Links Jan 24

Singapore, a preferred tax haven The Hindu Business Line
Jan 24 - For India, Mauritius is falling somewhat out of favour following a number of scandals, and Singapore is picking up the slack. See recent TJN Blog on Tax Gateways to India .

USA: State Tax Hikes On Wealthy Proposed By California, Maryland Governors Huff Post Business
Jan 20 - "It's early, but there does seem to be a bit of an uptick in governors proposing tax increases on the rich," said Jon Schure, director of state fiscal strategies at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington think tank. "The public is more receptive to that idea now."

OECD: Using Tax Policy to Reduce Income Inequality, Boost Economic Growth TaxProf
Jan 24 - See the Chapter from the forthcoming Economic Policy Reforms 2012 - Going for Growth: Reducing Income Inequality While Boosting Economic Growth: Can It Be Done?. The answer is: Yes.

Why the OECD’s approach to transfer pricing is a joke Task Force Blog
Jan 17 - About a year ago TJN published two articles summarising longer papers in Tax Notes by Michael Durst, former head of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Advance Pricing program and a world authority on the subject. This blog is a reminder of those two important articles.

Occupy schedules 'flashmob' outside Park City bank Park Record
Jan 24 - People aligned with the Occupy Wall Street movement are planning a protest outside a Wells Fargo branch. The action is scheduled the day after the first showing of the documentary "We're Not Broke," at the Sundance Film Festival. TJN has participated in the making of the movie, and will be represented at Sundance by Jack Blum, VP of TJN-USA.

Greece publishes tax dodger list to name and shame Reuters
Jan 23 - "A famous singer and a retired basketball star were on a list of 4,000 top tax dodgers released by the Greek government as part of a name-and-shame policy to get evaders to pay up. Tax evasion is endemic in Greece and its international lenders, the EU and the IMF, have insisted Athens improve tax collection if they are to continue bankrolling the debt-laden country."

Dangerous Liaisons - Canada's shift towards becoming a tax haven The Dominion
Jan 23 - On how - "By radically integrating its own politics and financial institutions with those of tax shelter states, Canada has transformed itself, without ambiguity, into a tax haven."

Switzerland eyes tax deals, US talks 'not so easy' Reuters
Jan 12 - "Switzerland's long tradition of banking secrecy has allowed rich foreigners to park savings out of sight of their own tax authorities for decades and, for many foreigners, made Swiss bank accounts a byword for dodging taxes. But foreign governments, led by the United States, are forcing tax havens to reveal their secrets, emboldened by efforts to root out suspected terrorist funding and by a need to boost revenues depleted by the global economic crisis."

Switzerland: Banking lobby celebrates centenary swissinfo
Jan 23 - "The [Swiss Bankers] association - founded in Basel in 1912 to represent the interests of the banking industry – is proud of its record ... For years the association has had to devote a lot of energy to conflicts with tax authorities in France and the United States, although this has mainly occurred behind the scenes."

The 10 Cs of an efficient tax system Tax Research UK
Jan 24 - Richard Murphy explains how "An efficient taxation system has nine attributes with one over-riding characteristic to which they all contribute."