Brazil Pushes to End Tax Haven Secrecy - Financial Transparency Coalition

flickr / Andre Maceira

Brazil’s Parliament is considering measures to eliminate tax havens. These havens are problematic for Brazil and other nations because they reduce tax revenues, hurting spending budgets. Brazil has 33 conventions and one agreement signed with countries for curtailing tax abuse. However, among them all, there are no provisions that require exchanges in financial information from the Cayman Islands, the Virgin Islands, or the Bahamas, among others. For those three jurisdictions alone, Brazil has a total estimated US $61.2 Billion of direct investment. Opaque systems such as this allow for large scale tax evasion. Brazil needs the financial transparency necessary to monitor activity moving in and out of tax havens.

Brazil can’t do it all alone. The global shadow financial system allows illicit money to move too easily around the world. International bodies, such as the G20, need to act if a country like Brazil is going to have a fighting chance. Working to solve these issues at the G20 level is the End Tax Haven Secrecy campaign. The campaign is comprised of 50 organizations across the world, including Task Force members Global Financial Integrity and Christian Aid, who work to end tax haven secrecy. Much of this campaign includes pushing for G20 support, influencing governments and legislation, as well as empowering populations. The following press release explains the campaign’s push for anti tax haven legislation as well as their participation in the End Tax Haven Secrecy Campaign.

Over 50 organizations around the world are mobilized to demand that the G20 leaders adopt effective measures to put an end to the unconditional tax secrecy of a group of jurisdictions. To ask President Dilma Rousseff to lead the initiative, any citizen can visit the website www.fimaosparaisosfiscais.org and send a message, which will be forwarded to the Presidency of the Republic. The Campaign has the goal of collecting and sending as many signatures as possible to the Heads of State of the G20 until the Mexico Summit, which will take place in June.

One of the reasons for checking on tax havens is tax evasion, and this evasion generates losses to the society. “Brazil and other developing countries are missing the collection of taxes that could be used to fund policies to promote rights such as education, health and nutrition”, in the words of Lucídio Bicalho, political advisor of INESC.

Find the rest of the release here.

The G20 meets in Mexico later this month. End Tax Haven Secrecy is organizing a petition drive to pressure Mexican President Felipe Calderon to take the lead on tackling financial opacity. You can sign the End Tax Haven Secrecy petition here.