Financial Transparency Coalition

Transcendent New Book Links Financial Crisis, Corruption, Crime to Offshore System It links terrorism to the financial crisis, corporate tax evasion to Mexican drug cartels, corrupt kleptocrats in developing countries to the ruling elites in some of the biggest countries in the world. It is the very opaque offshore financial system, and it is the focus of Nicholas Shaxson's enlightening new book, "Treasure Islands: Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax Havens," which was just published in the United States this week. Reading like a John le Carré thriller, Treasure Islands whisks you from the echelons of...

As stuff.co.nz reports:

Tax haven activist Nicholas Shaxson has hit out at New Zealand for opposing a plan to create a UN body to tackle tax haven abuse. Shaxson, who has become famous following the publication of Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men Who Stole the World, said New Zealand is letting down the developing world. He has also revealed that New Zealand has a growing reputation as an offshore haven itself. He predicts New Zealand will appear on the Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index by 2013. In January, New Zealand’s permanent mission to the UN in New York said...

I have the following article in the latest edition of the London Review of Books:

In his budget last month George Osborne announced that if in the future a UK company runs its internal banking arrangements through a tax haven subsidiary it will benefit from a special tax rate of just 5.75 per cent of the resulting profits. The rate is exceptionally low: the same activity undertaken in the UK is taxed at 23 per cent. It is a change that will delight corporate tax avoiders everywhere: the UK will now condone the use of tax havens in locations such as...

A report from Spanish observatory on foreign affairs from the Fundación alternativas, reveals that measures adopted by the G20 to fight against tax havens and tax evasion have not been implemented yet. The report entitled “The fight against tax havens and tax evasion: Progress since the London G20 summit and the challenges ahead” proposes ways to implement measures that have already been adopted. The financial crisis in 2008 highlighted the harmful effect of tax havens on the economy of developed and developing countries. It was a key issue at the G20 London Summit in April 2009, where leaders...