters. GFI’s research has been attracting a lot of attention.
Event: Offshore Alert Conference, Florida, April 26
April 22 (TJN) - The 7th Annual Financial Due Diligence Conference specializes in cutting edge information and intelligence on Fraud, Money Laundering, Tax Evasion, Compliance, Risk Management & Asset Recovery as they relate to Offshore Financial Centers. Click here for the programme.
LEAP Conference - London - April 25
Apr 20 (TJN) - Speakers and contributors include: John Christensen (Tax Justice Network), Penny Cole, Bob Crow (RMT), Andrew Fisher, Paul Feldman, Professor Gregor Gall, Gerry Gold, Colin Hampton, John Hilary (War on Want), Jerry Jones, John McDonnell MP, Rosamund Stock, Graham Turner, Professor Richard Wilkinson, Matt Wrack (FBU).
Tax and Corporate Responsibilty - ESRC event May 29
April 19 (TJN) - A discussion on the forgotten side of the corporate responsibility debate. Read more on the issues at front_content.php?idcat=131
On tax-free charities
April 22 (TJN) - Charities are only 'tax free' when they make a surplus. It's not the job of charity to run a surplus. They are, by definition, not profit-making. This looks like an exercise in sophistry - dressing up bogus arguments in a false veneer of legitimacy - from a professional who should know better.
The Roadshow to Serfdom
April 21 (TJN) – On John Christensen’s trip to Austria, which garnered very wide publicity. On Hayek, Thatcher – and a roadshow attended by, among others, members of the mysterious Montpellerin Society.
Tax rates
Apr 17 (TJN) - . . . have been higher before. US Cartoon from http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2009/04/great-april-15th-cartoon.html
A reminder: exchange of information can work
Apr 14 (TJN) - Accountancy magazine quotes a senior chartered accountant as saying that the cost of filtering through information obtained in the proposed global crackdown on tax havens may outweigh the revenue raised. One might call this viewpoint “nonsense.”
Over 70% support tax crackdown on wealthy
Apr 14 (TJN) - The British organisation Compass has published new research that reveals that 77% of the British population that they surveyed indicated they agree that the government should do everything it can to close this £15 billion gap lost through personal tax avoidance.
Guernsey press on Brown: playground bully
April 15 (TJN) – Jersey pretends not to care about the new UK letters. Guernsey’s press responds by calling Brown the “playground bully.”
A reminder: exchange of information can work
April 15 (TJN) - Accountancy magazine quotes a senior chartered accountant as saying that the cost of filtering through information obtained in the proposed global crackdown on tax havens may outweigh the revenue raised: "There’s so much data they don’t know what to do with it. How will HMRC deal with it?" This is nonsense, as Richard Murphy points out.
Over 70% support tax crackdown on wealthy
April 14 (TJN) - The British organisation Compass has published new research: "The results reveal that 77% indicated they agree that the government should do everything it can to close this £15 billion gap lost through personal tax avoidance."
OECD vs EU
April 16 (TJN) - Richard HayHard line European countries are successfully pursuing a competing information exchange philosophy - comprehensive and automatic information exchange - in the recently adopted Savings Tax Directive. If the OECD plan sinks, the EU philosophy will gain ground as the accepted international standard for tax information exchange."
Where next on tax after the London Summit?
Apr 8 (TJN) – Two linked events on tax evasion and avoidance in a new era.
Two quotes - pollution and prediction
Apr 8 (TJN) - A reminder of our quotations page. Two quotations for the day.
Tax Analysts Launches Tax.com
Apr 8 (TJN) - TaxAnalysts is a well-respected American tax publication, hosting a variety of opinions, only some of which TJN would agree with. It is a subscription-only service. Now TaxProf informs us that Tax Analysts has launched Tax,com, self-described as "The Tax Daily for the Citizen Taxpayer."
BREAKING NEWS - Britain writes to its tax havens
Apr 9 (TJN) - We have just received copies of letters to the British tax havens from No. 10, Downing Street (for non-British readers, that's the British Prime Minster's office.) TJN is extremely encouraged by the content of these letters, notwithstanding the diplomatic language in which the points are made.
U.S. wealthy - how much tax do they pay?
Apr 13 (TJN) - This is a recurring theme in newspapers and the blogosphere. We note this new fact sheet from Citizens for Tax Justice in the U.S., which has crunched the numbers.
Swiss banker to EU: we knew we were tricking you
Apr 13 (TJN) - Konrad Hummler, the head of the Swiss private bankers' association, has made some fiery and anti-democratic statements in his time, but his recent comment on the EU Savings Tax Directive is particularly interesting.
False Profits: robbing the poor to keep the rich tax-free
March 28 (TJN) – ‘Christian Aid's new extensively researched report
with the above title provides more staggering evidence of the scale of
illicit flows and the offshore system. It looks at trade mispricing,
which can either happen within a multinational company (when it is
called transfer mispricing) or in secret deals between unrelated
companies.’
http://www.christianaid.org.uk/ActNow/the-big-tax-return/false-profits.aspx
A reminder: what corruption really is
March 27 (TJN) – ‘Last year we published a long article on
corruption in The American Interest. Until TJN came along, and as far
as we can tell, nobody had ever articulated this completely new take on
corruption, though obviously the odd aspect popped up from time to
time.’
Secrecy vs Confidentiality
March 27 (TJN) – ‘A frequent justification trotted out by defenders
of tax havens is that wealthy people need privacy. Not surprisingly, it
is being pleaded all over the place now, as tax havens have come under
pressure.’
The subsidy to hedge funds
March 27 (TJN) – ‘Hedge funds attract a great amount of suspicion. Tax is at the core of why this should be so.’
Tax havens and the economic crisis - a reminder
March 27 (TJN) – ‘Many of the roots of the current global economic
crisis trace back to offshore financial centres located in tax havens.
These include both those located in the smaller, mostly island states
like Cayman and Jersey, and the larger tax havens like the City of
London, Switzerland, Dublin, Delaware or Luxembourg.’
New study - Britain and the U.S. may be the dirtiest tax havens
March 27 (TJN) - With a small budget, and using classified ads, a
professor made bids to set up shell companies in 22 countries. He found
that countries where the misuse of rules is easiest are not the exotic
islands, Switzerland or Liechtenstein - but the United States and Great
Britain.
Economic Crisis + Offshore
March (TJN) – ‘Many of the roots of the current global economic
crisis trace back to offshore financial centres located in tax havens.
These include both those located in the smaller, mostly island states
like Cayman and Jersey, and the larger tax havens like the City of
London, Switzerland, Dublin, Delaware or Luxembourg. These tax havens
did not "cause" the crisis, but they contributed powerfully to it.’
Lessons From the Last War on Tax Havens
July 30 2007 (Tax Analysts) – ‘In a war waged primarily from 1998
through 2002, 35 tax havens - - including some of the world's smallest
countries — beat back an attack on their offshore business led by the
OECD, the protector of the collective economic interest of 30 of the
world's biggest countries.’
Obama: latest on tax havens
March 26 (TJN) – ‘In yesterday's Op-Ed he wrote: "We must crack
down on offshore tax havens and money laundering. Instead of patchwork
efforts that enable a race to the bottom, we must provide the clear
incentives for good behavior that foster a race to the top.’
Pirates of the Caribbean
March 26 (Tax Research UK) – ‘The British Prime Minister’s
ambitions seem as global as those of the Virgin Queen, who dominated
the seas thanks to seafarers such as Walter Raleigh and Francis Drake.
But one nation’s heroes can be another’s pirates. It was under Brown,
today’s scourge of tax havens, that Britain consolidated its position
as the greatest operator of tax havens.’
TJN: official G20 blogger
March 26 (TJN) – ‘Richard Murphy, Senior Advisor to TJN makes blogging history as part of the NGO coalition – the G20Voice.’
TJN Germany - spreading its wings
March 26 (TJN) – ‘Today at 2pm, and led by TJN-Germany, 17 German
civil society organizations handed over a call for a determined
clampdown on tax havens to the German Secretary of Finance, Nicolette
Kressl.’
TJN in the FT: Swiss bank secrecy
March 26 (TJN) – ‘We have this letter in the FT today, responding
to an earlier long FT piece (Swiss secrecy laws had nothing to do with
the Nazis) written by Bruno Gurtner, Chair of the Global TJN Board,
Switzerland.’
UNCTAD blames deregulation, seeks code of conduct
March 26 (TJN) – ‘The UN Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD) has issued a report ahead of next month's G20 summit saying
what is by now well known: a sustained process of financial
deregulation -- within countries and between countries -- led to an
expanding cycle of optimism and risk-taking that is at the root of the
current global crisis.’
Britain's disgrace, again
Last July we wrote an article about Britain's libel laws, which are
an international disgrace. It quoted a commentator as saying: "The
libel laws of England and Wales are tilted so heavily against the
defendant and involve such monumental costs that they amount, in
effect, to censorship by private interests: a sedition law for the
exclusive use of millionaires." Here is some more.
Breaking the Curse: TJN4Africa
March 26 (TJN) – ‘The study found some very disturbing common
features across the seven countries – Ghana, Malawi, Democratic
Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa
where the research were conducted. It demonstrates that African
governments are foregoing millions of dollars in tax revenue from the
mining industry.’
UN commission of experts on financial crisis - recommendations
March 26 (TJN) – ‘The high-level UN commission of experts on
reforming the international monetary and financial system, chaired by
the Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, has now issued its
preliminary recommendations. We are highly encouraged by what we see,
and we note that recommendations we submitted to the Commission are
substantially reflected in this draft.’
OECD: some nuts and bolts
March 26 (TJN) – ‘Recently we wrote a highly critical blog looking
at what we see as the OECD’s feeble standards and criticising it for
effectively setting itself up to fail: allowing the creation of a
blacklist that singles out small island states and significantly
absolves the large tax haven culprits like London, Switzerland,
Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium: the OECD’s own.’
OECD Setting Itself up for Failure?
March 20 (TJN) – ‘A major new threat appears to be emerging to
efforts to crack down on tax havens. It is coming, if early reports are
correct, from the OECD. Recently we noted a story on a Luxembourg blog
site, pointing to a (hitherto unpublished) proposed OECD blacklist on
tax havens. The blog was entitled "The less you contribute to OECD
budget the more influence you have on the policies." and was based on a
report in Germany's Tagesanzeiger newspaper.’
Trillions down the drain: tax havens and shadow banks
March 26 (TJN) – ‘This is the title of a first-rate article
published by a German political magazine looking at tax havens and the
economic crisis. It is written by Nicola Liebert, an active member of
TJN-Germany, and Axel Troost, a member of the German Bundestag
(parliament) who is also a TJN member. An early paragraph gives a
flavour, quoting the Deputy Managing Director of the Bank for
International Settlements as saying that the emergence of a "shadow
banking system" had simply not been noticed’
Letter to the Financial Crisis Advisory Group
March 23 (TJN) – ‘Tax Justice Network has submitted the following
letter, written by co-founder John Christensen, to the Financial Crisis
Advisory Group of the International Accounting Standards Board. It is
crucially important that this Group understands the importance of a
reform of reporting standards for multinational companies in order to
transform their operational transparency, and that the wider world
understands how important this is.’
Besieged Brown and the tax havens
March 23 (TJN) – ‘A new article entitled "Brown plans global
scrutiny of tax havens" suggests that UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown is
taking the tax haven issue seriously. This is slightly at odds with a
blog we did last month casting doubt upon the UK's commitment to the
issue. Since then, we've received some encouraging signs.’
Where on earth are you? Big companies in tax havens
March 23 (TJN) _ A new TJN report, producing information and analysis
that has never been seen before, surveyed 97 of the largest quoted
companies in the UK, the Netherlands and France. Of those companies all
but one had tax haven subsidiaries. 99 per cent of the European quoted
companies surveyed operate in tax havens. As in the USA, the largest
user of tax havens in every country surveyed was a bank.
OECD setting itself up for failure?
Mar 20 (TJN) - A major new threat appears to be emerging to efforts to
crack down on tax havens. It is coming, if early reports are correct,
from the OECD.
Mexico asks for tax information from the US
Mar 20 (TJN) – A fascinating letter sent by top officials from the
Mexican finance ministry to Tim Geithner, US Treasury secretary, in
which Mexico is requesting that the US provide it with key information
on income on bank deposits by Mexicans with accounts in the U.S., could
yield colossal positive implications.
Show us the talent
March 23 (TJN) - In a radio panel discussion, this blogger found
himself alongside a non-executive director of a failed bank. He
persisted in justifying high salaries, bonuses, perks, the non-dom
status of imported City workers, etc., on the grounds that these are
"the necessary rewards to keep talent in the country." So as a public
service, we reveal the City of London's "talent" in all its glory.
