The Taxcast By The Tax Justice Network

In this month’s Taxcast we look at the booming business of passports and residency for sale, and why it should worry us all. Also, even the IMF now advocates wealth taxes to combat inequality, yet governments around the world – most recently President Macron of France – are going in the opposite direction despite all the evidence that it’s a bad idea, we discuss how Russia and the US are now world leaders in inequality and the good news that the European Commission has ordered Luxembourg to claim back $293 million in taxes from Amazon in another ruling on illegal state aid.

In the September 2017 Taxcast we look at our over-reliance on unhelpful economic measures, like Gross Domestic Product and how it constrains us. Also: we discuss hurricanes, tax havens and disaster capitalism; and the bitcoin bubble - China may be closing its doors on it for the moment but tax havens like Switzerland are very interested…

In the August 2017 Taxcast: #10yearsafter the crash we ask - what will the next one look like? Can we avoid it? Also: Panama Papers fallout - another Prime Minister bites the dust, this time in Pakistan the offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca has closed 39 of its 45 offices around the world a UK court ruling spells the end for ‘employee benefit trusts’ being used by footballers to minimise their tax bills and the Bank Of England Governor has predicted Britain’s financial sector could double in size in the next 25 years. Has he not heard of the finance curse?

In this month’s July 2017 Taxcast: we explore Land Value Tax and the billions in revenue we’re missing out on. Plus: Tax Haven USA signs up to potential sanctions and blacklisting of the few nations still refusing to comply with international financial transparency rules, which would er, include itself as the world’s prime offender. Did Team USA read the small print? And will the G20, OECD and the EU really blacklist one of the world’s biggest economies? Also, at last, Members of the European Parliament vote for public country by country reporting for the world’s biggest companies – but a last minute amendment was tabled…

In the June 2017 Taxcast we ask - has the UK just had its first tax justice general election? Are we seeing a popular shift towards tax justice in the UK and in the US? Is this the beginning of the end to our long austerity winter? How much do people REALLY care about taxes, who pays them and who doesn’t?

In the May 2017 Taxcast: we talk to film director Michael Oswald about his new film The Spider’s Web: Britain’s Second Empire. Watch it here. Also, we discuss booming Sweden’s ‘reverse-Trumpism’: its economy grew almost twice as fast as the US last year – and it wasn’t achieved through cutting taxes. Plus: the Russian Parliament is considering sweeteners that would accelerate Crimea's progress further along the tax haven and secrecy jurisdiction route.

We look at the Panama Papers, one year on - we talk to the journalists who got the scoop. Plus: we discuss the raid on Credit Suisse, and new data exposing the profit shifting shennanigans of the EU's biggest banks.

We look at the high price we’re paying for our finance sectors – we look at staggering statistics showing how the US finance sector is a net drag on their economy. Also, as the British government initiates Brexit divorce negotiations to leave the EU, we discuss something they ought to know, but obviously don’t – they’re actually in a very weak position. Could it mean the beginning of the end of the finance curse gripping the UK economy? Read: The High Cost of High Finance here https://rooseveltinstitute.org/publications/overcharged-the-high-cost-of-high-finance/ City of London costs UK £4.5tn in lost economic growth https://www.taxjustice.net/press/press-release-city-of-london-costs-uk-4-5tn-in-lost-economic-growth/ Featuring: John Christensen and Alex Cobham of the Tax Justice Network, and Professor of Economics Gerald Epstein of the University of Masachusetts Amhurst. Produced and presented by Naomi Fowler for the Tax Justice Network.

In the February 2017 Taxcast: how financial transaction taxes can protect us from finance sectors dragging our economies down. Plus: the Swiss referendum - taxpayers have refused to pick up the tab for corporate tax 'reforms'. What does that mean for one of world's biggest tax haven players? Also, we discuss President Trump’s valentine gift for kleptocrats and the extractives industry as he repeals anti-corruption regulations - the criminal race to the bottom is on. And, the influence of dark money, the experts in distorting democratic debate and the results of the 2017 Transparify report.

