Financial Transparency Coalition

LONDON - As the world observes International Anti-Corruption Day on Sunday (December 9), Christian Aid reiterates its call for the UK government to do more to end financial secrecy.

LONDON – Christian Aid today welcomed Chancellor George Osborne’s pledge to commit 0.7 per cent of gross national income next year to overseas aid, but called for a coherent tax strategy to benefit poorer countries.

LONDON - New research has revealed that 56% of British adults believe that tax avoidance by multinationals companies (MNCs), while a technically legal way of reducing what they owe the taxman, is morally wrong, and half of people think it should be made illegal. Only four per cent of those polled thought tax avoidance by MNCs was ‘morally justifiable’ and only four per cent described such practices as ‘fair’.

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."