The cow eating club
Mar 20 (TJN) - The Guardian newspaper has been serving up some
excellent fare about the tax avoidance tricks of Britain's Barclays
Bank. This latest story about the culture of what was going on is
unforgettable.
Wish you were here: video links from our Jersey trip
Mar 19 (TJN) – Jersey then, and Jersey now: A video peek into the murky
depths of the financial industry from a land once famous for early
potatoes and honeymoon breaks.
Swiss bank secrecy - some tightening
Mar 19 (TJN) - Amid all the talk of Swiss bank secrecy disappearing, a
correspondent has reminded us that the action of the Swiss authorities
clearly shows that there is no real intention to lift it.
Our friend Persaud again
Mar 19 (TJN) - Is Reuters biased? No, it isn't, is the short answer. But bear with us.
Towards a TJN in Latin America
Mar 18 (TJN) - Belatedly (apologies) we have now produced two short
sumaries of workshops that TJN held in Belém, Brazil, on January 30.
Please click here for the English version, and here for the Spanish
version.
TJN granted funds for communications strategy
Mar 17 (TJN) – The Tax Justice Network has been awarded a three
year grant from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust to carry forward
our outreach work to senior financial journalists in selected media
throughout the world.
Undue diligence: banks, corrupt regimes and the poor
Mar 16 (TJN) - The trailblazing non-governmental group Global
Witness has just released a major new report on international banking
called Undue Diligence, How banks do business with corrupt regimes. The
fine report is the result of much painstaking work - a Global Witness
specialty - and it starts with a rather obvious, but often forgotten
observation.
New study: tax haven subsidiaries of CAC-40 companies
Mar 16 (TJN) - The excellent French publication Alternatives
Économiques has published a major new study into the tax haven presence
of French companies in the CAC-40 index, representing France's biggest
listed companies. It's in French, though a rough web translation is
here.
Tax, lies and videotape
Mar 14 (TJN) - NGOs and activists from across Europe visited Jersey
this week to push G-20 leaders to adopt comprehensive measures to
promote financial and fiscal transparency.
The Litmus Test of the End of Tax Havens Agenda
Mar 14 (TJN) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and German
Chancellor Angela Merkel, whilst agreeing on the need to tackle tax
evasion through tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs), have
failed to pluck up sufficient courage to push for a multilateral
approach as a more effective substitute for the weak and ineffective
'by request' model. This is a problem.
Swiss bank secrecy - fraying, crumbling
Mar 13 (TJN) - TJN is travelling today; apologies for late and
scattered postings. Switzerland, as you may have heard, is now relaxing
its bank secrecy provisions, with a decision to adopt OECD standards
for the first time. This is the end of tight bank secrecy, though
information won't flow freely under feeble OECD rules.
Oxfam produces new tax haven data
Mar 13 (TJN) - Oxfam has said today that
developing countries miss out on up to $124 billion every year in lost
income from offshore assets held in tax havens. We reproduce parts of
the press release below (click here to see the original.)
TJN proposals for G20 - the document
Mar 12 (TJN) - TJN has a new document representing its position ahead of the G-20 meeting.
Would the FT stop being incoherent, please?
Mar 10 (TJN) - Earlier today we blogged about recent articles in
the Financial Times concerning secrecy jurisdictions. We noted, in
particular, comment pieces by Martin Wolf and Avinash Persaud, neither
of whom seem to understand how these places function in a world of
globalised financial markets and globalised trade. Now the FT has
published an editorial which hints at exactly what we have been banging
on about these past years.
YOU & US - UBS and its tax cheating clients in the USA
Mar 10 (TJN) - Here is an excellent video clip from the American
News Project featuring the toppled giant UBS, and starring TJN stalwart
Jack Blum. A must see for viewers of all ages, especially those who
still can't believe that a major bank can be turned into a criminal
enterprise.
The FT thinks tax havens are a diversion
Mar 10 (TJN) - There has been a rash of commentary in the Financial
Times recently about tax havens. We admire the FT normally. But the
newspaper has, it seems decided, that tax havens have nothing to do
with the financial crisis. This is a strange conclusion to draw - the
newspaper usually hosts all sorts of diverging opinions on various
topics. But right now, only one opinion is being allowed to come
through, it seems.
Tax havens - sanctions and defensive measures
Mar 10 (TJN) - There have been various comments in different media
from TJN about possible sanctions that could be applied to the tax
haven problem. Richard Murphy did an overview of some of the broad
issues here. This blog is just a reminder of some of the things that
have been considered before. It does not constitute a definitive list
of sanctions.
Jersey visitors on 12th - 13th March - Wish You Were Here
March 9 (TJN) - On 12th/13th March 2009 civil society organisations
from across Europe, including some of the largest economic justice
coalitions, will be visiting Jersey. This provides essential background
and links, and an invitation.
Inequality and the spirit level
March 8 (TJN) – Book review from The Economist. "Within the rich
world, where destitution is rare, countries where incomes are more
evenly distributed have longer-lived citizens and lower rates of
obesity, delinquency, depression and teenage pregnancy than richer
countries where wealth is more concentrated."
The cat is out of the bag
March 8 (TJN) - Gordon Brown also has a choice: to act against tax
havens or limit himself to empty rhetoric. He would like to be thought
of as a long-standing champion of global financial regulation. The
reality is that, by what happens at the G-20 summit, he will be judged
a late convert at best, otherwise a hypocrite."
Bono and the tax justice debate in Ireland
The controversey surrounding U2's tax affairs has generated a huge
discussion in Ireland on economic justice issues. Jamie Drummond, from
Bono's agency DATA, has stirred the pot by trying to shift the focus
away from tax avoidance to tax evasion, but the public response
suggests that this ploy has not worked - as the following selection of
letters suggests.
Sanctions on secrecy jurisdictions
March 6 (Tax Research) - I think there are two forms of sanction
available. One is the head on attack like the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act.
Germany is also looking at arrangements like this in draft legislation
published in January. The second group might be described as
‘work-round’ sanctions: measures that will neuter the impact of tax
havens with out directly confronting them.
Fox to lead global effort to tighten henhouse safety
Feb 19 (TJN) – A number of announcements have been made in recent
days involving intentions to crack down on tax havens. Britain has
sought to be the leader. The headline says it all. If there is one
thing you read about these announcements, read this one.
Guest blog: A silver lining for the financial crisis?
Feb 20 (TJN) – Alex Cobham, Policy Director for Christian Aid,
looks at the financial crisis, the developing world, and policy
implications.
Guest blogger: Rudolf Elmer, whistleblower
Rudolf Elmer, the whistleblower in the Julius Baer case (see him in
The Guardian here) wrote a blog for us in December, with some important
suggestions for those working offshore, such as how to spot when
business is dirty. Now he has written us another one, with a
forward-looking approach.
UBS - shouldn’t they be shut down in the UK now as an improper person to offer financial advice?
Feb 23 (Tax Research) - UBS is a bank now proven to be guilty of
systemic fraud. The US Department for Justice is suggesting it assisted
at least 52,000 people evade their US tax obligations. How many cases
in the UK? Who is officially asking? Who is investigating? Who is
reporting?
Stanford's friends
Feb 19 (TJN) - We have heard for some time from sources in
Washington that Stanford Bank has been one of the most important
funders of some key cheerleaders and think tanks that promote tax
havens. More on this in due course.
New SOMO paper - in French
Feb 20 (TJN) - Amsterdam-based SOMO has now translated its October
2008 paper Taxation and Financing for Development into French.
Gordon Brown: Mister Fox' transcript
Feb 19 (TJN) - Following our earlier blog about tax havens, we have
found a little more substance on what UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown
actually said.
Too little too late
Feb 18 (TJN) - UK Treasury Minister Stephen Timms had a lengthy
comment published today by the Guardian newspaper on tax evasion and
avoidance. But Timms steered well clear from any mention of tax havens,
or aggressive tax avoidance, or HMG’s abysmal record of blocking
attempts to strengthen international cooperation.
Switzerland lifts bank secrecy
Feb 19 (TJN) - Well, only a tiny bit. Our headline, however, mimics
one from Switzerland's Le Temps newspaper: La Suisse lève le secret
bancaire. What the bank has done is to pay an unprecedented fine and
cut loose 250 clients, to protect another 19,000, under ferocious and
well-deserved American pressure.
Tax and budgeting in Latin America: new report
Feb 20 (TJN) - For those interested in Latin American taxes and
budgeting issues, our attention has been drawn to a new publication, in
both English and Spanish, from the UN-ECLAC (UN-economic Commission on
Latin America and Caribbean.)
Financial crisis: meeting in Berlin on March 26
Feb 22 (TJN) - A meeting on the global financial crisis and
businesses and banks will be held in Berlin on March 26. It will
include a discussion on tax havens, hosted by Nicola Liebert.
"Freiwillig in die Krise –reguliert wieder heraus Die globale
Finanzkrise und die Verantwortung von Unternehmen und Banken"
upload/pdf/Berlin_0902_tagung_finanzkrise.pdf
Guest blog: Swiss ditches and defence lines
Feb 12 (TJN) - Andreas Missbach of the Berne Declaration provides
some fascinating insights into why Switzerland's positions on bank
secrecy, tax fraud and tax evasion may be starting to look shaky.
Annual Research Workshop: Call for Papers
Feb 11 (TJN) – An Invitation to Participate in a Workshop in Mexico
on Erosion of Public Finances in Developing Countries: illicit flows
and commercial corruption,
Singapore is a tax haven – again
Feb 11 (TJN) – A new claim that Singapore is not a tax haven – and what we have to say about it.
Speech: The weakest link
Feb 11 (TJN) - This is the text of the intervention by John
Christensen at the first of a series of financial crisis seminars at
the World Social Forum in Belém, Brazil on 29th January 2009:
Guest blogger: Rudolf Elmer, whistleblower
Feb 13 (TJN) - Rudolf Elmer, the whistleblower in the Julius Baer
case (see him in The Guardian here) wrote a blog for us in December,
with some important suggestions for those working offshore, such as how
to spot when business is dirty. Now he has written us another one, with
a forward-looking approach.
Fiscal fireworks: Dutch to change taxation of multinationals
Feb 12 (TJN) - By a Dutch guest blogger. For several months, the
Dutch government has been preparing to change the way it taxes income
from the international financing operations of multinationals, possibly
in a rather fundamental way.
Monsieur le President - ta lutte contre les paradis fiscaux commence ici
Feb 10 (TJN) - We have few illusions that British Prime Minister
"Crash Gordon" Brown will take any such action in the very near future.
But across the Channel, political pressures are quite different.
President Sarkozy faces a far more powerful political opposition from
civil society, and tax havens have become a litmus test
Tax havens and development at SOAS
Feb 11 (TJN) - TJN's John Christensen and War on Want's Simon
MacRae will be discussing the impact of tax havens on development at
the School of Oriental and African Studies in London (Russell Square
tube) at 17h00 on Tuesday, 17th February 2009.
Tax ticking
Feb 11 (TJN) - "It's time to reward companies that pay the taxes
expected of them - and send a message to those that don't. By filling
your supermarket trolley with brands that displayed a Tax Tick, you
could do exactly that."
Africa's Bane: Tax Havens, Capital Flight and the Corruption Interface
Feb 9 (TJN) - Spain's prestigious research institute, the Real
Instituto Elcano, has just published the following peer reviewed paper
by TJN's John Christensen.
Zurich voters abolish tax breaks for rich foreigners
Feb 9 (TJN) - Zurich is to do away with tax privileges for wealthy
foreigners, a policy which has attracted a host of super-rich
celebrities to the canton. Nearly 53 per cent of voters came out in
favour of a proposal by centre-left political parties scrapping tax
perks – in the first ballot held on the issue.
Bruno Gurtner's report to the TJN Council Meeting in Belém on 28th January 2009
Feb 9 (TJN) – The the text of the Report by Swiss economist Bruno
Gurtner, Chair of TJN's Global Board of Directors, to the Tax Justice
Council Meeting held in Belém, Brazil, on 28th January 2009:
Director's Report to the Tax Justice Council Meeting
Feb 9 (TJN) - Text of the Report submitted by TJN International
Secretariat's director, John Christensen, to the Tax Justice Council
Meeting held in Belém, Brazil, on 28th January 2009:
Dutch Foreign Ministry evades tax in poor countries - NRC
Feb 8 (TJN) - The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made
payments to offshore bank accounts to pay for the housing of Dutch
diplomats in developing countries. The Ministry has illegally evaded
host country taxes and foreign exchange regulations, according to NRC
Handelsblad.
