Financial Transparency Coalition

While the headlines are full of information that governments did not intend to release, European ministers of finance including UK Chancellor George Osborne last week agreed to a draft directive outlining a powerful new basis for the automatic exchange of tax information between jurisdictions – a directive which, if it does what it says on the tin, would be a dramatic step towards the end for European tax havens. This Tuesday 7 December there was a meeting in Brussels of the Economic and Financial Affairs council (EcoFin, effectively Europe’s council of finance ministers). The press release (still provisional)...

The private sector plays an important role in sustainable democratic and economic development. By creating jobs and opportunities, providing necessary goods and services, and thus improving people’s living standards, private enterprise in a market economy offers citizens the ability to prosper independently of state-provided goods and services. That, in turn, gives citizens the necessary leverage to hold their government accountable because public officials rely on citizens for support, not the other way around. An accountable and efficient public sector is still a necessary part of development, though, and governments and private businesses...

This report "A confused economy", highlights the distortions between the real economy and the indicators that guide the G20 and the International Financial Institutions. Investments, trade, savings, production- the report shows how the use of offshore financial centres makes any measurement of these indicators impossible. At the heart of this economic lie, the report points to the important role of multinationals and banks- the top users of tax havens.

BIS – the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills – issued a white paper on trade in November. I made a submission yesterday, saying (in slightly edited form, but only with regard to the detail of country-by-country reporting): “I note the above consultation and offer comment here with regard to just one of the issues raised. Questions 23 and 24 ask: 23. What are the key challenges preventing LICs and MICs from benefiting from trade? 24. What are the key constraints preventing trade and investment with LICs and MICs?