Financial Transparency Coalition

There’s been a lot of speculation about what secrets Mitt Romney is hiding in his tax returns. The economist in me feels fairly certain that, given the immense damage this issue has done to his presidential bid and assuming the campaign has done a cost-benefit analysis, there must be something pretty shocking lurking below the surface. We already know Mitt Romney has as much as $8 million invested in at least 12 Cayman Island funds and another investment, worth between $5 million and $25 million, shows up on securities records as domiciled in the Caymans. Some have argued we should ignore...

Save the Children's Head of Research Alex Cobham has launched a blog that examines issues of inequality. Named "Uncounted," the blog has listed topics such as the life expectancy of indigenous peoples, caste and tribal poverty, and female illiteracy as those that reflect society's marginalization of individuals. At the same time, Cobham applies his inequality motif to tax issues, yet he notes a distinction between being "uncounted" by a lack of power and being "uncounted" by design. The latter "reflects the presence, not the absence of power."

Wednesday's Top News Stories from Global Financial Integrity.

Where do multinational corporations go on their holidays, and how much money do they spend when they get there? Despite their global reach, Transparency International’s recent Transparency in Corporate Reporting report – which assesses 105 multinational companies’ anti-corruption reporting – shows that these companies reveal very little information about their financial and non-financial contribution to the countries in which they operate. The European Parliament is now calling for legislation to require companies to report financial information on a country-by-country basis.