The City of London Corporation: the state within a state
Feb7 (TJN) - The City is not a London borough, and unbeknownst to
almost everybody outside the UK (and to most British people) it has its
own distinctive political representative body, the City of London
Corporation, which in addition to holding some rather unusual powers -
such as the power to organise its own police force - is probably the
most powerful and self-interested political lobby in the world.
Dutch parliament scrutinizes new tax treaties
Feb 7 (TJN) - In the Netherlands in the past, new tax treaties used
to be silently approved in parliament. This is no longer the case. Two
opposition parties have now requested that two tax treaties with
Bahrain and Qatar in 2008 are discussed and explicitly approved by
parliament before the treaties enter into force.
It's time to come clean on taxes
Feb 6 (TJN) - Richard Murphy, Senior Adviser to TJN, has just
published another comment article in The Guardian. On accounting, TJN
and much more.
Tax, corporate responsibility and the UK's Cooperative Bank
Feb 6 (TJN) - The Cooperative Bank, TJN’s bank, has an Ethical
Policy Statement on tax and business, which reads as follows: “We will
not finance organisations that take an irresponsible approach to the
payment of tax in the least developed countries.”
UK fraud office halts Kenya probe
Feb 6 (TJN) - The UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has terminated
its probe into the "Anglo Leasing affair", one of Kenya's biggest
corruption cases. The SFO said it halted the probe after Kenya failed
to produce evidence to try suspects. But the Kenyan justice minister
said British laws favour those involved in corruption.
New UK parliament motions - on banks and accountants
Feb 5 (TJN) – Following one Early Day Motion in the UK parliament,
calling for a wholesale review of the tax system, two more have
appeared, on banks, and on accountants. The first was based on research
by TJN's Richard Murphy.
Swiss bankers versus democracy
Feb 5 (TJN) - Konrad Hummler, president of the Swiss private bankers'
association has called Germany, France and Italy "illegitimate states",
whose citizens had no protection from excessive taxes. We are so
allergic to the Germans... because the Germans have the feeling that
citizens belong to the state. There is a very old, very deep worry of
the Swiss people against the Germans - it goes back to history,
especially the second world war."
Dutch royals look to Guernsey
Feb 5 (TJN) - The Dutch newspaper Volkskrant has popped open a new
story about the Royal Family's tax affairs. It has a curious twist in
it, with one of their defenders arguing that her use of a Guernsey
trust to dodge tax is defensible, because she has an eye problem.
Piggery and jealousy in Switzerland: referendum
Feb 5 (TJN) - On a referendum in the Canton of Zurich about special tax
breaks given to rich foreigners, which one wealthy Swiss industrialist
calls “a
piggery . . . a scandal.”
TJN's Dictionary of Offshore Obfuscation
FEB 5 (TJN) - Last August we produced a light-hearted Dictionary of
Offshore Obfuscation. We will add terms, and make this page into our
evolving dictionary, and we'll store it on our permanent archive.
front_content.php?idcatart=134
Motion in UK parliament on Guardian series
Feb 5 (TJN) - A British parliamentarian has tabled an "early day
motion" (to be debated "on an early day") applauding the Guardian's
serialised coverage of the tax avoidance industry and its cost to the
New UK parliament motions - on banks and accountants
Feb 6 (TJN) – Another two Early Day Motions in parliament, calling
(among other things) for a wholesale review of the tax system. The
first is based on research into banks by TJN's Richard Murphy; the
second is on accountants.
Taxwash
Feb 4 (TJN) - The Guardian may have coined a new phrase (unless
someone can think of a better one.) Taxwash. "You've heard plenty of
"greenwash" from companies declaring environmentally friendly
credentials, often on the back of questionable third party
endorsements. But just like greenwash, the official endorsement doesn't
tell the whole story of the company's record. Unless readers can think
of a better term, let's call it "taxwash".
Letter to Planet Jersey
Feb 4 (TJN) - TJN’s John Christensen responds to blog comments on
his performance on BBC’s Panorama programme, arguing that he’s out of
touch, has a chip on his shoulder, and so on.
Guardian investigation: archive
Feb 4 (TJN) - Today is day three of the two-week Guardian
investigation into tax, tax avoidance and evasion, and tax havens. A
lot of stuff has been coming out, and will come out. On this page we
will permanently archive all the stories from this series, and we'll
link to it from our home page and from our permanent archive page so it
will be easy to find in future. So this page will grow over the coming
two weeks. We will add new stories at the top when they emerge.
US nominations: Daschle and Geithner
Feb4 (TJN) – On a New York Times editorial: "When President Obama
nominated former Senator Tom Daschle to be his secretary of health and
human services, it seemed to be a good choice. . . . Unfortunately, new
facts have come to light — involving his failure to pay $128,000 in
taxes. . . . the failure to pay taxes is attributed to unintentional
oversights. But Mr. Daschle is one oversight case too many. Update Feb
4: Daschle has withdrawn; Obama has admitted that "I screwed up."
Will Congress Make Itself a Doormat for Corporations That Avoid U.S. Taxes?
Feb 3 (TJN) - Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) in the U.S. has just
published a new report on a lobbying proposal to allow US
multinationals to repatriate assets under another tax amnesty. Backed
by a powerful statement from Senator Levin's office. “In 2004, it was
obvious to all that if we provided this sort of tax amnesty more than
once, corporations would actually have an incentive to move their
profits out of the United States.”
US' Top 400 Taxpayers, and more on Geithner
Jan 30 (TJN) - From TaxProf: "The IRS yesterday released data on
the Top 400 tax returns for 1992-2006, which show a marked increase in
the average amount of AGI and investment income reported by the Top 400
taxpayers over this 15-year period, along with a startling decrease in
their average tax rate from 26.4% to 17.2%.
Zambia caves in on mineral taxes
Jan 30 (TJN) - Richard Murphy recently had a blog entitled "Please
Don't Do It Zambia - You Must Tax Copper." Now we've just noticed this,
on Reuters: "Zambia said on Friday it would scrap the controversial 25
percent windfall tax this year to cushion its key copper mining
industry from the impact of the global financial crisis.
German anti-tax haven law - more details
Jan 30 (TJN) - We recently blogged some preliminary news stories
about possible new German anti-tax haven legislation. We can now offer
a seven-page "description and critical notes" analysis of this draft
legislation produced by TJN. Click here for the full details.
UK banks must come clean on tax haven activities, says TUC
Jan 30 (TJN) - Britain's Trades Union Congress (TUC) has called on
UK banks to come clean on their tax haven activities. A TUC analysis of
company reports and returns (prepared by TJN’s Richard Murphy) shows
that the big banks have numerous subsidiaries in tax havens and that
one, in an apparent breach of company law, has not revealed its
subsidiaries.
News from the Tax Justice Council Meeting in Belem, Brazil
Jan 28 (TJN) - The Tax Justice Network has just held its biennial
Council Meeting here in Belem, Brazil. The Tax Justice Council Meeting
is the highest level decision making body of the global network. More
details in this brief blog, and more to follow.
UN crime chief says drug money flowed into banks
Jan 27 (TJN) - The United Nations' crime and drug watchdog has
indications that money made in illicit drug trade has been used to keep
banks afloat in the global financial crisis, its head was quoted as
saying on Sunday.
Hedge fund reform to bring investors to their senses
Jan 27 (TJN) - Professor Sol Picciotto, a senior adviser to TJN, has
co-written a letter that appears in the Financial Times. We are
delighted to reproduce it in full.
Letter from Washington
Jan 26 (TJN) - Today's blogger has just returned home from a trip
to the United States, where the high point of the trip involved
standing on the Mall in a chilly Washington D.C. on January 20 watching
the inauguration of President Barack Obama.
Brussels looks for lost VAT in the Channel
Jan 25 (Tax Research UK) - Some of the leading online CD and DVD
retailers in the UK continue to avoid taxes, depriving Treasury coffers
of hundreds of millions of pounds and pushing many independent music
stores out of business. Richard Murphy looks into why the Treasury
turns a blind eye to this tax abuse.
New German anti-tax haven law
Jan 21 (TJN) - We are getting reports of new German anti-tax haven
legislation. According to the Suddeutsche Zeitung (translation here ),
German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck "wants a massive tightening of
laws directed at states that promote tax evasion and which deny
co-operation with the German authorities."
Tax Justice Focus – THE NEXT STEPS EDITION
http://taxjustice.blogspot.com/2009/01/tax-justice-focus-next-steps-edition_14.html
Jan 14 (TJN) – In case you missed it.
Global Task Force Links Financial Integrity and Economic Development
http://taxjustice.blogspot.com/2009/01/global-task-force-links-financial.html
Jan 17 (TJN) - Global Financial Integrity, with which the Tax Justice Network works closely, has issued a press release on their Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development.
83% of big U.S companies, contractors use offshore tax havens
http://taxjustice.blogspot.com/2009/01/international-news-jan-17.html
Jan 17 (TJN) – From the Washington Post - the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has just issued a report showing that 83 of the 100 largest publicly traded corporations and 63 of the 100 largest federal contractors rely on offshore subsidiaries to do business and cut their tax bills.
TJN's Murphy at number 25
Jan 9 (TJN) - In a year that will shape the future of the global economy, one of the names to watch in 2009 is “Richard Murphy, tax campaigner, Tax Research Network.”
Doha - update from SOMO
Jan 12 (TJN) - In October we highlighted a report from our Dutch Colleagues SOMO called "Taxation and Financing for Development" which contains much good stuff. They have just updated it, to add their commentary on the outcomes from Doha.
Barclays and Credit Suisse under criminal investigation
Jan 12 (Tax Research UK) – Richard Murphy’s belief that banking is rotten to the core finds some justification.
Guest blogger: Letter from a whistleblower
Dec 18 (TJN) - Rudolf Elmer is one of the most well-known recent
whistleblowers of the offshore world, and he has paid a heavy personal
price. We are delighted to host him as a guest blogger on the tax
justice blog, drawn from his painful personal experiences in
Switzerland and elsewhere:
A Chill on ‘The Guardian’
Jan 2009 edition (NY Review of Books) - The most important long article
written about the celebrated Guardian vs. Tesco offshore case,
exploring the enormous implications for the world. See here for more
UK-related background on Britain's libel laws.
Doha: a cup half full
Dec 11 (TJN) – TJN’s analysis of the Doha Finance for Development meeting.
Singapore: dirty money, no questions asked
Dec 9 (TJN) - A fascinating series of three articles an opposition
political party web site in Singapore, looking at its emergence into
what it is today: a big, dirty Asian tax haven.
Tightening up on the intermediaries
Dec 16 ()TJN) - TJN has just obtained an interesting legal opinion
on whether intermediaries in one jurisdiction may help their clients
break the laws of other jurisdictions.
Illicit flows rob developing countries of $900bn a year
Dec 9 (TJN) - "The world's poorest countries lose $900bn each year
- nearly 10 times greater than the global aid budget - through illicit
flows of capital, new research shows.
These vile tax havens have had their day
Since 1997, Labour has not shown the slightest squeamishness about
allowing the Barclay brothers and their kind to avoid the taxes that
you, dear reader, must pay on pain of imprisonment. Ministers had the
sovereign power to stop them, but in the bubble years they would do
nothing that threatened the City, which routed so much of its business
offshore. The energy they put into defending rich men and rich
companies is shameful to recall.
Even in this crisis, the government still offers refuge to pinstriped pirates
Last month the British government announced that it will introduce
new laws to prevent piracy: the armed forces will be allowed to detain
ships and arrest suspected robbers on the high seas. Yet the same
government offers an attractive portfolio of tropical and temperate
islands in which pinstriped pirates can bury their treasure.
Letter from Singapore
Dec 14 (TJN) - A wonderful email to TJN from a Singaporean citizen,
taking a more personal perspective on the growing problem of Singapore
as a dirty money centre, referring to our recent blog.
Johnson's nonsense
Dec 12 (TJN) – On Boris Johnson, the clownish new mayor of London,
and his plans to turn London into more of a tax haven than it already
is.
The American offshore repatriation plan
Dec 13 (TJN) - Here's what Citizens for Tax Justice in the U.S. had
to say, in an article entitled "Congress Should Not Fall for Corporate
America's Latest "Repatriation" Plan"
The pope supports tax justice
Dec 8 (TJN) - More on the Vatican’s Reflection paper dealing with tax havens. And an Observer article about this.
The OECD and harmful regulatory competition
Dec 8 (TJN) The OECD for some years has been engaging in what is
known as its "harmful tax competition" initiative. Time for a “harmful
reguatory competition” initiative.
