Analysis
POST-2015: «THERE IS A DANGER OF CONSULTATION OVERKILL»
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- Written by Interview with Jens Martens
The UN has launched an extensive worldwide discussion on the new development agenda that is to succeed the Millennium Development Goals in 2015. Jens Martens, long-time observer of international development and environmental policy, cautions in an interview against consultation overkill and calls on NGOs to develop alternatives that go beyond what is currently politically feasible.
Read more: POST-2015: «THERE IS A DANGER OF CONSULTATION OVERKILL»
Tax Justice for Social Justice
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At the World Social Forum in March 2013 in Tunis, a Declaration on Tax Justice was adopted that states a couple of basic principles and prepares for common campaigns
ITUC Frontlines Report 2013
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- Written by ITUC
The international trade union denounces the attack on collective bargaining led by the IMF as being 'an ideology without economic evidence'. It denounces its devastating impact on families, communities and economies ... Workers are in the frontline of a war on their living and working conditions.
Decline in Official Development Aid
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- Written by OCDE
Official development aid stood at 0,29 % of GDP in 2012, a decline of 4 % compared to 2011
Just how difficult and costly is it to set up an Offshore Company?
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- Written by Max Heywood
Among the owners of offshore shell companies disclosed so far are several senior politicians and their close families in various countries.
‘We especially recommend the Seychelles’
Read more: Just how difficult and costly is it to set up an Offshore Company?
The breakthrough: EU finance ministers stand together against tax havens and for automatic exchange of information
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- Written by Sven Giegold
It is music to my ears. The finance ministers of the six largest EU countries Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Poland and Spain held a memorable press conference in Dublin on Friday night. Their requests have been put forward by Attac and the Tax Justice Network since their establishment more than 10 years ago: Closure of tax havens, automatic exchange of information for all income from capital, an end to the abuse of banking secrecy for tax evasion and disclosure of the real beneficiaries of companies. I have given uncountable interviews, written articles and shown presentations campaigning for the subject, and now it has all become mainstream.
BRICS challenge IFIs
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- Written by Bretton Woods Project
Out of the frying pan into the fire?
Large middle-income countries jointly initiated alternatives to the World Bank and IMF in March, but advocates are not satisfied with either set of institutions. While challenge to the IMF has been welcomed, civil society actors fear that a new development bank would serve "vested interests" and could lead to "exploitation".
Bitcoins: the dangerous alternative to offshore
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- Written by Ann Hollingshead
Move over, Cayman. Step aside, Switzerland. The world’s next offshore powerhouse won’t be in the Caribbean or the Alps. It won’t be an island surrounded by water, a peninsula in Asia, or a tiny nation barely larger than a city. It won’t be in New York, Delaware, or London. Because it won’t be anywhere. It will all be a figment of our imaginations—and of course the internet.
I’m talking about internet currencies, and specifically, the largest of them all: Bitcoins. And I firmly believe they will pose the next great challenge for stemming money laundering, corruption, and illicit financial flows.
ICIJ's investigation of Offshore
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- Written by Sydney Lucia
Yesterday, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released an article explaining how they explore the hidden world of shell companies. After a three year long investigation, ICIJ’s director, Gerard Ryle, obtained information about offshore companies that included over 2.5 million files. These files contained information surrounding shell companies, nominee directors, and shareholders for over 122,000 shell companies. ICIJ found that most offshore companies were staffed by nominee directors, or people who sell their name to be listed as part of the company. ICIJ also found that the people setting up offshore companies were mostly from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, but that the former Soviet republics were also well represented.
Offshore Secrets: Time is ripe for a European FATCA
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- Written by Sven Giegold
Offshore Secrets: Time is ripe for a European FATCA
Journalists from over 30 countries have published data of approximately 130,000 persons involved in tax haven companies or activities aiming at tax evasions or avoidance (1). This gave a new boost to the debate on tax justice and untransparent international financial transactions, which had last been triggered by the FATCA initiative in the US.(2) FATCA forces practically every finance institution active in the US or offering US bonds to reveal information of US taxpayers to the American Internal Revenue Service. This applies also to activities outside of the US pursued e.g. by subsidiary or parent companies of American banks. Furthermore, to ensure that transmitted information is complete and exhausted, FACTA requires financial institutions to determine ownership structures of companies and trusts. This way, no income or asset of an American taxpayer remains opaque.
Read more: Offshore Secrets: Time is ripe for a European FATCA
