Financial Transparency Coalition

Power Outages Plunged Nearly 700 Million People Across India into the Dark this Week. Could Better Governance and a More Transparent Financial System Have Averted This? Sometimes it can be difficult to wrap your mind around an exorbitantly large number like US$462 billion.  Global Financial Integrity's research shows that developing and emerging economies are  losing astronomically large amounts of money to crime, corruption, and tax evasion each year.  Indeed, our November 2010 report on India by GFI's Lead Economist Dev Kar revealed India had lost $462 billion in illicit outflows. This week's massive poweroutages across the subcontinent—plunging half the country, or about...

Know a tax dodger? Tell a teacher. Children ‘encouraged to become state spies’ and report neighbours who pay too little Daily Mail (UK), July 25, 2012 French Senators Clamour For Action Against Tax Evasion Tax-News, July 30, 2012 Spanish cabinet adopts draft law to combat tax evasion Global Times (China,) July 28, 2012 Retailers warned

According to a recent editorial from The Guardian, the illicit activities that drive capital flight, such as drug trafficking and terrorist financing, are actually supported by legal infrastructure. Namely, the lack of transparency in regions designated as "tax havens" allows for elaborate tax avoidance schemes and money laundering that funds these sorts of activities. As an example, banking company HSBC reportedly held a Cayman Islands subsidiary that "handled some 60,000 accounts," which "drug lords used . . . to fuel their jet-set lives." According to the newspaper, politicians must address the issue of tax haven abuse. In affected countries such...

Report blames multinational illicitly for transferring most of the $1.5 trillion made in Africa each year Africa Press Organization, July 27, 2012 How To Set Up An Offshore Company NPR Morning Edition, July 27, 2012 Super rich hold $ 40 trillion in offshore havens: BN ‘warlords’ included! Reuters, July 24, 2012 U.S. Considering Wide-Ranging Bribery