An Open Letter to Bob Key, the Dean of Jersey
Dec 3 (TJN) – John Christensen responds to Bob Key’s interview in the Jersey Evening Post.
The Vatican speaks out on tax havens
Dec 3 (TJN) - A few weeks ago this blogger had the good fortune to
take part in a remarkable meeting of the Pontifical Council on Justice
and Peace at the Vatican. It was remarkable in several ways, but above
all because of the quality of discussion about how market economies
depend upon trust and personal integrity.
TAX JUSTICE: Putting Global Inequality on the Agenda
Dec 2 (TJN) - A new book Tax Justice: Putting Global Inequalities
on the Agenda has been published by Pluto Press and we will be
launching it at the forthcoming World Social Forum in Belem, in January
2009.
Letter from the Isle of Man
Dec 2 (TJN) – A letter writtem by am IoM resident. Anyone living on
the IoM and wishing to join a new tax justice organisation here should
contact Phil Craine on 01624 672224 or at pcraine-at-christian-aid.org
New FFD report in Spanish
Nov 28 (TJN) - We recently blogged an important new report from
SOMO in the Netherlands, about tax and financing for development. Now
the report is available in Spanish
On the excess supply of financial services
Nov 24 (TJN) - There is a remarkable failure to acknowledge a
key element of the task before us, that is, that the financial system
HAS to shrink. Its current size is based on an unsustainable level of
debt, a big chunk of which will go bust or be renegotiated.
Soros: what to do about the crisis
Nov 24 9TJN) - The crisis was generated inside the system
itself. This fact -- that the defect was inherent in the system --
contradicts the prevailing theory that financial markets tend towards
equilibrium and that deviations from the equilibrium either occur in a
random manner or are cased by some sudden external event.
The mood is changing in Britain on tax
Nov 25 (TJN) - The new British budget represented a
re-assertion of progressive taxation: founded on the basic principle
that tax should be based on ability to pay - that is, the wealthy
should pay higher rates of tax; and it outlined a plan to look
seriously at the offshore world, in which Britain is probably more
directly and deeply implicated than any other nation on earth.
Shelter us from the mess we made
Nov 25 (TJN) - The research and advocacy group Citizens for
Tax Justice in the United States have sent a letter to offices in the
US Senate and House of Representatives urging them to reverse
legislation slipped into the US bailout package which, it has been
estimated, will result in tax tax cuts for large banks eventually
costing a total of $140 billion.
IMF paper opposes tax competition, tax incentives
Nov 21 (TJN) - A new IMF working paper has been looking at
whether using tax incentives to promote growth is a good idea. It looks
at the case from the Caribbean.
OECD to peek at Hen-Wees
Nov 21 (TJN) - The OECD is, rightly or wrongly, the world's most
powerful grouping advocating international co-operation on taxation. We
think it is potentially a great force for the good, though we have
remarked on its enormous shortcomings on several occasions in the past.
A third to a half of the world's tax havens in Europe?
Nov 18 (TJN) - Daniel Lebègue, president of Transparency
International France, has been speaking about tax havens. He is (among
other things) a former director-general of the Caisse des Dépôts (a
French public sector financial institution) and a former vice chairman
of the French bank BNP, and should know a thing or two about them.
Libya's oil money plan: distribute directly
Nov 18 (TJN) - Libya's president Muammar Gaddafi appears to be
taking interest in a revolutionary idea, but this may not be the change
he is looking for.
Bono the Artful Tax Dodger
Nov 17 (TJN) - U2 may have missed out on being named Best Act
Ever at last week's MTV awards but Bono now has another title to make
up for it: Most Artful Tax Dodger.
Bermuda, Britain, and bubble banking
Nov 17 (TJN) - Guest blogger: Prof. Sol Picciotto. This
article assumes a certain level of knowledge about banking and tax. It
is nevertheless a most useful addition to TJN’s stable of article about
the role of offshore in the current crisis.
The European Commission proposes changes to eliminate tax evasion
Nov 17 (TJN) - The European Savings Tax Directive is the best
international attempt to crack down on tax evasion. Unfortunately, it
is full of loopholes, though a new EU report on Nov 13 shows some
encouraging progress.
Radio France series on tax havens
Nov 17 (TJN) - For those of you who speak French: Radio France
has produced an important series on tax havens. Here are a number of
relevant sections.
British pound, Dutch Disease
Nov 17 (TJN) - Willem Buiter's latest salvo on the value of
Britain's Sterling currency, which has been falling rather sharply
recently, notes something that we have been writing about for some
time, namely that an excessive reliance on financial services appears
to have squeezed out other sectors that might be better placed to take
up the slack, at least in the medium term.
Tax and the 1930s depression
Nov 13 (TJN) – An article in the Economist highlights an interesting link between tax and the last depression.
We have created a new web page
Economic crisis and Offshore.” It seeks to put various different analyses that are emerging into a single space.
Please sign up
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Abolish Tax
Havens, Enact Tobin Tax & Reform CAP for an end to poverty
world-wide. Not instigated by TJN.)
UN Tax Committee - why it matters; UK backs Liechtenstein
Oct 30 (TJN) - We recently published a letter TJN has sent to
Britain's Financial Secretary to the Treasury expressing our anger at
Britain's attempts to obstruct the upgrade of the UN Tax Committee. For
those not familiar with this Committee, it is important, and we will
explain why. This blog below was written by Professor Sol Picciotto,
who attended a meeting of the UN Tax Committe in Geneva last week.
Why has the World Bank not come up with figures on illicit flows?
Oct 30 (TJN) - Perhaps one answer to the question in our headline
is that the World Bank is embarrassed that it finances tax evasion- and
corruption-systems in Lebanon and other secrecy jurisdictions.
A taxing problem
Nov 3 (TJN) - TJN's Senior Adviser, Richard Murphy, has an
excellent piece on the Guardian newspaper website today. It explains,
in a nutshell, what has gone wrong with Britain's "New Labour" economic
policies.
France vs. Britain on regulatory competition
Nov 3 (TJN) -
The FT has a decent article today looking forwards to next week's
summit in Washington considering an overhaul of the global financial
architecture. The article highlights tensions between France and
Britain about what needs to happen next.
Obama and the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act
Nov 5 (TJN) - TJN is a non-partisan organisation but we are
greatly cheered by this morning's news from the United States.
Congratulations to Barack Obama. Now the question is whether he will
live up to his campaign promises of cracking down on tax havens.
Predictions for tax policy in the new US administration
Nov 5 (TJN) - The TaxProf web site offers a series of
prognostications from fifteen academic tax experts. Each has given a
paragraph about what they see in the offing. Some are more compatible
with tax justice than others.
Magnitudes, misunderstandings and myopia
Nov 6 (TJN) - The tax writer Andrew Goodall has written a useful
blog highlighting the extraordinary lack of hard data about
cross-border illicit flows, and expressing concern about this.
Debate on the Isle of Man on Nov 24
Nov 7 (TJN) - If you are in the Isle of Man, you might be interested in the following media release
Debate in London on November 25
Nov 7 (TJN) – TJN Senior Advisor Richard Murphy will be speaking
on tax competition and its effect on the developing world in London on
November 25.
Anxious eyes in Jersey . . . and elsewhere
Nov 7 (TJN) – The election of Barack Obama to the White House has
made offshore havens and their proponents nervous, to say the least.
The tax haven debate - on TV
Oct 23 (TJN) - Daniel Mitchell of the Cato Institute has taken part
in a lively debate on France 24 international television, along with
Alex Cobham of Christian Aid, Andreas Missbach of the Berne
Declaration, and Jean Meckaert of the Comité Catholique contre la Faim
et le Développement (CCFD.)
A letter to Britain's Financial Secretary to the Treasury
TJN sends a letter to Rt Hon Stephen Timms, MP, Financial Secretary
to the Treasury, House of Commons, about Britain obstructing the
upgrade of the UN Tax Committee.
Sunday Herald on tax havens and the economic crisis
Oct 26 (TJN) - More people are waking up to the link between tax
havens and the current economic crisis, following our seminal article
in The Guardian and statements by leaders and politicians around the
world.
Apartheid companies, sanctions-busting and tax havens
Oct 29 (TJN) - We've been sent an interesting report about how
South African companies eased their tax burdens, during and after the
Apartheid era, getting special tax breaks, using shell companies in tax
havens, and so on. Featuring Jersey and many others.
New study: Rich Cheat More On Taxes
Oct 29 (TJN) - Forbes magazine quotes a new study based on
unpublished U.S. Internal Revenue Service data showing the rich are
different when it comes to paying taxes: They hide more of their income.
More people waking up to the link between tax havens and the financial crisis
Oct 23 (TJN) - We have made the case clearly why tax havens, and
tax and regulatory competition, are right at the roots of the evolving
financial crisis. We recently noted officials at the IMF and the OECD,
and the leaders of France and Germany lining up behind our analysis.
The
Effects of the Candidates' Tax Plans on Households at Different Income
Levels: Examples
New Report from Citizens for Tax Justice
October 29 (CTJ) - Examines hypothetical households representing
different income groups to determine how they would fare under the tax
plans proposed by the presidential candidates. Those in the top one
percent would have a tax increase that would be fairly small (as a
percentage of their income) under Obama's tax plan, but they would
receive breathtaking tax cuts exceeding $270,000 under McCain's plan.
Senator Obama calls time on the tax havens
Oct 29 (TJN) – TJN looks at McCain and Obama’s tax records.
Subverting corporate responsibility
Oct 29 (TJN) - Take a look at the "corporate social responsibility"
section on Wikipedia. Scroll through it for the word "tax." It suggests
that CSR is, or even should be, a good way to distract us from tax and
regulation.
Nazis and bank secrecy again
Oct 29 (TJN) - Recently we had Liechtenstein slinging the Nazi
allegation at Germany, after the German finance minister, Peer
Steinbrück, understandably criticised the little Alpine secrecy
jurisdiction for helping wealthy German citizens evade taxes. Now we've
got a new Nazi slur, this time in the form of a communiqué from the
right wing SVP party in Switzerland.
Is this what democray is made of?
Oct 29 (TJN) – A look at offshore funding for Britain's Conservative Party.
Time for lobbying transparency
Oct 29 (TJN) -On an event to be held on November 5th in London.
It's from a group called the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency, whose
primary aim is the introduction of a mandatory Parliamentary register
of lobbyists, similar to the system in the States, alongside other
measures to prevent undue influence and privileged access.
Highlight: TJN in the news - The Threat Lying Offshore
Oct 10 (TJN) - Today TJN's director, John Christensen and senior
adviser Richard Murphy have co-authored an article on the comment pages
of The Guardian newspaper, entitled: The threat lying offshore.
The threat lying offshore
Oct 10 (Guardian) - Tax havens will sabotage attempts to re-regulate global finance. Democracy demands we tackle them.
Capital flows: another threat from the secrecy world
Oct 10 (TJN) - As noted in our previous blog, we have just published an
article on the comment pages of The Guardian newspaper, noting the
threat that tax havens, or secrecy jurisdictions as we often like to
call them, pose to the world.
Tax Havens, Economic Aggression and the Race to the Bottom
Oct 17 (TJN) – TJN’s Bruno Gurtner on tax competition.
Ireland's tax rates: guest blogger
Oct 15 (TJN) - Ireland decides to keep its abusively low tax rates intact.
Britain’s toxic fiddling
Oct 15 (TJN) - The British government undermines efforts to achieve global governance in favour of the poor.
French Prime Minister attacks tax havens
Oct 15 (TJN) - French Prime Minister François Fillon that he wants tax
havens or "black holes" as he calls them, to "disappear" as a first
step towards reforming the international financial architecture.
The anomaly of nationalised banks
Oct 14 (TJN) - UK opposition spokesman points out that banks receiving
investment from the government to close their operations in offshore
tax havens. "It seems totally inappropriate for banks funded by the
taxpayer to be systematically avoiding British tax or helping customers
to do so.”
TJN in the news - again
Oct 7 (TJN) - There has been quite a flurry of tax justice commentary, and mentions of our network, in the newspapers recently.
Dirty money goes Dutch
Oct 7 (TJN) - We have been alerted to an interesting article in de
Volkskrant, the major left-of-the-centre newspaper in the Netherlands.
It is in Dutch, but you can find a (slightly comical but more or less
comprehensible) automatic translation of it here; the original article
in Dutch is here.
Tax is where the environment was 10 years ago
Oct 8 (TJN) - The headline to this blog is a direct quote from Jeffrey
Owens, quoted in an FT story in November 2004. It is a long and
detailed story, quoting TJN on several occasions, dating from November
2004.
