The Taxcast

What's Scotland got to do with the plunder of Moldova? We take a look at the 'Wild West' of Scottish Limited Partnerships. Also, we discuss the tensions in the EU; is the net finally closing on multinational companies, the tax minimisation deals they've been getting from various European countries and the big four accountancy firms who advised them? Just how bad was the sell off of one of Colombia...

We get some insights into the usually closed world of the wealth managers who serve the super-rich. Plus:on a par with Kissinger being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize? We discuss how the British Banker's Association's got one of their own into the UK government Treasury, why Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg's $35 billion 'charity' pledge isn't what it seems, and the anonymous survey of accountants that sh...

Why is the City of London losing so much business to New York, Hong Kong and Singapore? Our conclusions are quite different from those of a British Bankers Association report on the subject. Plus: the crazy UK-China nuclear power station deal: a sweetener for closer ties between the two nation's financial sectors? One year after #LuxLeaks exposed some of the secret tax deals being done between gov...

We look at the remittance cartel, their 'taxing of the poor' with monopoly prices in a juicy $450-500 billion market. Also: 'comfort letters' and the game changing European Commission ruling that the tax agreements between Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Starbucks and Fiat constitute illegal state aid, we analyse the rich country club of the OECD's BEPS proposals for reform of the global corporate ta...

When's the next financial crisis? We look at offshore and the trillion dollar derivatives market. Plus: we discuss how Mexico's trying to force multinational companies to pay more tax, why recent market madness originating in China shows we need a Financial Transactions Tax more than ever, and why the recent election by a landslide of opposition leader in Britain's Labour party Jeremy Corbyn could...

Sun, sea and tax: the Taxcast goes to Mexico and looks at how multinational tourism operates there. Plus: why Luxembourg is printing euros like there's no tomorrow, Brazil offers its tax dodgers an amnesty, and we ask how much longer 'emerging economies' and other countries left out of the reform of global tax rules will put up with it.

In an extended Taxcast special we look at the crisis in Greece and ask whatever happened to European unity? Plus we discuss the European Parliament's vote to make multinational coporations report their activities on a public, country-by-country basis, a push to give poorer countries a say in global tax rule-making fails after three days of bullying in Addis Ababa, BUT Tax Inspectors Without Border...

Racketeering, money laundering and bribery in international football: the FIFA scandal demonstrates everything that's wrong with global finance and attitudes to business. Also: the EU Commission releases a laughable tax haven blacklist with some glaring omissions, we put FIFA's auditors KPMG under the spotlight, and Walmart is exposed for paying minimal taxes.

In the May 2015 Taxcast: Do our politicians believe in the societies they serve or not? The Taxcast looks at making the tax returns of our elected representatives public, and the inspirational achievement of journalist Umar Cheema of the Centre for Investigative Reporting in making Pakistan only the fourth country in the world to publish the tax returns of its Parliamentarians. Also: how the Briti...

How just are our tax systems towards women? One Texan husband did the sums on what his stay-at-home wife's unpaid work was really worth in monetary terms. Plus: one of the USA's biggest corporations (and tax avoiders) is repatriating billions from offshore and re-focusing on good old manufacturing again, and remember how the UK Prime Minister was 'leading the world' in transparency measures not so...

Democracy for sale: how our politics are heavily reliant on tax haven-friendly donors. Also, we ask: Why is HSBC shutting down offshore accounts in Jersey? Are we in the final few years of the corporate income tax? Is Australia's exempting of big companies from new transparency rules a joke? Plus more scandal and analysis you won't find anywhere else.

Just what does a bank have to do to lose its licence?! We look at the fall out from HSBCLeaks and ask how can we genuinely tackle criminality in global finance? Also: the latest research on crimes and fines in banking; why a recent threat to have UK Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories blacklisted won't exactly have them shaking in their shoes; plus more scandal and unique analysis.

How offshore is ruining the 'Beautiful Game' - the Taxcast scrutinises football's own goal. Also: how banks with criminal convictions are being allowed to continue to handle our money, how people may be allowed to apply for anonymity in the UK's register of beneficial owners to be introduced in 2016, and the meeting of the world's most powerful in that bastion of transparency, Davos, Switzerland....

