Financial Transparency Coalition

Rarely have developing countries been more vocal and united on a question of international taxation. The vexed question of the status of the arcane-sounding “Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters” is hotting up, after rich and poor countries clashed at a United Nations meeting last month. The UN tax committee is charged with promoting international cooperation to deal with important issues such as taxing multinational companies across borders, and sharing best practice between countries. It has a specific mandate to take into account the specific needs of developing countries, which is why developing countries want to see...

Recently we wrote a blog, entitled "Jeffrey Sachs joins the tax justice movement, sort of," after he wrote some superb (but incomplete) things in the Financial Times about the race to the bottom on corporate tax. Well, now he has a new piece on Project Syndicate, to which we have already briefly linked, but which is worth expanding on. It's entitled The Global Economy’s Corporate Crime Wave, and it's excellent, all the way through. We are particularly excited by this section:

"We will need to light the dark corners of international finance, especially tax havens like the Cayman Islands and...

A complaint over tax payments by a Glencore subsidiary could prompt the Zambian government to undertake an audit of all mining companies to assess how much tax they owe The contrast between the poverty of most people in Zambia and the natural riches of our country was highlighted this week in an incident that is highly embarrassing for one of the companies profiting from our mineral wealth. The company - Swiss commodities giant Glencore - has just announced its intention to launch itself on to the London Stock Exchange. So it will have been less than happy...

PROPUBLICA/FORTUNE – Did GE pay U.S. income taxes in 2010? The company known for minimizing its tax bill made a muddled situation worse responding to a New York Times report suggesting it might get a refund. GE now says it has a small tax liability for 2010.