The Taxcast Tax Justice Network

"This will supersede them all." Offshore specialist and human rights lawyer Paul Beckett of Corlett Bolton & Co sounds the alarm on the fast development of 'blockchain havens.'
The Tax Justice Network's Bob Michel speaks about the challenges regulators, anti-corruption campaigners and poorer nations face.
A transcript of the podcast is available here: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Blockchain-havens-transcript-2.pdf 
Further reading/resources:
Paul Beckett's book: An Anatomy of Tax Havens: Europe, the Caribbean and the United States of America https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110985108/html Beneficial Ownership and Legal Responsibility: Concealment, Avoidance and Impunity, also by Paul Beckett https://www.routledge.com/Beneficial-Ownership-and-Legal-Responsibility-Concealment-Avoidance-and-Impunity/Beckett/p/book/9781032537603  Offshoring DAO Foundations: Top Legal Considerations https://dilendorf.com/resources/offshoring-dao-foundations-top-legal-considerations.html  You can find all previous Taxcasts on the Taxcast website: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/production/taxcast/ 
 
 

Crime doesn't pay - or does it?! Taxcast host Naomi Fowler talks to former police investigator, asset recovery specialist and co-author of The War on Dirty Money Tristram Hicks about the state of criminal asset recovery: "We haven't started the war on dirty money. There's this disconnect that's taking place at a strategic level."
PLUS: The Tax Justice Network's Alex Cobham analyses Australia's much awaited, revised (aka watered down) legislation to tackle multinational tax abuse - disappointing but still significant. AND: a model wealth tax law has been agreed by consensus at the United Nations. We expected the OECD to try to block it but they didn't - why?
A transcript of the show is available here: (some is automated)
https://taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Taxcast-March-2024-Transcript.pdf 
Further reading:
The War on Dirty Money, by Tristram Hicks and Nicholas Gilmour
Dirty Money: Tristram Hicks on Substack
UN agrees plan for wealth tax law blueprint https://taxjustice.net/press/un-agrees-plan-for-wealth-tax-law-blueprint/ 
The Tax Justice Network hails a breakthrough in corporate tax transparency https://taxjustice.net/press/tax-justice-network-hails-a-major-breakthrough-in-corporate-tax-transparency/
The country by country reporting path to global justice https://taxjustice.net/events/the-country-by-country-path-to-global-justice/ 
The FT confirms the OECD lobbied against Australian tax transparency
https://taxjustice.net/press/ft-confirms-oecd-lobbied-against-australian-tax-transparency/ 
The investor case for public country by country tax reporting https://thefactcoalition.org/report/a-material-concern-the-investor-case-for-public-country-by-country-tax-reporting/ 
Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 https://www.ukciu.gov.uk/(xwxqxm55yk5tzxbr0dznv2en)/Information/info.aspx?InfoSection=Legislation 
HMRC/UK tax authority staff paying for themselves many times over https://www.taxjustice.uk/tax-takes-6.html 
Our website with all our podcasts is https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/  
 
 

While we wait for a global tax body at the United Nations, what are the ways forward for nations desperate to tax multinationals fairly? We talk unitary taxation in a special extended interview with Emeritus Law Professor, coordinator of the BEPS Monitoring Group and Tax Justice Network special advisor Sol Picciotto.
Plus: the return of our analysis slot - Taxcast host Naomi Fowler talks to Zorka Milin of the FACT Coalition about the US's new beneficial ownership registry and its shortcomings; and a tale of two crimes: the punishment of a whistleblower versus a magic circle lawyer in a $6000 suit.
Transcript available here: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Feb-2024-Taxcast-Transcript.pdf 
Guests:
Alison Shultz, Tax Justice Network Zorka Milin, FACT Coalition Sol Picciotto, veteran tax justice champion, emeritus professor of law, coordinator of the BEPS Monitoring Group which analyzes efforts to tackle profit shifting by multinationals, and Tax Justice Network senior advisor Produced and presented by Naomi Fowler of the Tax Justice Network. Further reading:
Beneficial Ownership Reporting Begins Under Corporate Transparency Act: https://thefactcoalition.org/u-s-beneficial-ownership-reporting-begins-groundbreaking-anti-bribery-bill-signed-into-law-just-the-facts-1-8-24/
Roadmap to Effective Beneficial Ownership Transparency (Tax Justice Network) https://taxjustice.net/2023/02/07/roadmap-to-effective-beneficial-ownership-transparency-rebot/ 
Charles Littlejohn pleads guilty to one count of disclosing tax return information https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68131435
The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax (ProPublica) https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax
Former Freshfields partner sentenced to jail for German tax fraud https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/ex-freshfields-partner-gets-35-year-sentence-german-tax-fraud-2024-01-30/
Ex-Freshfields lawyer convicted over tax fraud received €2mn severance pay (FT paywall) https://www.ft.com/content/28fc06cb-b9db-4af4-a854-297c3ba5b4e4
Beyond the Two Pillar Proposals. A Simplified Approach for Taxing Multinationals https://www.southcentre.int/tax-cooperation-policy-brief-no-36-26-october-2023/ 
BEPS Monitoring Group: https://www.bepsmonitoringgroup.org/ 
Our website with further information and more podcasts: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/ 
 

On the Taxcast this month: People power for tax justice is on the rise like never before. We kick off 2024 with inspiring stories on campaigns for tax reform from around the world: strategies, successes, limitations, and what we can learn from the first in-depth studies of their kind by International Budget Partnership.

