Financial Transparency Coalition

‘We don’t care how much tax we pay, as long as you tell us how much it is, let us pay it and leave us alone’ Perhaps not what you might expect to hear from the head of tax from a major global bank. But as the most influential tax professionals from across America gathered in DC to discuss the latest developments in business taxation with the OECD, simplicity and certainty was the resounding call from business. The OECD is looking for its place in the world, and it’s pretty clear that this “rich countries’ club” is not as dominant as...

Christian Aid's David McNair Recounts His Trip to Washington, DC for the International Monetary Fund's Spring Meetings Last Week Extreme turbulence and black clouds were the order of the day as I flew through a storm into Washington, DC. Ironic, then, that I was on my way to the institution tasked with picking up the pieces of the financial crisis and managing these turbulent economic times. But the International Monetary Fund (IMF) itself has not escaped from the crisis unchanged. The new ‘fund’ seems less driven by economic orthodoxy at the expense of other perspectives and more open to criticism –...

Back in 2009, when Task Force members began lobbying the UK government on what the G20’s crackdown on tax havens might look like, the response was that automatic exchange of information was cumbersome, difficult, that there was far too much information to be useful – and, to paraphrase, that it would end up being shipped around the world in boxes which would cause a fire hazard. But last week the UK parliament accepted the Draft Penalties, Offshore Income etc. (Designation of territories) Order 2011. This measure, designed to crack down on UK taxpayers holding assets offshore,...

If I were based at 30 Cannon St in the heart of the City of London, I’d be feeling somewhat under pressure as I made my journey to the state-of-the-art building. Members of this task force have long argued that the IASB, a private company registered in the US state of Delaware, has the potential to transform the way that companies operate to make them more accountable to government’s civil society, to challenge corruption and to help poorer countries to raise revenue to pay for education and healthcare for the...