Switching to the barbarians
Oct 8 (TJN) - Just added to our quotations page: a comment from the 5th
Century. Rather interesting in light of current market turmoil, what
has preceded it, and what might come after (which we worried about in
our last blog).
On extending public ownership
Oct 8 (TJN) - A few weeks ago you would not have seen sentences in the
Financial Times even hinting at public ownership. How times change.
Gazprom and bean-counters without a conscience
Oct 9 (TJN) - Edward Lucas has an interesting piece in the FT about Russia's geo-political ambitions.
A Facebook for multilateral economic diplomacy
Oct 9 (TJN) - World Bank president Robert Zoellick has said that the
current financial turmoil is a "wake-up call" highlighting the need for
a new multilateralism to replace structures built on 20th Century
models which have not kept pace with the changes wrought by globalised
markets.
The Steers
Oct 13 (TJN) - TJN is in the news, again. This time we're in The
Observer newspaper. In the web version, it's under a section called
"The Steers" - although in the print version it's under a section
called "The Seers" - which I guess we prefer.
U.K. Banks Should Shut Tax Haven Units, Cable Says (Update1)
Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) - The U.K. Treasury should tell banks receiving
investment from the government to close their operations in offshore
tax havens, said Vince Cable, a Liberal Democrat lawmaker who speaks on
finance.
Europe and the anti-states
Sep 13 (TJN) – Observations about the European Savings Tax Directive.
We are not a tax haven
Sep 10 (TJN) – All the world’s tax havens, it seems, like to say “We are not a tax haven.”
Tax: the Cinderella issue
Sep 11 (TJN) – An outline of some of the recommendations made
by TJN’s director John Christensen, speaking in Brussels at a meeting
organised by the French government on behalf of France's presidency of
the European Council, in the context of preparing for the Doha finance
for Development conference later this year.
Quotations
Sept 8 (TJN) - TJN has slowly been building up an archive of
quotations, to which new ones are being added all the time. The page,
which contains nearly 200 quotations so far, is here.
Tax justice and the superclass
Sep 11 (TJN) – That big business was a major contributor to
George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign was no surprise. But seen
from a TJN point of view, an interesting pattern begins to take shape.
Tax "whorehouse" slings Nazi allegation
Sep 11 (TJN) – Crown Prince Hans-Adam II levels some rather
strong allegations against the German government, and sparks begin to
fly…
Troika of Bolsheviks
Sep 12 (TJN) - Nouriel Roubini, a former Cassandra now widely
regarded as a presient sage -- the "Dr. Doom" we recently blogged - has
just published an article about the US government rescue of the
mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, effectively the biggest
nationalisation in history.
UBS aims for speedy US deal
September 14 (FT) - UBS, the Swiss bank, is trying to strike a
settlement with the US over alleged breaches by its offshore
private-banking unit for rich Americans within the next fortnight, in
time for its shareholders’ meeting on October 2.
Swiss finmin urges UBS not to breach bank secrecy
Sept 13 (Reuters) - Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz
has warned UBS not to breach Swiss banking secrecy rules by handing
over client details to US authorities investigating tax evasion.
Jersey’s tax morality
The Jersey Evening Post has reported that: “Forcing [tax
exile] residents to pay more tax would be immoral.” So said Treasury
Minister Terry le Sueur. The man has a strange perception of morality.
Cable brands tax avoidance 'corrosive'
Sep 15 (Accountancy Age) - Tax avoidance is 'deeply corrosive
of the ethical basis of taxation,' the according to the shadow
chancellor (shadow Finance Minister) of the Liberal Democrats,
Britain’s third party, as he unveiled a package of anti-avoidance
measures at the party's conference.
Quotations
Sept 8 (TJN) - TJN has slowly been building up an archive of
quotations, to which new ones are being added all the time. The page,
which contains nearly 200 quotations so far, is here.
Guest blogger: tax and health
Sept 9 (TJN) - The Commission on Social Determinants of Health
(CSDH), set up by the World Health Organisation, may seem an unlikely
source of support for reform of international rules on taxation. But
the Commission’s report goes far beyond the immediate causes of ill
health to the “causes of the causes”.
America's wages - the big story
Sept 4 (TJN) - The wages of America’s richest citizens are
fallilng. Why? It’s being more than made up for by their capital
incomes. . . The share of adjusted gross income due to wages was 82
percent in 1980. By 2000 it was down to 70 percent, and in 2006 it
slipped to 68 percent of all income."
Should donors cap aid in Africa?
Sept 3 (TJN) - On an FT article. "Donors collectively set an
upper limit on the amount of aid they give to any developing country,
at 50 per cent of the tax revenue the aid-receiving government gets
from its citizens, non-coercively and excluding mineral revenues.
Governments of non-mineral countries would depend for revenue mainly on
their citizens, and give them incentives to pay attention mainly to
what citizens want, not donors. Building on Mick Moore’s work. See
debate in the FT Economists’ Forum here.
Inverted corporations
Sept 5 (TJN) - UK opposition shadow chancellor writtes to
British chancellor (finance minister) saying that companies are leaving
because corporation tax is too high. Richard Murphy shows this reflects
a "staggering admission of lack of understanding of how the tax system
works." Simplifying a tax research blog.
Not on my watch, please
Sept 3 (TJN) - Many people, including a number of readers of
this blog, will not have read the last edition of our newsletter, Tax
Justice Focus. It focused strongly, but not entirely, on the links
between tax havens and the current international financial crisis. With
apologies to those who did read the editorial for that edition, here it
is again, very slightly modified for blogging purposes.
A Wealth of Opportunities in Turbulent Times: Global Wealth 2008
Sept 2008 (Boston Consulting Group) - In 2007, global wealth
grew by 4.9% to $109.5 trillion, the sixth consecutive year of
expanding wealth. Equities accounted for $43.5 trillion. From 2002-2007
wealth owned by $5m+ HNWIs grew by 15.7% annually, from $10.1trn to
$20.9 trn. Offshore wealth accounted for 28% of assets in Middle
East/Africa; 24% Latin America, 10% in Asia-Pacific, 9% in Europe, 1%
Japan, 2% North America; in 2007 offshore wealth increased 8.4% to $7.3
trn according to their (narrow) definitions.
Africa's tax - exciting developments
Sept 1 (TJN) - From the high level ‘Tax Africa. International
Conference on Taxation, State Building and Capacity Development’ in
Pretoria on 28-29th August. Both the communiqué itself, and the spirit
of the meeting, “amount to more than we thought possible.” There was a
very strong consensus around (a) the notion that taxation is part of
state-building, not just a technical issue; (b) that domestic resources
are better than aid; and (c) that this is an African agenda that will
be taken forward by Africans (with donor support).
The meaning of competition
Sept 2 (TJN) - "Promoting competition between states is both
illogical and an inherently flawed concept: the theory of competition
is based on the idea that those participating can fail. We all know
that if states fail the consequences for those living within them,
around them, and for the world at large are catastrophic.
Sarkozy on tax havens, and more
A speech by French President Nicolas Sarkozy critical of tax havens.
Macavity and the hitch-hiker's guide to nowhere
Aug 28 (TJN) - Most offshore tax evasion schemes employ
multi-jurisdictional structures carefully designed to avoid regulation,
by ensuring that transactions occur on paper outside the scope of the
regulatory authorities of the jurisdictions in question. "This should
be regulated elsewhere" really means: "This will be regulated nowhere."
In Africa, pay more attention to tax - IMF
Aug 25 (TJN) – The IMF makes the case for paying more attention to
domestic taxation in Africa, and draws contrasts with foreign aid. Tax
“creates pressure for more accountability, better governance, and
improved efficiency of government spending,” it curbs “Dutch Disease”
effects; it contributes to economic stability; it helps countries adapt
to globalisation. And more.
Stiglitz calls for tax havens to be closed down
Aug 25 (TJN) - Germany's Suddeutsche Zeitung has carried an
interview with Joseph Stiglitz, a former chief economist for the World
Bank and controversial best-selling author. In an article entitled
"Wall St. has lost the war of words", Stiglitz calls for coordinated
worldwide action against tax havens because single actions against
jurisdictions such as Liechtenstein or Monaco may simply make money
move to other havens.
Fireworks at Jackson Hole
Aug 25 (TJN) - Stanley Fischer, a former IMF Deputy Managing
Director and now Bank of Israel governor, made a dramatic gesture at
the US Federal Reserve's annual symposium in Jackson Hole, after a
hard-hitting speech by Professor Willem Buiter of the London School of
Economics. "I asked the organizers for some technical assistance in
dealing with this discussion,'' Fischer said, holding up a fire
extinguisher.
Corruption and The American Interest - Part II
Aug 22 (TJN) - We recently highlighted a long article about
corruption in The American Interest magazine, written by TJN's director
John Christensen, Raymond Baker and Nicholas Shaxson, a consultant to
TJN. We are now able to provide a link that will give readers access to
the full article -
http://www.the-american-interest.com/ai2/article-bd.cfm?Id=466&MId=21
.
Dr Doom and the offshore dictionary
Aug 20 (TJN) – A New York Times profile of Nouriel Roubini,
economics professor and purveyor of gloomy economic predictions. But
the predictions of this “permabear” are surprisingly close to the mark,
and this may be due to the rise of “negotiable language,” or what the
TJN terms offshore obfuscation. Featuring TJN’s expanding offshore
dictionary.
Swiss close case against Zardari; $60 mln unfrozen
Aug 26 (Reuters) - Swiss judicial authorities said on Tuesday they
had closed a money-laundering case against Pakistani presidential
candidate Asif Ali Zardari and released $60 million frozen in Swiss
accounts over the past decade.
Opportunity makes the thief
Aug 21 (TJN) – TJN’s John Christensen has been speaking at the
high-level Alpbach Forum in the Austrian Tirol. He gave the key note
speech at a panel discussion on Tax Havens and Tax Evasion, sharing the
podium with Prinz Nikolaus von und zu Liechtenstein. See John’s speech
here:
upload/pdf/Alpbach_0808_-_JC_speech.pdf
Secrecy jurisidictions are an abuse of the market
Aug 25 (Tax Research UK) – Richard Murphy muses on right wing
blogs, their somewhat loose grasp on reality, and their occasional
offensiveness.
Switzerland can’t have it both ways
Aug 25 (Tax Research UK) – Richard Murphy: don’t underestimate the
significance of what is happening here: what is developing is a test of
whether a country has the right to impose its tax law on its own
citizens. If Switzerland refuses to co-operate we have a breakdown in
international law and order. More than that, we have one OECD member
states effectively declaring economic warfare on another.
Feeble Labour folds in the face of anti-tax paranoia
Aug 26 (Guardian) – The UK Labour party should be taking on the
cheating and avoidance of the super-rich. Instead they cower in their
caves. Even in high times, Labour had no backbone for facing down
business interests or anti-tax lobbies. Massed ranks in the City warn
that windfall taxes will frighten companies into relocating. Revenue
& Customs, though, is more sanguine.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies fisked
Aug 19 (Guardian) - A thinktank that claims to be unbiased is
promoting dangerous tax policies that will widen the gap between rich
and poor. By Richard Murphy.
Country-by-Country reporting: UNCTAD supports it
http://taxjustice.blogspot.com/2008/08/country-by-country-reporting-unctad.html
Aug 19 (TJN) – UNCTAD states that:
"Indicators should be reported on a nationally consolidated basis, so that
they are useful to stakeholders within a specific country, and so that the
indicators can be understood within the context of a specific country. . . . National
data, rather than globally consolidated data, should also improve the
usefulness and comparability of information" This is just what we have
been arguing.
Offshore: is it growing, or shrinking?
http://taxjustice.blogspot.com/2008/08/offshore-is-it-growing-or-shrinking.htm
Aug 18 (TJN) - "The
wealth of the world's high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs1) increased 9.4 percent
to US $40.7 trillion in 2007. There are
no consolidated figures for the growth in offshore assets - but for those that
do, it is clear that the rate of increase in banking, trust and fund assets
dramatically outpaces McKinsey's global figure.
Are investment banks bad
taxpayers?
http://taxjustice.blogspot.com/2
008/08/are-investment-banks-bad-taxpayers.html
Aug 18 (TJN) – A look at the problem of carried-forward losses, and the
creation of corporate non-doms.
Is the penny dropping?
http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2008/08/18/is-the-penny-dropping/
Aug 18 (Tax Research UK)
- Richard Murphy argues against the current forms of consolidated financial statements.
The OECD Harmful Tax Competition Report: A Tenth
Anniversary Retrospective
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1194942
Aug 1 (SSRN) By Reuven S.
