Financial Transparency Coalition

WASHINGTON, DC – Global Financial Integrity (GFI) praised the G20 today for its commitment to tackle the issue of illicit financial flows and crack down on tax haven secrecy. In the final declaration and its appendices published at the conclusion of a two-day summit in Cannes, the 20 largest economies committed to “deal effectively with tax havens and non cooperative jurisdictions including the fight against illicit capital flows considering their impact on development.”

CANNES / WASHINGTON – Global Financial Integrity (GFI) today joined over 40,000 people from around the world calling on G20 leaders to end tax haven secrecy when they meet this week in Cannes, France.

TJN is delighted that a long term investigation into how Eastern European criminals and politicians have been using secrecy jurisdictions to hide the proceeds from their crimes has been selected as one of the two overall winners of this year's Daniel Pearl Award for cross-border investigative journalism. TJN has been involved in this investigation, along with our colleagues at Global Financial Integrity and Global Witness, and our Financial Secrecy Index, which placed the USA at the top of the ranking, and drew specific attention to how Delaware, Nevada and Wyoming provide offshore secrecy, is also cited in the report.

Today, the House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit held a hearing on a proposed IRS regulation which would allow the IRS to track the deposits of non-resident aliens in the United States. The United States functions as a tax haven for many non-resident aliens, as the IRS is unable to determine how much money is hidden in US banks. The IRS is seeking the regulation as part of a global effort to increase tax information exchange, and eventually collect revenue from more US tax evaders. Video is available here. Here's how it all works. The IRS collects information...