Financial Transparency Coalition

The Obama Administration was an early backer of beneficial ownership legislation, which would collect information on the true owners of companies, and make that information available to law enforcement. However, since then, UK Prime Minister David Cameron has begun advocating for more thorough disclosure at the G8 level, including both law enforcement and the public at large.

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops submitted a letter to the G8 Heads of State on Tuesday, urging them to fight poverty by addressing tax evasion and financial transparency. It reads, "The G8’s emphasis on transparency is critical. Human dignity demands truth, and democracy requires transparency. With more and better information, civil societies, including faith-based organizations, can hold their governments accountable and help insure that resources reduce poverty and improve the health of the whole society."

Two great editorials today. The first, from the New York Times, responds to last week's Senate hearing over Apple's tax abuses by calling for country-by-country reporting, a Coalition policy goal, and ending corporate tax deferral in the United States. This is great news, and will hopefully help persuade U.S. policy measures to address the worst problems in their corporate tax code. The second, from the Financial Times, also calls for country-by-country reporting at the EU level. Furthermore, it calls for another Coalition policy goal, automatic exchange of tax information.

MARRAKECH, MOROCCO / WASHINGTON, DC – A new joint report by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and Global Financial Integrity (GFI), launched Wednesday at the 48th AfDB Annual Meetings in Marrakech, Morocco, reveals that the African continent has been a long-term net creditor to the rest of the world. The report finds that Africa suffered between US$597 billion and US$1.4 trillion in net outflows between 1980 and 2009 after adjusting net recorded transfers for illicit financial outflows.