In the December 2014 Taxcast: how mafia is corrupting democracy at the heart of Europe in Italy's capital city of Rome. Also, the #LuxLeaks whistleblower is arrested and makes his first public statements on why he did it, the UK Chancellor's 'Google Tax', is the EU Commission President backing away from making a register of the real owners of copmpanies and trusts public? Plus more scandal and uni...

In the November 2014 Taxcast: 'You can lie and you can steal from us but this time we'll know who you are': Ukraine becomes the first country in the world to introduce a public registry of the real owners of companies. The Taxcast speaks to the Director of Ukraine's Anti-Corruption Action Centre about stopping corruption that continues to cost lives. Also: we take a look at the fallout from the la...

How much is corporate welfare costing us? Across the US they're going to start publishing the subsidies and tax breaks. We take a look at the latest research in the UK. Also: Ireland announces it'll abolish the 'Double Irish' tax dodge after the EU Commission finds Apple's tax deal is 'illegal state aid'. But what will they replace it with? Australians discover the true state of the tax contributi...

In the September 2014 Taxcast: 'unpatriotic corporate deserters'? We ask why so many US companies are relocating. Also, the less reported side of the Scottish vote on independence, the OECD's latest 'action' plan on tackling international tax avoidance and much, much more.

In the August 2014 Taxcast: when was the last time you used a £100 bill, a 500 euro note or a 1,000 Swiss Franc note? We look at how Western Central banks and Treasuries are facilitating crime through high denomination bills. Also, tax haven reputation damage-management, Switzerland pulls a fast one on India, the European bankers raking in the bonuskis from sanctions against Russia and how the tax...

What really happened at the Google Shareholder meeting vote on a proposal for ethical tax principles? Plus: we discuss what the new tax haven-friendly EU Commission President might now do (or not do), anti-democratic moves in Hong Kong by the big four accountancy firms, and: forget the OECD's global tax reforms - developing countries can, and are doing it for themselves. But will the new BRICS Dev...

In the June 2014 Taxcast: the guillotine vs progressive taxation. the Taxcast looks at Thomas Piketty's book Capital in the 21st Century. Also: welcome to the temporary tax haven of World Cup Brazil; the EU Commission begins investigations into illegal state aid for tax havens; and are developing countries really not interested in tracking illicit outflows from their countries? Plus more scandals

In the May 2014 Taxcast: the Taxcast looks at privatisation and tax: what happens when public assets or services get into private hands? Also, Google's challenged on its tax affairs by its own shareholders; will Congress block the US government's decision to agree to the G20's global transparency standard? And whatever happened to the UK's 'leadership' on public registers of the real owners of com...

In the April 2014 Taxcast: Forget Congress! The Taxcast looks at the latest US state to take matters into its own hands and legislate against tax havens. Also: the scandal of how the Bank for International Settlements has kept offshore wealth data to itself, the British government tries to impress its friends in Washington with a 'tough' new tax evasion offence, taxing problems in Nigeria and...ho...

In the March 2014 Taxcast: Russia, Ukraine, Londongrad and the offshore threat to global security. Also: modern day colonialism? Niger battles France over fairer revenues from its uranium; it's official - inequality IS bad for economic growth: the IMF becomes an unlikely advocate for tax justice. And, the European Parliament moves against anonymous ownership of companies by voting for public regis...

In the February 2014 Taxcast: Are European tax havens getting 'illegal state subsidies'? The European Union's Competition Commissioner thinks so. Are the world's tax havens really going to become more transparent? We analyse the OECD's automatic information exchange proposal, warts and all. And, the tax haven of the Bahamas is broke – the government's solution? Tax the poor! We look at the Bahamia...

In the January 2014 Taxcast: Tax justice goes to the Cayman Islands; we look at the latest fall-out from #OffshoreLeaks, the expose on tax havens from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists; and HOW much is Africa spending on corporate tax breaks??? The Taxcast looks at tax incentives, Africa-style.