Avi-Yonah - Ten years ago the OECD published its report on Harmful Tax
Competition: An Emerging Global Issue. The OECD initiative has met considerable
resistance and in some ways has fallen short of its goals. This paper argues
that it has been worthwhile and has achieved some success. The paper outlines
some future directions for the project.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies fisked
Aug 19 (Guardian) – The media often seeks comment from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and often
call it "independent" or "non-partisan". Richard Murphy
examines its latest report, which suggests abolishing tax on all corporate
profits, on interest, on wealth and on half of all dividends (as is likely)
whilst at the same time suggesting VAT be charged on all food and promoting a
massive increase in VAT in general, when that tax is known to be heavily
regressive.
UN pushes higher priority for tax
cooperation
Aug 12 (TJN) Highly promising
signals are now emerging from the United Nations, which is preparing a summit
meeting of world leaders in Doha
in November-December this year. Several crucial issues that TJN has been
pushing for are now firmly on the agenda.
Political Philosophy & Taxation: An Interdisciplinary Conference 11-12 September
2008, UCL
This conference on Political
Philosophy and Taxation will address how states’ activities should best be
funded. It brings together leading political philosophers and other scholars
working at the intersection of political philosophy, economics, law and social
policy. It will cover tax in political philosophy, and facilitate
interdisciplinary dialogue. The list of speakers is impressive. Featuring TJN’s
Richard Murphy.
18,857 firms: one registered address. Ugland House goes to Washington
Jul 25 (TJN) - The U.S. Government Accountability Office
states that Ugland House, George Town, Cayman Islands, whose sole tenant is the law firm Maples
& Calder, is now the registered office of 18,857 distinct legal entities.
Featuring TJN senior adviser Jack Blum, whose testimony can be see here: http://finance.senate.gov/hearings/other/hearing072408.ram
Sub-prime - a crisis in journalism?
Jul 25 (TJN) - In an important article, independent
journalist Paul Lashmar, has explored how newspapers and other media covered
the developments in the financial markets which led up to the sub-prime crisis
in 2007.
Swiss lawyer urges governments to help tax evaders
"come clean"
Jul 24 (TJN) - Philip Marcovici, partner in Zurich of one of the
largest international law firms, stresses that “[wealth] owners need to
understand that non-compliance with tax laws is simply not an option in today’s
environment. Breaking the law carries criminal, financial and reputational
risks”.
The challenge offshore banking poses
Jul 25 (Tax Research UK)
- James Henry has written an amazing article in the US magazine The Nation regarding
the US Senate hearings on UBS and LGT. It’s lengthy, and I recommend it in
full, but I select some elements here. Read the full story here http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080804/henry
Tax havens and the financial crisis
July 15 (TJN) - In a few years, we shall look back at this time as one
that redefined the landscape of the US financial system and, by
association, the workings of global capital markets. What roles have
tax havens played in this gigantic, unfolding global mess? Some
important recent pointers can be found here. But we will also be
turning to this in the next edition of Tax Justice Focus, due out in
the next few days.
Research workshop papers
July 10 (TJN) - The Association for Accountancy and Business Affairs,
which hosts the Offshore Watch site, held a most successful conference
at Essex University in the UK on July 3-4, in partnership with the Tax
Justice Network and the Centre for Global Accountability. The papers
are available here.
Nigeria's Blood Oil
July 9 (TJN) - "We have to put in place a tracking system. This is not
a new idea. In 2003, Shell proposed the certification of oil exports
based on chemical fingerprinting to prevent stolen oil being sold on
the open market. Companies operating in Nigeria have the technology to
trace oil to individual flow stations.
Gazillions
July 8 (TJN) – On a review of a book by the award-winning journalist
Misha Glenny. “He ends with a call for action. The task, which no
government wants to confront, is to regulate the global markets and
above all the financial markets. National governments (including the
British) which issue sanctimonious statements about global crime must
start by closing down their offshore banking centres.
Mitchell's miracle in Iceland
July 2 (TJN) - Last August, Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute and the
Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation issued a press release
about the virtues of Iceland's low-tax, flat-tax economic model. But is
Iceland really doing as well as espoused?
The UN is failing on international tax - so the OECD calls the shots
June
20 (TJN) - Dries Lesage of Ghent University, who was part of TJN's
delegation to the UN Tax Committee in Geneva in late 2007, has recently
published a new report about the role of the UN in international tax
and the financing for development (FfD) process around Doha.
Tax and the IMF's policy advice
June
19 (TJN) - IMF advice to developing countries on aspects of tax
policies appears to have contributed strongly to inequality, according
to a new briefing paper prepared for the Bretton Woods Project by three
researchers at the London School of Economics.
International Accounting Standards, again
June
20 (TJN) - We have already reported several times on the International
Accounting Standards Board (IASB) TJN's Richard Murphy has now been in
discussions with the IASB. He describes what happens, in his latest
blog.
UK calls for international co-operation on tax
June 12 (TJN) - The UK has had a long record in obstructing
international co-operation on tax. Britain is, in fact, responsible for
setting up some of the world's most abusive tax systems. So we are
exceedingly pleased to see Her Majesty's Treasury speaking out about
the need for international co-operation on tax.
Liechtenstein, witness protection, and the Mafia
June 11 (TJN) - A mysterious website has issued a US$7-million
bounty for a now-famous whistleblower, Henirich Kieber, who recently
broke open the supposedly impregnable bank secrecy of the tax haven of
Liechtenstein, which for years has helped itself to other nations' tax
dollars and taxable incomes and now seems to feel affronted when other
nations find out about the crimes that it has facilitated.
The Incidence Brigade
June 11 (TJN) - Greg Mankiw of Harvard University has wheeled out
an old argument about tax incidence: that “a corporation is not really
a taxpayer at all. It is more like a tax collector.” Richard Murphy
calls these people "the Incidence Brigade".
A carbon audit of the tax code
June 11 (TJN) - U.S. Senator Max Baucus has introduced legislation
. . . as described earliler "The Carbon Audit of the United States Tax
Code by the National Academy of Sciences would involve a review of the
tax code to identify those tax provisions and policies that have the
greatest influence on the generation of carbon emissions and other
greenhouse gases and to estimate the magnitude of those effects.
Martin Wolf on Tax Competition - again
June 6 (TJN) – FT’s Martin Wolf responds to TJN’s John Christensen
on tax competition, mostly but not entirely in agreement with TJN’s
views.
Nigerian politicians using tax havens
June 6 (TJN) - The well-informed insider newsletter Africa
Confidential has reported on the financial affairs of James Ibori,
former governor of Nigeria's Delta state and a key political
contributor. Take a look at the police document from Southwark Crown
Court, which is here.
On singing parakeets and tax evaders
June 6 (TJN) - Under pressure from the authorities, UBS is
considering whether to divulge the names of up to 20,000 of its
well-heeled American clients, according to people close to the inquiry,
a step that would have once been unthinkable to Swiss bankers, whose
traditions of secrecy date to the Middle Ages. A former UBS banker is
in a court in Florida will, a former client said, "sing like a
parakeet." See also:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/business/worldbusiness/06tax.html?_r=2&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Corporation taxes, growth and "tax incidence"
June 5 (TJN) - A new report from the Washington-based Center on
Budget and Policy Priorities. The new report's key findings are as
follows.
Time for Tax Justice
June 3 (TJN) - An important meeting on tax justice to be held in
London on July 2. If you want to attend, register quickly, as demand
for places is likely to be high. It features Angela Eagle MP, Exchequer
Secretary to the Treasury; Brendan Barber, General Secretary, Trades
Union Congress; Polly Toynbee, Columnist, The Guardian; Richard Murphy,
Director, Tax Research
Revenue risk spurs rethink on common tax base
June 10 (FT) - Britain may weaken its opposition to a European
Commission plan for a common corporate tax base in the hope that it
would stem the tide of multinationals moving their tax domicile to
Ireland, according to Brussels lobbyists.
A step towards better transparency in the U.S.
June 3 (TJN) - We bring to your attention a new bill
introduced by U.S. Congressman Barney Frank, called the "Extractive
Industries Transparency Disclosure Act." It is a fine piece of
legislative work.
Europe wants to regulate hedge funds and private equity
June 2 (TJN) - The European Parliament recently published a
draft report on hedge funds and private equity. We blogged on some of
the core principles not so long ago, arguing that "the whole process is
subsidised by our tax systems – and this is one of the keys to their
profits. The European Parliament seems to agree with us.
Five Canadian banks skirting their responsibilities
June 2 (TJN) - Canada's five largest banks have avoided $16
billion in tax over the last 15 years, according to new research from
the University of Quebec at Montreal. Report (in French) here.
Capital Flight from poor countries: new report
May 28 (TJN) - A new report has just been published on capital
flight out of poor countries, compiled and published by the
non-governmental groups Eurodad, WEED, CRBM and the Bretton Woods
Project.
Magnitudes: dirty money, lost taxes and offshore The magnitudes section of the TJN website is slowly but steadily being expanded. More information is now available. Comments welcome.
Top EU politicians: under-regulation, inadequate supervision, an undersupply of public goods
May 27 (TJN) - Thomson-Reuters has reported on a new letter
sent by top European politicians and notables about the financial
crisis and their frustration that the European Commission has largely
opted for industry-led solutions to rectify flaws highlighted by market
turbulence." The signatories include some of the biggest names in
European political life of recent years.
Bono, Baker and the snow globe
We would like to highlight a new documentary film about tax
havens. Featuring TJN's John Christensen, Raymond Baker of Global
Financial Integrity, Richard Murphy, and many more, it was broadcast
recently on France 2 television, and gained a large audience and
generated significant debate in France. It shows the Irish singer Bono
being presented with a snow globe - representing a tax haven. In French.
Tax competition: TJN in FT Economists' forum
May 26 (TJN) - TJN’s John Christensen writes a comment piece
about tax competition and co-operation in the Financial Times’
prestigious Economists’ forum, responding primarily to an article
written by the FT’s chief economics commentator Martin Wolf.
Switzerland: attacking our democracies
May 26 (TJN) – Looking at a telling quote from a Swiss banker:
a perfect example of how tax havens justify their barbed intervention
into other nations’ democratic processes.
Magnitudes: dirty money, lost taxes and offshore
The magnitudes section of the TJN website is slowly but
steadily being expanded. More information is now available. Comments
welcome.
EU Savings Tax Directive - Part 2
May 15 (TJN) - We have just blogged on the meeting of European
finance ministers on the Savings Tax Directive - a vitally important,
if flawed, tool against international tax evasion. We can report
significant progress.
Tax evasion 'costs the lives of 1,000 children a day'
Guardian (May 12) - Illegal tax evasion by companies is
depriving the developing world of $160bn (£82bn) a year, which could be
used to prevent the deaths of 1,000 children every day, Christian Aid
says today. (The Christian Aid report is here:
http://christianaid.org.uk/images/deathandtaxes.pdf )
Press release: Equitable Taxation Not Aid Will End The Looting Of Africa: TJN For Africa
A TJN4Africa press release, with recommendations for
change.From a well-attended tax justice seminar held in Zambia. Times
of Zambia report is here:
http://www.times.co.zm/news/viewnews.cgi?category=11&id=1210666909
Zambia and British banks
May 19 (TJN) - The Zambian government says it has recovered
money and assets worth nearly $60m stolen during the rule of former
President Frederick Chiluba. The allegedly stolen money passed through
bank accounts in London. An older story from the Times of Zambia
mentions Jersey, the Isle of Man, Belgium, and elsewhere. Also see:
http://www.times.co.zm/news/viewnews.cgi?category=2&id=118111991
Charles Taylor again, and Citibank
May 8
(TJN) - We bring you an update on investigations into the financial
affairs of the former Liberian strongman Charles Taylor. The Special
Court's chief prosecutor, Stephen Rapp, said a London law firm working
with the court had found records of two bank accounts in Taylor's name
at Citibank in New York.
and http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L08919636.htm
Taxation and Governance in Africa
April - AEI - Taxation is an underrated tool in the effort to
build more capable and responsive states. Democracies are built not
only on periodic elections but also on a social contract based on
bargaining over the collection and spending of public revenue. A
discussion of foreign aid and taxation, and more.
Financial secrecy in America, abetting war criminals
May 5 (TJN) - US Senators Carl Levin and Barack Obama
(Democrats) and Senator Norm Coleman (Republican) have introduced a
bill "to protect the United States from U.S. corporations being misused
to commit terrorism, money laundering, tax evasion, or other
misconduct." Who has the U.S., through its secrecy and other tax haven
activities, been inviting to bank in the U.S.? Here's a new one:
Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia. Also see:
http://obama.senate.gov/press/080501-obama_joins_lev/
http://levin.senate.gov/newsroom/release.cfm?id=297089
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7379536.stm - BBC on Charles Taylor moneyin U.S. banks.
