February 22nd, 2011
On February 4, 2011, The House of Literature in Oslo welcomed the British author and journalist Nicholas Shaxson for the launch of his new book ‘Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men Who Stole the World’. PWYP-Norway talked with Shaxson before the launch and following debate, to hear more about how tax havens function, and why this is an important issue.
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February 22nd, 2011
I note the new Chair of Cayman Finance seems determined to continue in the tradition of his predecessor.
Interim Chairman Roy McTaggart , who
recently succeeded Anthony Travers OBE, has sent a letter to Ronnie Campbell, MP because he referred to the Cayman Islands as a tax haven during a debate in the House of Commons last week. McTaggart said,
according to Cayman News Service, that:
Cayman is a fully transparent jurisdiction and not a place where individuals or corporations are able to “hide money”.
And, of course, the ritual denial that Cayman is a tax haven was delivered.
I’d have hoped that,...
February 18th, 2011
The economics editor of
the Independent has written a review of Nick Shaxson’s book,
Treasure Islands. To be candid, it’s easily the most cynical review to date.
As
he concludes:
part from new potatoes, gold-top milk and some tourism, Jersey has little going for it economically. Nor do most of the British overseas territories fingered by Shaxson - which are only nominally under UK jurisdiction, a point he neglects or misunderstands. Most are too small and poor to be independent states, even with their financial income. As a second-best they have been granted self-government and they are, uncomfortably for the...
February 18th, 2011
Last week at the World Social Forum in Dakar, Senegal, the African branch of Task Force coordinating committee member Tax Justice Network, Tax Justice Network - Africa (TJN-Africa), released the African edition of
Tax Us If You Can.
As Dereje Alemayehu, chair of Tax Justice Network's African Steering Committee,
put it in a blog last week from Dakar:
This report is a clarion call to civil society and governments across Africa to stand up against the injustice of those who dodge taxes, and the response from those attending the launch was clear: this is an injustice we can no longer...
