Offshore Leaks «Une masse aussi importante de documents, c’est une extraordinaire opportunité» - PARADIS FISCAUX / ENTRETIEN Il y avait eu WikiLeaks, les révélations sur les télégrammes diplomatiques américains ; VatiLeaks, ces fuites sur les secrets ponticaux du Vatican, et bien voici maintenant, Offshore Leaks ! Offshore Leaks c'est une somme incroyable de listes, de documents, de fichiers qui attestent d'un système mondial au service de la fraude fiscale. Offshore Leaks, c'est une sorte de bottin international du paradis fiscal, des fraudeurs dont les noms sont rendus publics grâce aux recherches d'un groupe indépendant de journalistes d'investigation. Cette opération de révélation des noms des pirates fiscaux a rassemblé plusieurs grands journaux en Europe et aux Etats-Unis, dont le quotidien français Le Monde. 120 000 sociétés écrans, des banques, et une liste de 130 Français détenteurs de comptes... Offshore Leaks dévoile donc tout un système que l'organisation CCFD-Terre Solidaire dénonce depuis des années. RFI : Est-ce que vous aviez connaissance de ces documents ?
Secret Files Expose Offshore’s Global Impact Dozens of journalists sifted through millions of leaked records and thousands of names to produce ICIJ’s investigation into offshore secrecy A cache of 2.5 million files has cracked open the secrets of more than 120,000 offshore companies and trusts, exposing hidden dealings of politicians, con men and the mega-rich the world over. The secret records obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists lay bare the names behind covert companies and private trusts in the British Virgin Islands, the Cook Islands and other offshore hideaways. They include American doctors and dentists and middle-class Greek villagers as well as families and associates of long-time despots, Wall Street swindlers, Eastern European and Indonesian billionaires, Russian corporate executives, international arms dealers and a sham-director-fronted company that the European Union has labeled as a cog in Iran’s nuclear-development program. “I’ve never seen anything like this. Mobsters and Oligarchs
Lifts Veil on Offshore World WASHINGTON, DC – The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a project of the Center for Public Integrity, released today its first of many reports from a 15-month investigation that cracks open the historically impenetrable world of offshore tax havens. Drawing from a leaked trove of 2.5 million digital files, ICIJ led what may be the largest cross border journalism collaboration in history. Listen to the press conference given by ICIJ director Gerard Ryle, deputy director Marina Walker Guevara, and senior editor Michael Hudson, about the investigation. ICIJ’s investigation opens the secrets of more than 120,000 offshore companies and trusts and nearly 130,000 individuals and agents, exposing hidden dealings of politicians, con artists, and the mega-rich in more than 170 countries. Secrecy for Sale: Inside the Global Offshore Money Maze, ICIJ’s largest investigative reporting project in its 15- year history, is available at www.icij.org/offshore.
Mythbusters: “There’s nothing we can do about tax havens” May 16, 2013 // By: Stephen Reid Tax havens play a key role in facilitating tax avoidance, yet so far, few serious measures have been taken to prevent their operation. Fuelling this inertia are not one, but several myths: a book of fairy tales and fantastical claims telling us there’s nothing we can do to tackle the glorified accounting functions that are tax havens. Let’s take a moment to clear these up. Sub-myth 1: “There’s no such thing as a tax haven” The lobby for tax havens tries to convince us that because there’s no universally accepted definition of what a tax haven is, no one can be accused of being one. But even in the absence of clear-cut definition, facts are stubborn things. Sub-myth 2: “Financial secrecy is a basic human right” Lobbyists further tell us that tax havens safeguard basic human rights. In reality, having your money stashed offshore does not protect you from persecution. Sub-myth 3: “There’s nothing to do – the offshore sector has already reformed” Issues Like this?
Globalisation isn't just about profits. It's about taxes too | Joseph Stiglitz | Comment is free The world looked on agog as Tim Cook, the head of Apple, said his company had paid all the taxes owed – seeming to say that it paid all the taxes it should have paid. There is, of course, a big difference between the two. It's no surprise that a company with the resources and ingenuity of Apple would do what it could to avoid paying as much tax as it could within the law. While the supreme court, in its Citizens United case seems to have said that corporations are people, with all the rights attendant thereto, this legal fiction didn't endow corporations with a sense of moral responsibility; and they have the Plastic Man capacity to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time – to be everywhere when it comes to selling their products, and nowhere when it comes to reporting the profits derived from those sales. It is not even true that higher corporate tax rates would necessarily significantly decrease investment. Globalisation has made us increasingly interdependent.
Our $1 trillion chance Posted: 6 June 2013 In days, governments will discuss whether to plug a gigantic $1 trillion per year corporate tax loophole - enough money to end poverty, put every child in school, and double green investment! Most governments want powerful multinationals to pay these taxes, but the US and Canada are on the fence. To get a deal, we need them to feel the pressure. $1 trillion is more than every country combined spends on their military. It's bigger than the budgets of 176 nations. It's $1000 each for every family on the planet. This should be a no-brainer.
Wealthy hiding $21 trillion in tax havens, report says - World The "super-rich elite" are hiding more than $21 trillion US in tax havens around the world, an amount roughly equal to the combined GDP of the United States and Japan, according to a new report. Commissioned by the Tax Justice Network, an independent British organization, the report is said to be the most comprehensive ever done concerning what it calls the "offshore economy." Researched and written by James Henry, an expert on tax havens, the report states the hidden money could be as large as $32 trillion, and represents a massive black hole in the world's economy. The amount of tax income lost "is large enough to make a significant difference to the finances of many countries," Henry noted. Hidden money from elites living in developing countries is "enough to make a significant difference to the finances of many countries... that are now struggling to replace lost aid dollars and pay for climate change. The report says:
Tackle Tax Havens 101 Top Tax Policy Blogs : What’s better for the economy? What’s better for the general welfare? What’s more important, financial security for all or individual freedom? How do the government’s tax policies affect us as individual taxpayers and as business owners? International Tax Policy Blogs Blogs Related Generally To International Tax Policy 1. Canadian Tax Blogs These well-written blogs examine tax issues related to Canada. 9. European Tax Blogs Since the inception of the European Union, European tax laws have become even more difficult to decipher. Asian, Australian, and Pacific Island Tax Policy Blogs These blogs discuss the state of taxation in Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. 22. 100 Ways to Save Tax in Malaysia 100 Ways To save Tax in Malaysia is an incisive look at Malaysian tax policy for property investors. 23. Indian Tax Blogs India’s tax system, which is extremely complex, deserves its own category here. 30. Tax Policy Blogs By American Professors “Think Tank” Tax Policy Blogs
Tax haven responses underline need for government action Blog Last week, ActionAid identified 8492 tax haven-registered companies owned by the 100 biggest businesses on the London Stock Exchange, a number far in excess of that previously disclosed. So how have companies responded? “I am not saying there are not any companies there for tax planning reasons…. Barclays, which has 174 companies in the Cayman Islands alone, said: "All foreign subsidiaries are included in returns to HMRC either because they are UK tax resident and file UK tax returns or because they are listed on returns giving information on income earned that may be subject to UK tax under what is referred to as the controlled foreign company legislation." You can be forgiven if your eyes glazed over at that point, but the reference to "controlled foreign company legislation" is important. Ordinary people and small and medium-sized enterprises in both developing and developed countries lose out when companies use tax havens to avoid their taxes.