Financial Transparency Coalition

PARIS-In April 2009, the G20 called for action “to make it easier for developing countries to secure the benefits of the new cooperative tax environment, including a multilateral approach for the exchange of information.” In response, the OECD and the Council of Europe developed a Protocol amending the multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters to bring it in line with the international standard on exchange of information for tax purposes and to open it up to countries that are neither members of the OECD nor of the Council of Europe.

Our colleagues at CCFD-Terre Solidaire in France have prepared a progress report (in French) on what has changed since the G-20 Summit in London last year. Sadly, it does not make for happy reading. The report addresses 12 questions, as follows:

1. Have we seen the end of tax havens?
2. What purpose have the OECD black and grey lists served?
3. Are tax authorities able to tackle evaders more easily?
4. Is G-20 capable of publishing a full and proper list of tax havens?
5. What have been major success stories for tax authorities since...

(Reuters) - Over the past year, the number of countries on an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development "gray list" of tax havens that have not fully implemented internationally agreed upon tax standards has dropped to 17 from more than 40.

Today, Singapore signed its 12th Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA), and thus the jurisdiction is added to the OECD white list. Well that takes care of it! No longer will Singapore be a place to hide money (read sarcasm). Okay, I'm being harsh; to be fair, Singapore knows that it's not fixed yet and will thus turn itself into a fully tax-compliant, transparent jurisdiction by today signing another TIEA with the financial powerhouse of Brunei (read more sarcasm). In reality, Singapore - ranked 8th most secretive in the Financial Secrecy Index - still is and will...