Financial Transparency Coalition

After a long, hard battle, President Obama won a second term from voters last night. The media has pointed out he’s not taking much time to celebrate; it’s time to back to the long, hard work of governing. In that spirit, this is a good opportunity to check the pulse of several important transparency-enhancing legislative initiatives that are on the table in Congress right now. Over the next four years, the President and his administration will have opportunities to promote transparency in the financial system, fight corruption worldwide, and enhance tax fairness, both abroad and at home. In that...

Two amazing stories have emerged out of the UK over the past few days for members of the Task Force. Our members in the United Kingdom are collecting meaningful and important recognition for their work on global tax dodging issues. Task Force Assistant Communications Director Nick Mathiason was nominated by the Press Gazette for the

Did you know that it can take more information to obtain a driver’s license than to start your very own anonymous shell company with which you can use and abuse the U.S. financial system? In a matter of minutes, and with minimal documentation, you can own a company without disclosing that you are, in fact, the owner. These opaque entities are a favorite tool of terrorists, drug traffickers, arms dealers, corrupt government leaders, tax evaders and other criminals to launder money into the U.S.

In September at the turn of this century, the leaders of the world convened at the Millennium Assembly of the United Nations. The Assembly was the culmination of nearly a decade of United Nations summits and conferences to address development and poverty. It was 2000, however, that the world’s leaders adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration, a commitment to a noble new partnership to drastically reduce poverty worldwide. All 193 member states of the United Nations and 23 organizations agreed to achieve a set of eight goals by 2015. They are: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; ...