Plus: Malawian poet and Senior Tax Investigations Officer Robert Chiwamba pays tribute to tax collectors everywhere. You can watch him perform We Will Count Them here.

Transcript of the show: https://taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Taxcast_transcript_Jan_2024.pdf (Some is automated)

Guests:

Robert Chiwamba, Malawian poet and Senior Tax Investigations Officer (his youtube site is here, WATCH him performing his poem We Will Count Them https://youtu.be/V95_Yd8Dfhs )
Greg Leroy of Good Jobs First
Paolo de Renzio, formerly Senior Research Fellow with the International Budget Partnership, now Senior Lecturer at the Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration of Fundação Getúlio Vargas in Rio de Janeiro.
Produced and presented by Naomi Fowler of the Tax Justice Network.
Further reading:
A Taxing Journey: How Civic Actors Influence Tax Policy (open access – free pdf from International Budget Partnership https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/monograph?docid=b-9781350344648 and a summary paper on that work here: https://internationalbudget.org/publications/a-taxing-journey-how-civic-actors-influence-tax-policy/ 
Beneficial Ownership reporting begins in the US: https://thefactcoalition.org/u-s-beneficial-ownership-reporting-begins-groundbreaking-anti-bribery-bill-signed-into-law-just-the-facts-1-8-24/
Proud to Pay More: 260+ millionaires and billionaires from 17 countries ask governments to tax them more https://proudtopaymore.org/
The EU Court ruling on Beneficial Ownership registries in 2022 https://taxjustice.net/press/eu-court-returns-eu-to-dark-ages-of-dirty-money/
A Tax Justice Network report on how to fix beneficial ownership frameworks https://taxjustice.net/2023/12/20/new-report-on-how-to-fix-beneficial-ownership-frameworks-so-they-actually-work/

In this brand new Tax Justice Network weekly podcast we take listeners on a journey through the eyes of anti-corruption veterans who were on the frontline of events that have defined our world today, with stories and perspectives on reform you won't hear anywhere else.
In Series 1 we sit down with leading white collar crime lawyer and senior Tax Justice Network adviser Jack Blum who tells us about his life's work during a period of huge geopolitical change and transformed global tax and financial systems. From the BCCI scandal, to Panamanian dictator Noriega’s cocaine trafficking, to Lockheed Aircraft’s overseas bribes - Jack was there.
Every Wednesday we'll release a new episode. Don't miss it! Subscribe on your podcast app: https://pod.link/1721797109 
The Corruption Diaries is produced by Naomi Fowler and Jo Barratt of the Tax Justice Network. Interviews with Jack Blum were recorded over several days at Jack’s home in Maryland by journalist Zoe Sullivan.

In an extended Taxcast edition this month, a century of tax rule setting by the former imperial powers has been overturned: we look at the UN vote on global tax reform. Taxcast host Naomi Fowler follows events at the UN, the failed efforts to block it and explores what it all means with Alex Cobham of the Tax Justice Network.

Featuring:

Alex Cobham of the Tax Justice Network
UN representatives from Nigeria, South Africa, the Bahamas, the UK, the US, Spain, Russian Federation, Cameroon.
Hosted by Naomi Fowler of the Tax Justice Network, produced by Naomi Fowler and Jo Barratt.
Transcript available here: https://taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/TRANSCRIPT_Taxcast_Dec_23.pdf
"If the time of crisis imposes the time of change, then it's time for cooperation to take precedence over competition. It's time for international solidarity to take precedence over particular and selfish interest in the short term. African people are tired of numbers about assistance for development. They do not request more assistance. They request every partner running business, the physical or digital, individuals and companies making profit should pay the right price, the fair and just percentage in terms of tax. Then we could keep our promise to transforming our world, to ensuring the world we want, the future we want is a reality."
~ UN Representative from Cameroon
"It's a century waiting to have a globally inclusive body to set tax rules to throw over the decisions made by the League of Nations in the 1920s and 30s that we're all stuck with the consequences of today. We don't actually need tax rules that were set by the imperial powers, honestly, we can do better."
~ Alex Cobham, Tax Justice Network


Further reading:

The UN adopts plans for historic tax reform, Tax Justice Network
“No” voters on UN tax reform enable 75% of global tax abuse, Tax Justice Network
Follow developments on tax reform at the UN on the Tax Justice Network's live blog: Road to UN vote on global tax reform
Decolonising the International Tax System from Fadhel Kaboub's blog
A new UN Tax convention – how will it change global tax governance? From Martin Hearson
You can WATCH the vote at the UN here (the discussion on tax matters starts around 35 minutes)
More Taxcasts on https://www.thetaxcast.com