Financial Transparency Coalition

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.

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.

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...

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.