I think it appropriate to note that this evening Tax Research UK has offered its resignation as a member of the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development, which has been one of its major funders for the last three years. It has been obvious for a little while that the direction of my work and that of the Task
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The Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development, of which Tax Research UK is a member, has welcomed new moves  to tackle tax dodging announced by the global body charged with fighting financial crime. Under revised standards from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), tax evasion will be an offence that can lead to a
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IPPR produced a report on globalisation last week. With a forward by Lord Mandelson the report was written by Will Straw and Alex Glennie. I admit I don’t agree with either Mandelson or Straw; they have a political perspective I don’t always share but this report has merit to it, as others have also noted
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It’s Davos week. Appropriate growth has to be on the agenda of all present. But so too does something else, and that’s tax evasion. Tax evasion costs the world US$3.1 trillion a year in my estimation - at least 5% of world GDP. and we could stop some of it. I never pretend all of it: that’s
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I’ve long argued for the contention in the title of this blog. I am convinced legal limited liability is a privilege - after all, if people sign a piece of paper to form a company they no longer have to accept full responsibility for their debts. That’s an extraordinary state of affairs, and a massive privilege. But I have said
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Developing countries lost US$903 billion in illicit financial outflows in 2009 despite the massive slowdown in economic activity which rocked world markets in late 2008, finds a new study by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington-based research and advocacy organization and partner of Tax Research UK in the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development. The
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The Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development, of which Tax Research UK is a member, issued the following statement on the G20 meeting this morning: Three years after the near collapse of the international banking system and as it faces new instability, the governments of the Group of 20 leading economic powers (G20) must focus
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On Saturday, Jeffrey Sachs, who spoke at the 2011 Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development Conference earlier this month, made an impassioned impromptu speech at Zuccoti Park. The speech covered a range of topics, but at 8:01, he addressed tax havens: “Its not because we think wealth is bad. Its because we think you cheat. Its
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Doug Saunders of the Globe and Mail in the USA had an article in his paper at the weekend saying: How do you scrape together an extra trillion? That, in the end, is what the world needs to know. And the answer is right in front of us. A trillion euros, more or less, is
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