In the January 2017 Taxcast we look at tax justice and public procurement - the efforts to hit tax dodging companies where it really hurts on a local level – trying to stop them bidding for public money for public contracts. Also: how massive amounts of money are flowing into Tax Haven USA to circumvent the flawed Common Reporting Standard - South Dakota is apparently raking in tax evading capital the slippery world of ‘residence planning’ and the ‘synthetic residency’ dodge we discuss the UK’s Criminal Finances Bill likely to be passed this year, which includes proposals for ‘Unexplained Wealth Orders’ and holding tax evading enablers to account. An amendment to the bill could force UK satellite tax havens, the overseas territories to create public registers of the real owners of companies, something they’ve so far refused to do. and we consider the British threat to the EU: ‘if you give us a bad Brexit deal, we’ll push regulation-lite, tax haven UK even further in a race to the bottom and shoot ourselves i

In trusts we trust? We look at the new game in town: beneficial ownership avoidance, the booming industry in alternative escape vehicles from public registers and why we must shine the spotlight on all of them. Plus: we discuss two big stories we think will define 2017: the race to the bottom between nations on tax aka a transfer of wealth to the corporate community, and how the world's biggest havens are increasingly having to account for the devastating effect their tax and/or financial secrecy policies are having on human rights around the world...  

We look at Tax Inspectors Without Borders – a practical project that’s changing lives and aiming to level the global playground of tax minimising multinational companies. Plus: what does new US President Trump mean for tax justice? In Trusts we trust? The French Constitutional Court upholds a challenge to France’s trailblazing public register of Trusts: what does it mean for progress on financial transparency?

We look at the offshorisation of Iceland's economy, its collapse and recovery. Also, Brazil adds Ireland to its tax haven black list and Panama threatens anyone who dares call it a tax haven with a new law...plus more scandal and unique analysis you won't find anywhere else.  

How a conman can devastate the lives of thousands of ordinary people, aided and abetted by the offshore industry - with banks, law firms and accountants all happy to look the other way and not ask questions. Plus, we discuss the latest leak from the Bahamas, #BahamasLeaks, and Apple's 13 billion euro underpaid tax bill: a defining moment in the battle between the low/no-tax world big corporations would like to see and democratic, accountable governance in the public interest.

The Big Four accountancy firms: Are they in fact more like the Big One? And should they be broken up? Also: the Duke of Westminster's 9 billion tax free inheritance and how his family history forms the legal basis for the justification of tax avoidance around the world; how come the world's biggest banks are now officially endorsing transparency measures? And...so much for Panama cleaning up its act post-Panama Papers scandal: we discuss the demise of Panama's not-so-transparent Transparency Commission.        

'Hello. This is John Doe. Interested in data? I'm happy to share.' We talk to the two journalists who got the Panama Papers scoop, Bastian Obermayer and Frederik Obermaier who've written a book about their experience. Plus: what does Brexit mean for tax justice? We discuss the F4 (unholy) alliance between Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore and the UK, and the accelerated corporate tax race to the bottom.  

How different could the lives of those in poverty have been without secrecy jurisdictions? We give you the very latest estimates on the missing trillions offshored from the world's developing regions. Also: #Brexit and the special interests behind it: “Nakedly, brazenly, they're pushing the City of London's deregulated, criminal approach to finance”. Plus, the Panama Papers shed some light on secretive, pro-tax haven US lobbying group the Center for Freedom and Prosperity's funders.  

What is corruption? Well, that's a political question, and the answer depends on who you ask. We discuss the anti-corruption summit in the City of London, the world's capital of sleaze and ask if the sun ever set on the colonial era and the idea that corruption is a poor country issue. We explore extortive corruption versus collusive corruption and look at a new Poll which indicates for the first time the vast gulf between what the British people consider corrupt, and what has become a 'normal' way of doing business and politics. The overlap between the public and private spheres raises serious questions about democracy – and the nature of global fraud.  

We discuss the biggest offshore leak in history, the #PanamaPapers: could it provide an opportunity for nations to expand their secrecy market share? Once again, all eyes are on Trusts... Also, as the #LuxLeaks whistleblower Antoine Deltour's trial begins in Luxembourg, we ask why protections for whistleblowers are being eroded and what it says about the state of our democracy. An extended Taxcast this month presented and produced for the Tax Justice Network by @Naomi_Fowler You can read the Tax Justice Network daily blogs on www.taxjustice.net  

Is the US president really serious about tackling corruption in the finance sector? Are the presidential candidates? Now they can prove it. Bank Whistleblowers United tell us how they can restore the rule of law to Wall Street and avoid the next financial crisis in 60 days without any new legislation. Plus: why a wave of tax amnesties is likely to sweep across the world (how does 1% tax and immunity from prosecution sound?) and what the very first transparency data on banks exposes about how they do business.