Financial Transparency Coalition

Alvin Mosiama, director of Tax Justice Network Africa, and a Task Force regional representative, has as much experience as anyone in campaigning on taxes and transparency for developing countries. In a great op-ed for Devex that everyone should read, he outlines how corporations aren't just shifting profits to tax havens, but simultaneously shifting the burden of funding the government to those that can least afford it.

WASHINGTON DC – In the midst of a Congressional and White House showdown over the impending sequestration, and growing calls for corporate tax reform, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) put forth the Cut Unjustified Tax Loopholes Act (S. 268, CUT Loopholes Act). This bill, which closes loopholes and strengthens enforcement measures against offshore tax haven abuse, could raise nearly $200 billion over ten years.

Late last week, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) introduced the Corporate Tax Fairness Act. Right now, corporations based in the United States are allowed to defer taxes on any overseas earnings indefinitely. In practice, this leads to two things: tremendous amounts of profit shifting via abusive transfer pricing to tax havens, and large deposits of untaxed cash sitting in bank accounts located in those same tax havens. If enacted, this law would end deferral, requiring that all U.S. corporate profit would be taxed for the year that it was earned.

Léonce Ndikumana, a member of the Task Force Economist Advisory Council, appeared on The Real News to discuss his new research on capital flight from Africa. His work found that $1.6 trillion in capital flight and odious debt have left Africa from 1970-2010. Of that sum, he found that at least $619 billion had gone missing, and was illicit. Much of this, he argues, was facilitated by big western banks, tax havens, and other Western financial structures.