Financial Transparency Coalition

I live in Oregon where there is no sales tax. Before I moved here, I took the sales tax for granted. If a bottle of coke costs $1.00 then you can expect to dole out a dollar bill and some change. Now, I go to a restaurant and my bill always comes in a rounded figure. Imagine that! But I digress. The lack of a sales tax gives Oregon something of an advantage of its neighbors to the North and South. Many who live in Vancouver, Washington, for example, will venture across the border...

James R. Hines Jr., a professor at the University of Michigan who is routinely wheeled out by the tax havens as an academic apologist for their activities, has written an academic article entitled “Treasure Islands” which contains an elementary, fundamental error in the very first paragraph:

“Tax havens are small: most are islands; all but a few have populations below one million.”

If Hines has spent any time studying the offshore phenomenon, then he will know very well that the world’s biggest tax havens (or secrecy jurisdictions) — those that offer tax haven services – are large OECD economies or their...

Sarkozy moves to make Internet multinationals pay more tax Dow Jones Newswires, April 27, 2011 'Misreading' led to tax law complexity The Sydney Morning Herald, April 27, 2011 White House Presses Extractive Disclosure Abroad Wall Street Journal (Corruption Currents), April 26, 2011 Ghana achieves EITI Compliance Ghana Web, April 27, 2011 Bribery Act could disadvantage UK firms, warns Lord Goldsmith The Telegraph (UK), April 25, 2011 U.S. prepares to impose sanctions on Syria Los Angeles Times, April 26, 2011

Ever since the general introduction of the body scanner and enhanced pat-down in airport security lines, there’s been a furious debate in America over just how much privacy we are willing to give up for the sake of our safety in the skies. Organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) argue that security should not “come at the expense of civil liberties.” Other people just don’t feel comfortable with strangers seeing them virtually naked. Those on the other side argue the loss of privacy is an unfortunate byproduct for the reassurance of safety. In the last...