Financial Transparency Coalition

In the lead up to the G20 meeting in London this past spring, people from all over Europe descended on the small island of Jersey to raise awareness of its role as a tax haven. Filmmaker Zoe Young has now turned her footage of the event into a great video called "Banking in the Shadows .. a Trip to Jersey." Check it out:

In March 2009, during the run-up to the G-20 Summit in London, activists from all over Europe visited the British Channel Island of Jersey to highlight the role of tax havens in the global crisis.

There is an ongoing saga of good versus evil. Valiant governments, with proud leaders at their helms, are devoted to bringing down the wicked tax havens and the conniving men and women who hide money on their shores. One day, we will tell the tale of how these governments reigned victorious, dismantling the shadow financial system, and restored the money to the rightful people of their nations. If only. Banking secrecy is no fairy tale. In the system of international tax evasion, the valiant heroes are just as guilty as the wicked witches. In a report to...

Last week was not kind to tax evaders. Liechtenstein agreed an information-sharing treaty with the UK that, should it serve as a model for the principality’s deals with other countries, would put it out of the tax-haven business. The OECD recognised the Cayman and British Virgin Islands as having implemented the organisation’s tax standards. The US forced more names of suspected tax evaders out of Swiss bank UBS. The war on tax piracy is making progress.