Financial Transparency Coalition

New index reveals UK runs biggest part of global secrecy network TJN’s 2013 Financial Secrecy Index exposes yawning gap between G20 rhetoric and reality Today the Tax Justice Network launches its 2013 Financial Secrecy Index, the biggest ever survey of global financial secrecy. This unique index combines a secrecy score with a weighting to create a ranking of the countries that most actively and aggressively promote secrecy in global finance. Click here for the Financial Secrecy Index. This new edition of the Financial Secrecy Index shows that the United Kingdom is the most important global player in the financial secrecy world. While the...

With the government running again, the joint Senate and House Budget Conference Committee has begun meeting to hammer out, if not a grand bargain, at least a small one. The Committee must deliver a report by December 15 and, to avert another shutdown, Congress must extend government funding by January 15. It’s difficult to overstate the political importance of a compromise, but the economics are important here, as well. The federal deficit has been declining since it hit a high of 10.1% of GDP in 2009 (though most American’s don’t know it). The deficit today is about 7% of GDP...

This Op-Ed originally appeared in European Voice. The UK is showing the way forward on financial transparency Last week, the British prime minister, David Cameron, announced that the UK plans to create a central public register of who ultimately owns and controls companies, or so-called ‘beneficial owners'. This should make it much harder for criminals to hide their identities behind sham UK companies, and for the corrupt to steal billions of dollars from developing countries. Currently, corporations can be formed worldwide without disclosing who actually owns or controls them. Criminals often exploit this ability to create anonymous companies for the sole purpose...

The Huffington Post published an interesting blog, titled "Government must shut down corporate tax havens," from U.S. PIRG’s Jaimie Woo. In her blog she points out that “The $150 billion we lose in tax havens a year would be enough to provide Pell grants to 10 million students for four years of college; it could also guarantee loans for half a million small businesses; or revamp America's aging transportation infrastructure by building 15 commuter rail lines, 50 light rail transit lines, and more than 800 bus rapid transit lines.” To read the full blog click here.