The FT has reported that:
The “widespread abuse” of a £300m ($575m) tax break for some temporary workers is under attack by the Treasury, which is considering reversing a concession for travel expenses it introduced 10 years ago.
In a consultation paper, the Treasury said its losses were set to “significantly increase” if it did not clamp [...]
The follwoing comes from the Greenpeace International website. As I contributed to the report “Conning the Congo” to which it refers, I’m happy to reproduce it here.
Conning the Congo
Just as the need to save the world’s forests for climate protection is becoming widely recognised, we have discovered that major logging companies - operating in the [...]
The Australian has reported:
UBS’s US operations decided on the ban earlier this month after it was caught up in a congressional enquiry into tax avoidance, which also exposed the private tax dealings of Australia’s second-richest man, Frank Lowy.
“UBS will no longer provide offshore banking or security services to US residents through our bank branches,” said [...]
The FT has reported that:
Siemens on Tuesday announced it planned to claim damages from eleven of its former executive board members, including ex-chief executives Heinrich von Pierer and Klaus Kleinfeld, over their role in the bribery scandal that struck the company almost two years ago.
Europe’s biggest engineering group claimed the managers had “breached their organisational [...]
If you wonder why I and my colleagues argue for tax reform to benefit the poorest people in the world look at this picture:
That might, just, look like a meringue. It could look like a poorly made clay pot. It isn’t either: those are mud cakes. As the Guardian has reported today:
In Cité Soleil, one [...]
Jack Blum is a US attorney who has specialised in tackling offshore abuse for many years. He can fairly claim to have done more to expose BCCI than anyone else; there are few investigations of offshore in the USA he has not participated in. There’s good reason: his apparent understated manner hies an enormous intellect, [...]
The Jersey Evening Post has reported that:
A LEADING Jersey finance company has been closed down by the Jersey Financial Services Commission following a police investigation into investment schemes which allegedly led to Islanders losing hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Serious no doubt, and appropriate, I am sure. But let’s be clear: Jersey’s tax corruption industry could [...]
Last year’s ‘tax amnesty’ in the UK worked: about 45,000 people who had hidden cash in tax havens paid up. Almost 20,000 more declared they had such cash and then did not pay. It’s believed more than 30,000 others were written to and did not respond.
But the amnesty dealt with customers of just five banks [...]
James Henry has written an amazing article in the US magazine The Nation regarding the US Senate hearings on UBS and LGT. It’s lengthy, and I recommend it in full, but I select some elements here:
Many will consider these revelations shocking. After all, just as the US government is facing a $500 billion deficit, millions [...]
I have been reading the US Senate report on tax havens that focuses on LGT and UBS.
I have already reported my doubts about the sincerity of UBS’ testimony. I have found my doubts confirmed by the report. On page 10 it says:
The UBS figures [on funds held] for 2008 are also consistent with internal UBS [...]
