Legislation Enjoys Support of Law Enforcement, Obama Administration; Would Clean-Up American Financial System
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, 41 business and civil society groups sent a letter to every member of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate urging them to co-sponsor the Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act (S. 1483/ H.R. 3416). This bipartisan bill, which is endorsed by the Obama Administration, would require companies to disclose their ultimate owners at the time of incorporation, making it much harder for corrupt politicians, tax dodgers, terrorists and other criminals to form and hide behind anonymous U.S. shell companies.
TO THE EDITOR:
Holman W. Jenkins Jr.’s ambivalent portrait of the Wal-Mart of Mexico bribery scandal in his April 25 Business World column “Wal-Mart Innocents Abroad” overlooks the fact that bribery is not a victimless crime. If the allegations are true, Wal-Mart was bribing local government bureaucrats to skirt environmental regulations, rewrite zoning laws and intentionally expand itself faster than any of its competitors could possibly, legally, match.
GFI Spokespeople Available for Comment on Apple, Tax Avoidance, Transfer Mispricing, Tax Haven Abuse
WASHIGNTON, DC – A front-page article in Sunday’s edition of The New York Times drew attention to shady accounting techniques utilized by Apple Inc, the technology giant, to avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes each year. However, Global Financial Integrity (GFI) notes that Apple’s tax dodging is only one example of a larger problem: most multinational enterprises abuse tax haven secrecy. Tax haven abuses are estimated to cost the Internal Revenue Service US$100 billion per year and developing economies roughly US$1 trillion annually.
New Rule Still Exempts Many Jurisdictions; GFI Urges IRS to Expand Requirement to Accounts Held by All Non-Resident Aliens
WASHINGTON, DC – Global Financial Integrity (GFI) applauded the U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for last night adopting a regulation (TD 9584) requiring banks to report information about interest earned on U.S. deposit accounts held by non-resident aliens, as banks have been required to do for accounts held by American citizens and Canadians. GFI and others have long advocated for implementation of this rule as an important tool in the fight against international tax evasion, money laundering, drug trafficking, corruption, and terrorist financing.
China Largest Victim Worldwide of Illicit Outflows; Lost US$2.74 trillion to Crime, Corruption and Tax Evasion from 2000 to 2009
WASHINGTON, DC – As details surfaced today connecting the illicit outflow of assets from China in the suspicious death of British businessman Neil Heywood last November, Global Financial Integrity (GFI) highlighted China’s place as the largest victim of illicit financial outflows. The latest research from GFI estimates that the Asian nation suffered US$2.74 trillion in illicit financial outflows over the decade ending in 2009, more than quintupling the outflows from the next largest victim of illegal capital flight.
Tom Cardamone
TO THE EDITOR:
James B. Stewart does such an entertaining job of illustrating the effort many of New York’s richest non-residents put into avoiding city taxes that a reader might be excused for cheering them along, just as I did with Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in the similarly named movie (“Tax Me If You Can,” March 19th). However, the actions of such tax evaders do a great disservice not only to working-class New Yorkers but to all Americans currently suffering from cuts in health care, education, and other essential services as a result of empty government coffers. Amusing as the games of the rich might be, one need only look at Athens in order to see the possible consequences. At the end of the day, even DiCaprio’s character ended up behind bars.
GFI Advisory Board Member to Chair Group of Experts
WASHINGTON, DC – The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Initiative (IBAHRI) today announced the formation of a international task force charged with investigating the linkages between illicit financial flows, poverty and human rights violations. Chaired by Global Financial Integrity Advisory Board member and Yale University Professor Thomas Pogge, the task force consists of prominent academics, tax experts, and lawyers from around the world.
Research and Advocacy Organization Recommends Country-by-Country Reporting to Help Curtail Tax Avoidance
WASHINGTON, DC – Global Financial Integrity (GFI) welcomed an initiative by the OECD’s first Global Forum on Transfer Pricing today to simplify and strengthen international transfer pricing standards, but noted the need to engage a wide variety of developing countries as the Global Forum moves forward with its work.
