Corporate Tax Haven Index: From the forbidden fruit to Facebook

Man produces evil as a bee produces honey.
~ William Golding

You might be a king or a little street sweeper. But sooner or later, you dance with the Reaper


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Allison Anna Tait (Richmond), The Law of High-Wealth Exceptionalism, 71 Ala. L. Rev. ___ (2019):

No family is an island. But some families would like to be – at least when it comes to wealth preservation – and they depend on what this Article calls the law of high-wealth exceptionalism to facilitate their success. The law of high-wealth exceptionalism has been forged, over the years, from the twinned scripts of wealth management and family wealth law, both of which constitute high-wealth families as sovereign entities capable of self-regulation and deserving of exemption from the rules that govern ordinary-wealth families. Consequently, high-wealth families take advantage of complicated estate planning techniques and highly favorable wealth rules in order build walls around their family fortunes and construct bespoke governance systems. Hiding in plain sight, the law of high-wealth exceptionalism protects, privileges, and enables high-wealth families in their own particular form of organizational sovereignty.

• US House lawmakers sue Trump administration for president's tax returns  (3 Jul 2019)
• Crown Dependencies and BVI:  Sun, Sand, and the $1.5 Trillion Dark Offshore Economy  (3 Jul 2019)
• Bureaux de change: Crackdown on drug gangs money laundering (3 Jul 2019)
• Tory leadership: Boris Johnson promises review of 'unhealthy food taxes  (3 Jul 2019)
• Tax Havens: Belfast could be Singapore-style tax-free zone, says Johnson  (3 Jul 2019)
• Jeremy Hunt criticises 'populist' Boris Johnson over 'sin tax' pledge  (3 Jul 2019)
• Offshore tax avoidance schemes 'still being touted to contractors'  (3 Jul 2019)
• Brazil's anti-corruption drive has been exposed as corrupt itself (3 Jul 2019)
• PM candidates back loan charge inquiry  (3 Jul 2019)
• EY reveals global tax tie-up with Nokia  (3 Jul 2019)

• Young, mega-rich - and demanding to pay more tax 

Virtual Currency Held in Foreign Accounts Not FBAR Reportable 

I am not an expert on virtual currency or reporting requirements for virtual currency.  One issue is whether virtual currency or holding virtual currency on a foreign third-party exchange was reportable on the FBAR, FinCEN Form 114.

In this month’s June 2019 podcast we look at the new Corporate Tax Haven Index released by the Tax Justice Network. What does it tell us about the global economy and the international tax system? And how can we fix it? We also look at how India is pushing the G20 into action on global tax rules – if they don’t act it will implement its own rules.

"The Corporate Tax Haven Index provides one of those really rare glimpses of what actually happens underneath the bonnet of the global economy. It tells several disturbing stories…in what we can only describe as a full frontal assault on the national tax sovereignty of every country on the planet. That’s what they’re doing. They’re attacking the tax regimes of other countries. What it reveals is a really disturbing picture of international failure. We see the powerful European countries and especially Britain lying behind their clusters of tax havens and they have wrecked economies across the world and are now threatening social stability and democracy across the world.

But when countries like India say, no, that doesn’t work for us, we’re going our own way, then it gets very serious indeed. And the G20 simply cannot afford to ignore this any longer. So the road is open for the next steps. And of course the next steps are going to take us in the direction the Tax Justice Network has always been talking about. And that is in the direction of proper apportionment of profits to the countries where the profits are aligned with the economic substance. In other words, we’re moving towards unitary taxation and formula apportionment…And I think we should all welcome the opportunity now to create a framework protecting multinational companies that suits the entire world, not just the most powerful countries in the world."

John Christensen, Tax Justice Network

Featuring:

• Andres Knobel, Rachel Etter-Phoya, Shanna Lima, Lucas Millán Narotzky of the Tax Justice Network’s Corporate Tax Haven Index team
• Markus Meinzer, director of the Corporate Tax Haven Index and Financial Secrecy Index research teams
• Liz Nelson, director of Tax Justice and Human Rights research
• John Christensen of the Tax Justice Network
• Presented and produced by Naomi Fowler of the Tax Justice Network

The Taxcast is available on Acast, Spotify, iTunes or Stitcher.

Read more about the Corporate Tax Haven Index here and the Financial Secrecy Index here.

Original post with full details here.

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Freedom of speech: a history from the forbidden fruit to Facebook

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