Links Oct 16

Philippines: Purisima gets global award for 'unforgiving' campaign vs tax evasion GMA
Oct 14 - Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima has been lauded by Euromoney magazine for "a take-no-prisoners campaign to combat tax evasion in the Philippines. Among the prominent targets for tax investigations have been boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and former chief justice Renato Corona and his family."

More Greek Firms Eye Swiss Tax Haven Greek Reporter
Oct 14 - "More Greek firms could follow Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling and move their headquarters to Switzerland or elsewhere to avoid higher taxes at home. ... The Swiss fiscal policy has infuriated Brussels, as the European Union sees businesses fleeing EU countries to the tax haven of Switzerland."

Cyprus: Property law loophole losing tax revenue millions Cyprus Property News
Oct 14 - "In a recent interview with the media House Speaker and leader of EDEK, Yiannakis Omirou, said that tax evasion was a crime against the people of Cyprus especially under today’s circumstances." Intriguing view, since Cyprus is, in itself, a tax haven - see yesterday's links for some background.

Egypt: Government pursues ways to increase tax revenue  Egypt Independent
Oct 15 - An overview of taxation in Egypt, reporting on calls for taxation to be more progressive.

Inequality and the world economy - True Progressivism The Economist
Oct 15 - Inequality has reached a stage where it can be inefficient and bad for growth, The Economist calls for more progressive taxation.

West Seeks to Plug Loopholes in Iran Shipping Sanctions The Wall Street Journal
Oct 15 - "The U.S. and the European Union are looking to close loopholes in sanctions designed to impede Iran's oil exports after it emerged that Tehran is secretly using offshore tax havens to help ship its crude."

Why is a Price-Fixing/Collusion Lawsuit Against the Biggest Names in Private Equity Getting Only Cursory Notice? naked capitalism
Oct 15 - "LBO firms fetishize secrecy and use their power to maintain it ... more people in the U.S. work for companies owned by PE funds than belong to unions."

Time to abolish the UK's last "rotten borough" - the City of London Corporation New Statesman
Oct 15 - On the role of "The City", as exposed by Nick Shaxson's book Treasure Islands. "City speculators were allowed to create the bubble that eventually burst to create the current economic crisis. London became a funnel through which trillions poured into tax havens and the concentration on financial speculation rather than investment in our manufacturing base unbalanced our whole economy." New film being released secretcity-thefilm.com.

Starbucks avoiding tax has a knock-on effect on homegrown business Guardian
Oct 16 - Richard Murphy writes "The UK's tax policy should be rebalanced so multinationals can't get away tax-free while small businesses struggle."

Offshore Tax Avoidance Gimmicks by U.S. Companies Must End Dexter Patch
Oct 14 -  An opinion piece by Sen. Carl Levin. " Profitable corporations like Apple, Microsoft, and Hewlett-Packard shouldn’t be shortchanging America at a time of huge deficits."

U.S.: New Fincen Director Makes Shell Corporations Her Top Priority American Banker
Oct 16 - "Jennifer Shasky Calvery, the new director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, wrote the book on money laundering — literally." More worryingly, see Did Treasury Fire Jim Freis for Showing that Banksters Are a Bigger Problem than Terrorists?, from last May. (Hat tip: Jim Henry.)

Operation CaymansTwo intrepid comedians go to Cayman on an investigation for social justice - "... to find the money. To expose the greed and deceit of the corporate 1% and the corrupt politicians that help them hide their wealth. away from any accountability."  And here is an introductory rant - Warning, strong language.