Financial Transparency Coalition

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...

The following is for all serious offshore aficionados.  It comes form the person I think the foremost expert on the European Union Savings Tax Directive - Mark Morris, and is from his blog, with permission. What it says is at the end of the day simple, but vitally important, and that is that iof the European Union Savings Tax Directive is amended as the EU desires then Liechtenstein's secrecy is cracked open. Which is very welcome indeed. Over to Mark: "Liechtenstein is home to nearly 100,000 entities and legal arrangements which are effectively untaxed. These structure are used for succession planning, creditor protection, family support...

Media Coverage Report Card: Trending Accountability Global Financial Integrity evaluates the Media’s current coverage of corporate tax dodging and tax havens Corporate tax shenanigans have been in the news a lot lately. Here’s a quick guide to the stories currently shaping the debate over US tax policy and raising the “injustice level” from “amusingly frustrated” to “Shut-Down Congress Red.”

Christian Aid's David McNair Recounts His Trip to Washington, DC for the International Monetary Fund's Spring Meetings Last Week Extreme turbulence and black clouds were the order of the day as I flew through a storm into Washington, DC. Ironic, then, that I was on my way to the institution tasked with picking up the pieces of the financial crisis and managing these turbulent economic times. But the International Monetary Fund (IMF) itself has not escaped from the crisis unchanged. The new ‘fund’ seems less driven by economic orthodoxy at the expense of other perspectives and more open to criticism –...