Six hundred billion drained from Africa
New research has just emerged from the University of
Massachusets, Amherst, about the astonishing scale of capital flight
from Africa. As the research on 40 African countries estimates: Real
capital flight over the 35-year period amounted to about $420 billion
(in 2004 dollars) for the 40 countries as a whole. Including imputed
interest earnings, the accumulated stock of capital flight was about
$607 billion as of end-2004.
Global corruption benefits rich nations, says church report
April 21 – ENI - Rich nations are the real beneficiaries of the "boom
industry" of global corruption that is making the world's poor even
poorer. That is the central finding of a new report, "From Corruption
to Good Governance", about global bribery and malpractice, by the
Uniting Church in Australia. The report calls for an all-out attack on
tax havens that, it asserts, help wealthy individuals and businesses
prosper at the expense of the poor.
Murphy vs. Mitchell
April 17 – TJN - Reproducing Richard Murphy’s speech at Fort Lauderdale.
THE DELAWARE LLC - IT’S GOT TO GO
April 18 – Tax Research - One of the big issues at the
conference I’ve been at this week has been the role of jurisdictions
like Delaware in the USA, where LLCs (Limited Liability Company) can be
incorporated for a few hundred dollars at most that provide many of the
secrecy features that tax haven jurisdictions provide. If you don’t
believe me look at this list from a web site selling these entities.
Financial markets tax could aid world’s poor
April 16 – FT - A tax of one-hundredth of a percentage point on global
financial transactions could provide hundreds of billions of dollars
for developing countries facing the challenges of soaring commodity
prices and climate change, the United Nations heard this week.
Tax Justice Focus – THE DOHA EDITION
April 7 – TJN - The first quarter 2008 edition of Tax Justice
Focus (TJF) is a special edition focusing on the preparations for the
United Nations meeting on Finance for Development in Doha, Qatar, from
November 29-December 2, 2008. It is edited by Nicholas Shaxson and John
Christensen.
Country by Country reporting: briefing paper
April 2 – TJN - The Tax Justice Network has published a new briefing paper
setting out the case for Country by Country reporting. No single
legislative measure would do more to make multinational corporations
(MNCs) more transparent, and its costs would be negligible when
compared to the dividends for the citizens of rich and poor countries.
The Precarious State of Public Finances
We would like to highlight a new report published in January and
entitled "The Precarious State of Public Finance: Tax evasion, capital
flight and the misuse of public money in developing countries – and
what can be done about it."
Doha, and a perfect storm of tipping points
March 27 – TJN - The UN General Assembly has mandated that a
conference on Financing for Development (FFD) is to take place on
November 29-December 2 this year in Doha, Qatar. In the coming days,
TJN will be publishing its latest edition of our quarterly newsletter
Tax Justice Focus (TJF), which will focus on the road to Doha.
Big trouble on treasure island
March 21 – TJN - Britain's Guardian newspaper has been to
Jersey recently, and written a long and thoughtful article about what
it really means to live in a tax haven.
Wikileaks and Wall Street
March
20 – TJN - A confidential memo obtained by Wikileaks shows that not
only has the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission created an insider
trading loophole big enough to drive a truck through, but that Wall
Street is taking full advantage of it, establishing 'how-to' programs
and even client service divisions to help well-heeled clients
circumvent insider trading regulations.
On hedge funds and the taxpayer
March 20 – TJN - We have a couple of problems with hedge
funds. As a general principle, we're not opposed to people getting rich
(although income and wealth inequality are political problems which
worry us too). But we do worry when the tax system subsidises wealth.
How does this happen? In a couple of ways.
Tax Havens: a challenge to Christian values?
Reporting on a remarkable outbreak of introspection and honesty from within a tax haven.
The Taxpayers' Alliance
TJN and the Taxpayers' Alliance share some common ground:
simplicity on tax is one shared objective, for example. But much of
what they say makes them look like a lobby group for those advocating
tax loopholes. With an excursion into the failings of British
journalism.
The “competitive advantage” of tax havens
Many successful businessmen and bankers feel entitled to live
(at least for tax purposes) in the offshore world, while working in the
onshore economy. This is the classic free-rider position: benefiting
from the public goods provided by the onshore world while making little
or no contribution to their provision. The “competitive advantage” of
offshore financial centres rests on the willingness of larger states to
tolerate their free-riding.
Watching the detectives
March 14 – Guardian – by Prem Sikka - The subprime crisis
should teach us to keep a much closer eye on company auditors from now
on. Carlyle Capital: the auditors on 27 February 2008 gave the company
a clean bill of health. Less than two weeks later, on March 9 2008,
Carlyle announced that it was discussing its precarious financial
position with its lenders.
Secrecy and tax in Europe: the EU Savings Tax Directive
March 10 – TJN - The EU Savings Tax Directive aims to tackle
tax evasion in Europe and enhance the EU's internal market. TJN has
just published a briefing paper with recommendations.
Legitimising the illegitimate
March 11 – TJN - In their reports, the IMF and the FATF have,
as TJN remarked in a recent Financial Times comment article,
"legitimised the illegitimate." This is, simply put, a great
international scandal, and the world's most important financial
institutions and others must extricate themselves from this mess.
Robert Morgenthau speaks out
March 11 – TJN - Robert Morgenthau is an inspirational figure
in U.S. politics: one of the legendary figures in international
crime-fighting. A few days ago Morgenthau wrote a letter to the New
York Times. Please read the whole letter. Here are a few highlights.
Top Iraq contractor skirts US taxes offshore
March 9 – TJN - We've recently blogged about the newspaper
investigations into the tax avoidance strategies of Britain's Tesco
supermarket; about the banana industry, and about Dutch multinationals
avoiding tax. Now there's a story on tax avoidance in the United States.
Haven evasion
March 6 – TJN - The Financial Times said: Tax havens that help
evaders, and enjoy high levels of per capita income for their own small
populations as a result, are parasitic.
TJN's new comment article in the Financial Times: Stop this Timidity in Ending Tax Haven Abuse
March 5 – TJN - Expanding on TJN’s FT comment piece. Current
initiatives to crack down on tax havens, such as those pursued by the
OECD, have been watered down so badly by vested interests that they are
not only ineffective, but they have legitimised the illegitimate.
Schemes only ask for countries to exchange tax information with each
other on request. In other words, you must know what you are looking
for before you request it. This is shockingly inadequate. We need the
automatic exchange of tax information between jurisdictions and all
developing countries must be included.
Tax Justice Demonstration in Liechtenstein
MARCH 5 – TJN - We would like to point out this Youtube video of a recent tax justice demonstration in Vaduz, Liechtenstein.
Reform Of The Eu Savings Directive Needed To Create Truly Competitive Markets
March 5 – Tax Research - Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister
of Luxembourg: “I’m looking forward to many years of fascinating and
fundamental discussions,” diplomats quoted Mr Juncker as saying. I’ve
got news for Mr Juncker: he might be looking forward to years of
negotiation, but the EU is not.
Stop this timidity in ending tax haven abuse
FT Comment article by TJN’s John Christensen and David Spencer
The Liechtenstein Affair could be a watershed in the fight against tax
evasion, organised crime and corruption. Yet the world risks wasting
this political capital on the wrong targets. We are pursuing the
timorous policies of a past age to tackle tax havens.
Europe versus the tax havens: a word of caution
March 4 – TJN – an overview of the numerous stories of the day
from British media about the growing fight against tax havens. Articles
with headlines such as “Europe vs. the super-rich” and “Home Office and
Treasury now owned offshore.” Plus a word of caution about the future
direction of policy.
Dutch multinationals: questions in parliament
Feb 29 – TJN - Something rather similar is emerging in Britain
and the Netherlands: a series of debates and comments in the
newspapers, and questions in both countries' parliaments, about how
multinational companies use offshore structures to avoid tax.
A nation of "spivs, swindlers, cheats and cads"
Feb 29 – TJN - This headline draws its inspiration from a line
in a big comment piece in Britain's Guardian newspaper with a strong
tax justice theme. It refers to the contradition between Britain's own
self-image: tolerance, fair play, decency, honesty and a polite
reticence, and the reality of Britain's own financial sector, whose
morals and approach to life are almost the complete opposite. Polly
Toynbee writes:
UK MPs call for tax justice inquiry
Feb 28 – TJN – UK MPs and Lords called for a crackdown on tax
avoidance yesterday following the Guardian's revelation that Tesco was
using an elaborate corporate structure involving offshore tax havens.
Luxembourg: A Permissive Tax Haven Indifferent To Its Responsibility To The World
March 2 – Tax Research - The point to qualify as tax haven a
financial center is neither banking secrecy nor attractive tax rules
even these are clues. The critical point is permissiveness because of
conflicts of interests not to say corruption: because of this
corruption, nobody is willing to tighten up the ship on issues that are
hushed up and nobody is willing to eliminate negligent people
THE TIPPING POINT: THE TIME IS RIGHT FOR CHANGE IN THE WAY WE TAX
March 2 – Tax Research - Something much more significant is
happening, and I think that we have passed a tipping point; the
occasion when the momentum for change becomes unstoppable. A long,
thoughtful piece by TJN’s Richard Murphy about how the political
climate is evolving on tax havens.
Doha: Financing for Development
Feb 27 – TJN - We have only remarked occasionally on the
lead-up to Doha so far, but shortly on this blog and on TJN's main web
site we will be presenting a series of more detailed proposals and
campaign themes on the Doha process, as well as a special edition of
Tax Justice Focus looking at this.
Tesco's tax tricks
Feb 27 – TJN - Following their "Tax Justice Goes Bananas"
investigation last November into the tax practices of the world's
biggest banana companies, Britain's Guardian newspaper has followed
this up with another superb piece of work: an investigation into the
tax tricks of Tesco, which the BBC has described as the UK's first
supermarket superpower.
Capital flows: be braver, and don't forget secrecy
Feb 26 – TJN - We point out a new FT comment piece, entitled
"We must curb international flows of capital," by the well-known
economists Dani Rodrik and Arvind Subramanian. In summary, we like
Rodrik's and Subramanian's latest piece. But we urge its authors to
factor secrecy more centrally into their analyses, and to be braver
about what might now be possible.
Britain: being a tax haven is risky
FEB 25 – TJN - In the last couple of weeks we have seen a
dramatic sea change in Europe in particular on the dangers tax havens
pose to the world. We'd like to point out a nice article in Britain's
Observer magazine by the commentator Nick Cohen.
Foreign language news
Feb 24 – TJN - Occasionally - for the moment it won't happen
all that often because of limited resources, but this will hopefully
change - we will be putting up brief English translations of stories in
other languages. We also have a relatively new web page with news
highlights from around the world.
Dutch multinationals hardly pay any tax
Feb 22 – TJN - Our attention has been drawn to some excellent
reporting by the quality Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad. Three large
articles describe how changes in the corporate tax law created new tax
avoidance and arbitrage opportunities for large multinationals. The
articles are based on investigations by NRC journalist Joep Dohmen, who
interviewed professors in tax law and anonymous tax officials
Blockade the Tax Havens
Feb 22 – TJN - We particularly like this uncompromising FT
comment piece called Blockade the Tax Havens. “Tax havens are to those
engaged in tax evasion what fences are to thieves.” And much more.
Granite: a nice piece of Rock (but for whom?)
Feb 20 – TJN - Tax Justice, and TJN, are hitting the news in
Britain again, even before the latest furore over the domicile rule has
died down. Take the latest heated exchange in Britain's House of
Commons, prompted by work from TJN's Richard Murphy.
PRESS RELEASE - Liechtenstein
Feb 20 – TJN - Germany is in the throes of its biggest ever
tax scandal. On the occasion of the visit to Berlin of Liechtenstein’s
Prime Minister Otmar Hasler, the Tax Justice Network demands that
Germany and Europe now act decisively against Liechtenstein and close
it down as a tax haven forever.
Liechtenstein: an emerging scandal
Feb 15 – TJN - Germany appears to have what Suddeutsche
Zeitung has called the republic's "biggest tax scandal in its history"
on its hands.
Domicile Hysteria - Feb 13, 2008
The UK Chancellor (Finance Minister) Alistair Darling has
backed down in response to lobbying from Britain's business community
to continue subsidising wealthy foreign "non-domicile" taxpayers, by
allowing them to pay minimal taxes and keep their foreign tax affairs
secret.
Missing Billions
TJN’s Richard Murphy has made a splash in the UK with a new
report he researched and drafted for the Trades Union Congress (TUC),
entitled “The Missing Billions” which concludes that £25 billion
(almost $50 billion) is lost each year from tax avoidance.
