Links Sep 26

Memo to the G20: stop turning a blind eye to tax dodgers Guardian
Sep 25 - Article by Christian Aid's David McNair. "While media attention at Friday's G20 meeting in Washington focused on the Eurozone crisis, finance and development ministers were quietly backing away from their commitments to help poor countries collect more of the billions they lose to tax dodgers."

All bets are off on another financial calamity Tribune Magazine
Sep 24 - Article by Prem Sikka. The banking crisis has been making headlines for the past three years. Bankers indulged in an orgy of irresponsibility. Yet there has been no public inquiry, no royal commission and no prosecutions. A report from the Independent Commission on Banking's 358-page report shows no urgency and says reforms can wait until 2019.

Ten basic questions on tax and equality La Nacion (In Spanish)
Sep 26 - Jorge Gaggero writes on the challenges of measuring the impact of tax on equality in Argentina, with proposals for the way forward. Noted, is the need for a broad socio-political coalition that claims and supports necessary and substantial changes in the field of income distribution, and strong political will at the highest political levels to initiate and sustain those changes required.

Why the tax gap matters - or why I appeared in court for UK Uncut Tax Research UK
Sep 25 - Richard Murphy, as an expert witness, explaining the links between tax avoidance and the government cuts. "There’s cash out there; this government needs it and UK Uncut and others expect them to collect it, now, for the sake of us all."

Goldman Critic Sides With Buffett to Shut Futures Tax ‘Loophole’ Bloomberg
Sep 20 - Senator Levin, one of the greats of the U.S. political system,"has a new target -- a tax benefit for derivatives traders that has also been derided by Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor and tax-code critic."

Big banks targeted by IRS on tax breaks Financial Times
Sep 25 - "US tax authorities are targeting cross-border finance deals worth billions of dollars between leading US and UK banks as they step up efforts to clamp down on abusive tax avoidance, a joint investigation by the Financial Times and ProPublica, a non-profit news organisation, has found."

Capital Moving From Bermuda To Ireland Bernews
Sep 26 - From a report by the Republic of Ireland’s Central Statistics Office - "43% of net or final inward investment of some €19.9 billion [$26.7 billion] came from Bermuda ...A crackdown on tax havens by the US government has made Bermuda less attractive for the global reinsurance and investment companies.”

A budget-friendly haven for banks and robbers The Sydney Morning Herald
Sep 25 - A travel article with an interesting take on Andorra. Hat tip: Offshore Watch. I ask my Catalan hostess, "Who runs Andorra?" She glowers at me, mutters "ze banks" and changes the subject to soccer.