Financial Transparency Coalition

The Latin American country is wealthy, but the extreme gap between rich and poor causes a multitude of problems Isabel is four years old. Her belly and ankles are swollen and she walks as if it hurts a little bit. Her family, who live in eastern Guatemala, have not had the means to feed her properly, so she is being treated for kwashiorkor – acute malnutrition. Even though it is classified by the World Bank as a middle income country, the level of inequality in Guatemala is such that almost half its children under five ...

Director of Global Financial Integrity Raymond Baker addressed international tax cooperation as a panelist at the informal United Nations panel discussion held yesterday in New York. Mr. Baker participated in the event's second panel on innovative development financing initiatives under development. Philippe Douste-Blazy, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Innovative Financing for Development, chaired the day-long event and provided opening and closing remarks. The meeting allowed for informal and interactive discussion of all the issues related to accomplishing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. The first panel focused specifically on mechanisms of innovative development...

PARIS-In April 2009, the G20 called for action “to make it easier for developing countries to secure the benefits of the new cooperative tax environment, including a multilateral approach for the exchange of information.” In response, the OECD and the Council of Europe developed a Protocol amending the multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters to bring it in line with the international standard on exchange of information for tax purposes and to open it up to countries that are neither members of the OECD nor of the Council of Europe.

From Christian Aid:

WINNER OF TAX SUPERHERO AWARD ANNOUNCED

Christian Aid today announced the winner of its Tax Superhero of the Year award, which recognises outstanding individual work on the potential of tax to change the world. Eva Joly, an activist, European politician and former judge, has beaten other nominees including the comedians Ricky Gervais and Graham Norton and is the winner of this year’s Award. Norwegian-born Joly was elected as...