Financial Transparency Coalition

This report includes a summary of all the presentations from the 2010 Task Force annual conference and concludes with priorities for 2011.

At its annual conference last week, the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development identified concrete measures that could help developing countries to mobilise the resources needed to achieve the Millennium Developing Goals (MDGs) and go even further to help eradicate world poverty and lay the ground for a fairer global financial system. These measures include:

• taxing the USD 15 to 20 trillion of private wealth sitting in tax havens
• establishing accounting standards that oblige multinational companies to report their profits earned in every country
• or setting rules for the automatic exchange of tax information between countries.

The Task Force...

Taxation News & Information—Worldwide tax changes and transparency measures need to be implemented soon in order to fight capital flight from poverty-stricken nations and worldwide tax evasion.

I presented the new report I have written for a range of NGOs entitled ‘Investment for Development: Derailed to Tax Havens’ in Bergen last evening. I did so sitting next to Kjell Roland, the Managing Director of NorFund – the Norwegian Development Finance Institution. Kjell said to the audience present he imagined that Norfund could sign up straight away to the Coe of Conduct I have proposed. I hope it does. I hope it leads the way in persuading others to do so.