Financial Transparency Coalition

PROPUBLICA/FORTUNE – GE is in a class by itself when it comes to paring its tax rate well below the top U.S. corporate rate of 35 percent – sometimes into the single digits – using an array of strategies that include hiring top tax experts from the IRS and Treasury.

NEW YORK – General Electric, the nation’s largest corporation, had a very good year in 2010. The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States.

Earlier this week, I attended a fascinating event in parliament, called ‘Africa’s Missing Millions’. My quibble that the title should actually be ‘billions’ didn’t deter a standing-room-only crowd gathering to hear Dev Kar from Global Financial Integrity talk about his research into the vast sums of money that flow out of poor countries on a daily basis. Dev estimates that in 2008, $1.26 trillion in illicit money left developing countries.   This is a problem that’s getting worse – with outflows rising 18% each year since 2000 – particularly in Africa, which is rising by 28% a year.  Over...

Practice Costs Spain, Developing Countries Dearly in Much-Needed Tax Revenue A recent report by the Spanish observatory on Corporate Social Responsibility, which comprises several civil society organisations, reveals that ALL companies listed in the Spanish stock exchange operate directly or indirectly through jurisdictions which are considered opaque by the Financial Secrecy Index of the Tax Justice Network. The report entitled, “Corporate Social Responsibility in the annual report of companies in the IBEX35,” highlights that more than 80% of companies that are part of the benchmark stock market index (IBEX 35) in the Spanish stock exchange (the Bolsa de...