Financial Transparency Coalition

First Full Country-By-Country Reporting Standard Proposed in U.S.

This morning, U.S. Senator Carl Levin introduced the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act (STHAA).  The bill proposes solutions to loopholes and vulnerabilities in American policy that allow corporations to escape taxes.  Tax evasion currently costs American taxpayers over $100 billion each year. Introducing the bill, Senator Levin said:

The bottom line is that each of us has a legal and civil obligation to pay taxes, and most Americans fulfill that obligation.  It is time to force the tax scofflaws, the tax dodgers, and the tax cheats to do the...

When I first looked at the subsidy the UK gave to the Isle of Man through its VAT sharing agreement I came to the conclusion that the sum involved exceeded £200 million a year. In 2009 the UK government removed £140 million of that subsidy a year. Yesterday they announced intention to increase the withdrawal if subsidy to a total of £215 million a year – very close to the sum I first calculated.

Return of Okonjo-Iweala The Daily Independent, July 11, 2011

Allure of the Islands: Revenue From Tax Havens? Wall Street Journal, July 12, 2011

Black Economy Amounts to 30 pct of GDP Kathimerini English, July 11, 2011

Experts: Murdoch's companies may face US actions AP, July 11, 2011

British investors start fight against bribery in Romania. First fighters: UK Embassy, BRCC Romania Insider, July 12, 2011

Antony warns against graft in military deals ExpressIndia, July 12, 2011

I, like many in the tax justice arena, was very dubious when the OECD set up the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes to undertake peer reviews of the operation of tax information exchange by participating states in the aftermath of the financial crisis and the rush to sign tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs). TIEAs are deeply flawed and the OECD designed and promoted them. The OECD was also remarkably cagey about this whole process: civil society was excluded from most involvement, far too many tax havens appeared to get positions of influence over it, the...