May 23rd, 2014
The Swiss Federal Council on Wednesday
issued a statement making it all too clear what it thinks “the new global standard for the automatic exchange of information in tax matters” should look like. This concerns the OECD’s ongoing project to create a new framework for international financial transparency, which
we’ve written about before: while we found shortcomings, we welcomed the project overall. The OECD is expected to finalise its global standard in June.
The Swiss position is a direct threat to global moves on transparency.
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May 7th, 2014
After a decade of high growth in sub-Saharan Africa, it is time to ask: who benefits? Certainly growth has been accompanied by some
poverty reduction and some
progress in health and education. But advances are inadequate compared to the wealth created. Worse still, income inequality is rising in too many countries.
A
new report by Tax Justice Network-Africa and Christian Aid investigates income inequality in eight sub-Saharan African countries and asks whether their tax systems are working to narrow the gap between rich and poor.
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April 30th, 2014
When it comes to transparency and development, Asia is home to many paradoxes. China is
ready to overtake the United States as the world's largest economy, but also home to
rapidly rising income income inequality. Hong Kong, China's Special Administrative Region, is meanwhile
the world's fastest growing tax haven. And, as you will see in the presentation below, Asia is also home to alarming levels of endemic corruption and of financial opacity.
High income inequality can undermine social cohesion, create barriers to social and economic mobility, and result in increased corruption and cronyism. Meanwhile, illicit financial flows erode...
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April 23rd, 2014
The April 2014 edition of TaxCast has arrived. The monthly podcast produced by our colleagues at the
Tax Justice Network is available below.
You can also view it on YouTube
here.
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