Financial Transparency Coalition

We have been reading occasional stories about the foreclosure mess in the United States. For those who don't know about it, here is a quick summary, to start with. In the run-up to the financial crisis that erupted in 2007, banks and other financial institutions packaged up bundles of mortgages into entities which were then themselves diced up and sold on, once or more than once, to other investors, in a process known as securitisation. The chain of ownership between houseowner and the ultimate holder of the mortgage risk often involved many links,...

Seoul to combat borrowed-name accounts The Korea Times, October 28, 2010

Prosecutors raid firm of President’s friend The Korea Times, October 28, 2010

LTE: Tax deal lets down developing world Financial Times, October 28, 2010

Swiss deal drives taxpayers to Liechtenstein amnesty Accountancy Age, October 28, 2010

Lord Sacks tackles tax dodgers The Jewish Chronicle, October 28, 2010

S'pore least corrupt nation The Straits Times, October 27, 2010

SEC, DOJ Probing Diebold For Potential Violations Of Foreign Bribery Law Wall Street Journal (Blog), October 28, 2010

Shell close to...

I am fascinated by the recent attack on my work and that of John Christensen and the Tax Justice Network by Cayman Finance. It is not new of course, many tax havens / secrecy jurisdictions have made such attacks before. And no doubt they will do is again. But in making such a tax they show their real colours: they show that they are the real enemies of free and fair markets, and we are their strongest supporters. Why else would they be so annoyed? If you believe in free markets you believe in tax...