These are my links for February 22nd:
FT.com / World - Swiss apology for ‘Nazi’ tax insult - Swiss bankers really do live ina world of delusions
Anger at gap between rich and poor - ICM poll | Politics | The Guardian - People want services - not lower taxes
Northern Rock’s links to Granite could [...]
For those who follow this blog Channel 4 news at 7pm UK time and BBC 1 news at 10pm may have items of interest tonight, subject of course to no breaking news in the meantime.
AFP has reported:
The German finance ministry threatened on Friday to tax all financial transfers to Liechtenstein unless the Alpine principality relaxed its banking secrecy codes and helped trace tax evaders.
“We are thinking of taking additional steps on a bilateral level and taxing all transfers at the source is an option,” finance ministry spokesman Thorsten Albig [...]
You read that right. ‘The Monster is Out of Control’ is the title of an interview with me in yesterday’s Die Zeit in Germany. This has to subtitle:
Der britische Steuerfluchtexperte Richard Murphy wirft den Regierungen vor, dass sie Steueroasen tolerieren
Roughly translated this means:
The British tax evasion expert Richard Murphy accuses governments of tolerating tax havens
From [...]
John McDonnell MP offered me a note of thanks today, in the Guardian when he wrote:
I first raised the issue of Northern Rock’s Granite companies in September 2007 as chair of the Left Economics Advisory Panel (Leap), which was set up to advise MPs and others as a socialist alternative to the Bank of England’s [...]
A year ago the FT reported the strange story of Jersey’s investigation of BAe corruption, where at least they went a bit further than the UK.
Last night BBC Radio 4 covered the story as part of its investigation of sovereign welath funds and secrecy.
I was pleased to contribute to that programme last night.
I quote this from yesterday’s Hansard report of the House of Lords debate on Granite:
Lord Higgins: My Lords, I apologise for persisting, but is it true, as was alleged, that the Granite assets appeared in the accounts of Northern Rock?
Lord Davies of Oldham: My Lords, I cannot answer that question directly, but I have given [...]
The world is beginning to unite behind The Tax Justice Network’s themes:
Freer, more open and better integrated financial markets have benefited people and companies around the world. They have lowered the cost of capital and encouraged greater competition in the provision of financial services. But they have also facilitated distortions such as money laundering and [...]
The FT has reported that:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said the disclosure about alleged tax evasion by German citizens through trusts based in Liechtenstein “highlights a much broader challenge in today’s globalised economy: how to respond to countries and territories that seek to profit from tax dodging by residents of other jurisdictions”.
I’ve said [...]
The FT reports that:
Angela Merkel, German chancellor, on Wednesday threatened Liechtenstein with isolation in Europe unless the Alpine tax haven moved to ease bank secrecy, as bilateral tensions grew over Berlin’s handling of its spiralling tax evasion enquiry.
Ms Merkel, speaking in Berlin after a meeting with Otmar Hasler, Liechtenstein’s prime minister, accused the principality’s banks [...]