Africa Tax Conference - Jan 29, 2008
Our
attention has been drawn to plans for a conference on Taxation,
Governance and Capacity Building in Africa to be hosted by the South
African Revenue Service in late May 2008.
Words from a retired crime-fighter - Jan 28, 2008
Bernard
Bertossa, a former Swiss prosecutor-general, has been a relentless
campaigner against corruption, money-laundering and crime in Europe. He
retired a few weeks ago, and, freer to speak his mind, he has just
given a fascinating interview with Le Monde newspaper.
How to build a state - Jan 25, 2008
This blogger has just received a copy of Taxation and
State-Building in Developing Countries: Capacity and Consent, an
important new book edited by Deborah Braütigam, Odd-Helge Fjeldstad and
Mick Moore. "The political importance of taxation extends beyond the
raising of revenue. We argue in this book that taxation may play the
central (their emphasis) role in building and sustaining the power of
states, and shaping their ties to society."
The biggest secret in Africa? - Jan 18, 2008
The French Secretary of State for Co-operation, Jean-Marie Bockel, has
challenged his own president, Nicolas Sarkozy, to fulfil earlier
promises of a “rupture” with the bad old ways of “Françafrique.”
Strong, and surprising, words.
Liechtenstein on the high seas - Jan 18, 2008
Lichtenstein, a little tax haven on the European continent, is doubly
landlocked (i.e. surrounded by landlocked countries.) It also appears
to have a number of ships sailing the high seas under its name: there
is a thriving business in ship registration and a number of companies
who will register them for you, without too many questions asked.
Tax Justice Focus - Jan 14, 2008
The fourth quarter 2007 edition of Tax Justice Focus (TJF) is
a special edition on islands, edited by Nicholas Shaxson and John
Christensen.
Why America needs a little less laissez-faire - Jan 13, 2008
By
Barney Frank - As we prepare for this autumn’s election, the results
are in on America’s 30-year experiment with radical economic
deregulation. As recently as a year ago, one often heard the argument
that US financial activity would migrate offshore unless we moved to
further deregulate markets. There is little evidence to support this
claim. In response to the current crisis, it appears that the
regulatory tide may, at long last, be turning.
Well said, Trevor Manuel - Jan 11, 2008
Few,
if any, finance Ministers in the developing world enjoy as much respect
as South Africa’s Trevor Manuel. He has just delivered a keynote speech
to the the world's tax experts at the latest OECD forum on Tax
Administration in beautiful Cape Town. It is inspirational. Read his
speech here.
TJN programme wins 2007 Radio Excellence Award - Jan 10, 2008
Radio New Internationalist has just won the 2007 Excellence in Spoken
Word Programming award from the Community Broadcasting Association of
Australia. Here’s the program that won it… Taxing Matters. Featuring
John Christensen, Greg Muttitt, and Nicholas Shaxson.
Does being a tax haven make you rich? - Dec 20, 2007
We
spend a lot of time reminding people how tax havens make other
countries poor - by using secrecy and other unpleasant tricks to suck
capital out of them. Ah, the defenders of tax havens reply, but they
make the tax havens rich! Do they really? A look at Bermuda, Jersey and
Angola.
Tax and child poverty - Dec 19, 2007
We would like to share this graph with you. It speaks for itself.
JERSEY: A HOUSE BUILT ON SAND - Dec 20, 2007
Jersey has issued its Economic Digest for 2007. It is a
fascinating document. Jersey is dead in the water, with all its assets
in a business model that is failing. A bit like Northern Rock really.
But it will probably be cheaper to bail out. That’s the only
consolation.
Tax haven poverty alert - Dec, 2007
The
City of London today came under fire for paying out million of pounds
in Christmas bonuses while denying many of the world's poorest
countries the tax owed by British companies. John Hilary, campaigns and
policy director at War on Want, said: “It is a scandal that the City of
London is handing out these bonuses while denying developing countries
billions of pounds in tax owed. The government should make City firms
pay their full taxes before dishing out these obscene Christmas
bonuses.”
Republicans choose offshore tax avoidance by wealthy elite over AMT relief for 23 million taxpayers - Dec 12, 2007
Citizens
for Tax Justice Digest - On the Alternative Minimum tax, on the
Senate’s failure to consider legislation that would shift tax breaks
away from oil and gas companies and towards more sustainable forms of
energy. And more.
Scrutinising Switzerland - Dec 12, 2007
At
the end of 2006, $606.8 billion of assets in Switzerland’s financial
sector were beneficially owned by nonresident individuals who can
easily avoid tax on those assets. But it's important to remember: these
huge numbers are only a part of a much, much bigger picture.
It's time to tame blue chips' charity monkey business - Dec 9, 2007
Attention on the way huge banks harness charitable trusts to shield
them from tax has intensified following the Northern Rock financial
crisis. Last week, it emerged that UK banks raised billions of pounds
through opaque structures that use supposed charitable trusts, some of
which fail to donate a penny to good causes. Using the example of
Durrell’s zoo in Jersey, and quoting TJN’s Murphy.
Wealthy foreigners drawn into tax net - Dec 7, 2007
Tax advisers are warning the clampdown on non-doms will provoke an
exodus as well as damage to inward investment and to London's property
and art markets. This is scaremongering. Some will certainly leave. But
the risks to the economy are overstated. The result could be a fairer
tax system.
Sex, sleaze and taxes - Dec 6, 2007
Dec
6 - Getting Brazil’s CPMF (a tax on financial transactions worth 30
billion-40 billion reais, or $17 billion-22 billion a year) approved
has now become a matter of urgency. Tax revenues are so buoyant that
the government is finding it hard to convince congressmen that it needs
more money. One reason for this abundance is that the CPMF makes tax
evasion harder, by giving the revenue service information on money
moving between accounts. “If you compare the situation now with when we
introduced this tax, things are completely different,” says Paulo
Renato Souza, a former education minister.
The UK – leading the fight against anti-corruption - Dec 5, 2007
When the British government ratified the UN Convention against
Corruption (UNCAC) in February 2006 it exempted Cayman and all the
other overseas territories and crown dependencies like it. The UK
claims to be in the forefront of the international fight against
corruption. But in light of this, and other scandals such as the BAE
affair, it might be more accurate to say this: Britain is at the
forefront of the fight against the fight against corruption.
Letter to the FT: Tax proposals discriminate against UK nationals - Nov 26, 2007
Sir,
The new proposals on the UK's non-domiciled: This is blatant
discrimination against nationals of England, Scotland and Northern
Ireland and hence unlawful under the Treaty of Rome.I will therefore
have no choice but to go to the European Court of Justice as soon as
the law is enacted. Repeating what TJN has been campaigning on for some time.
Northern Rock: Can the Market heal itself? - Nov 26, 2007
The Guardian newspaper, quoting TJN’s Richard Murphy, explores
the growing Northern Rock crisis. The Economist recommends
nationalisation. “Surely when Left and Right agree that nationalisation
is the best way forward the government (a Labour government, for
heaven’s sake) has to consider it as a real alternative?”
Kulipa Ushuru ni kulinda Uhuru - Nov 22, 2007
This
headline refers to a Swahili slogan chosen by the revenue authority of
Kenya. It means "Pay your taxes and set your country free." In the
words of Michael Waweru, commissioner-general of the Kenya Revenue
Authority, "present taxpayers are taking a leading role in freeing
their country from donor dependency to economic independence."
Laffer in la-la land - Nov 21, 2007
We would like to recommend this latest article on taxation in the New
Statesman, about the economist Arthur Laffer. With a cast of characters
including Dick Cheney, the conspiracy theorist Lyndon LaRouche, and a
cameo from millionaire lobbyists marching in Washington in hard hats to
pretend that they are ordinary Joes, this is a bizarre, funny, and
disturbing article. Highly recommended.
Private equity: escaping to a parallel universe - Nov 20
It is depressing, but not really a surprise. A code of conduct
being introduced by the private equity industry has been watered down,
the Financial Times reports today. Private equity partners tend to pay
very low rates of tax. But there are two other fundamental problems
that have not been quite so widely noticed. First, the whole process is
subsidised by our tax systems. Second, they shift large parts of the
capital stock of nation states offshore.
Towards a more transparent world - Nov 19
TJN is delighted with recent statements from Transparency International
about their latest shift in thinking. But there is something else, more
subterranean but at least as important, that we have been watching. For
those who don't know much about this seemingly arcane issue, some of
the facts described here will be quite shocking.
Transparency International - coming on board? - Nov 16
Following pressure from TJN, Cobus de Swardt, the new head of
Transparency International, has said that the Berlin-based organisation
is entering a second phase of work, and will concentrate more on the
roles of the world's financial centres in tackling corruption. In an
interview in the Financial Times
, de Swardt appears to have taken on board, point by point, some of the
most important elements of what we have been calling on them to do. We
very much welcome this shift.
International Accounting Standards - Nov 14, 2007
For the first time, non-governmental organisations have been able to
influence international financial reporting standards, with the
European Parliament setting the stage for the development of
Country-by-Country reporting requirements for the extractive
industries. The Tax Justice Network is starting a much bigger campaign
for Country-by-Country reporting requirements for all sectors of activity. This single step could do more good for poor countries than all foreign aid.
The Curious Business of Taxation - Nov 12, 2007
Nov 12 – Excellent New Statesman article: We would all be better off if
tax avoidance were eliminated. The questions to be faced are why it
might be that such practices are legally permissible, and how we might
stop them. This, it seems to me, is one of the most pressing political
issues of our day. Quoting TJN's Richard Murphy.
Is tax a cost? - Nov 10, 2007
Tax
is not a cost to a company. It is a distribution out of profits. That
puts tax in the same category as a dividend - it is a return to the
stakeholders in the enterprise.
Tax Justice goes bananas - Nov 6, 2007
An
in-depth investigation by the UK's Guardian newspaper, quoting TJN's
John Christensen and Richard Murphy, into how big banana multinationals
are shifting profits around the world by "creating elaborate structures
to move profits through subsidiaries to offshore centres. With a
painting of a figure who may be John Christensen.
Jersey is $491bn tax haven - Nov 4, 2007
New US report will heighten alarm over UK's failure to stop the
super-rich avoiding tax by funnelling assets to the Channel Islands.
“This research is clear evidence that Britain is indulging in beggar
thy neighbour economic policies” says TJN’s John Christensen
The selfish isles and the MDGs - Nov 1, 2007
At the end of 2006, there were $491.6 billion of assets in the Jersey
financial sector beneficially owned by non-Jersey individuals who were
likely to be illegally avoiding tax on those assets in their home
jurisdictions. TaxAnalysts estimated the comparable figure for Guernsey
to be $293.1 billion.
Stopping the arms race - Oct 28, 2007
Robert Reich and Supercapitalism: if the income distribution in the
United States were the same today as it was in 1979, the bottom 80
percent of the population would have about $670 billion more, or about
$8,000 per family. The top one percent would have about $670 billion
less, or about $500,000 per family. One reason is that companies are
pouring more and more money into the political process, mostly to
advance or guard their own competitive positions relative to their
rivals. What we’ve seen over the past 30 years is an intensification of
this competition.
A code of conduct for taxation - Oct 18, 2007
Until recently civil society organisations have been meek in the face
of the tax steamroller, and a lot of protests about the effects of
globalisation have focused on international trade policies, not on
international tax policies. But this is now changing. As part of this
shift, TJN has launched a Code of Conduct for Taxation.
How to change the world - Oct 16, 2007
Joseph
Stiglitz: it’s not difficult to stop bank secrecy, secret bank
accounts. All the United States would have to say is that no American
bank can do business with any bank that operates in a jurisdiction that
does not subscribe to these basic transparency codes, these basic codes
of conduct . . . for appropriate bank behaviour.
The Earth is not flat - Oct 11, 2007
No
prominent Republican office-seeker dare challenge this tax dogma for
fear of offending the economic far right. Yet there is no more debate
about this question among economists than there is debate about the
existence of evolution among biologists.
Tax Justice Focus - Oct 5, 2007
On
Europe's leading role on tackling tax havens; Africa's offshore oil;
the forthcoming Doha Financing for Development meeting; dictators'
embezzled loot; and economic and financial crime. Plus news, three book
reviews - and more. In French and English.
TJN's Picciotto, Murphy in the Financial Times
Strong support by the UK for a shift to unitary taxation, not only
within Europe but internationally through the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development and other bodies, would help strengthen
its tax sovereignty and build a stronger foundation for the
international tax system in the face of economic globalisation.
(For older posts, click here)