Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Anti-terrorism tactics should be applied to tax havens, report says


The same aggressive and uncompromising international effort used to combat terrorism must be employed to eliminate tax havens, says Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz in a report being released Tuesday.

In a copy of the report, obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and shared with the Star, Stiglitz says the United States and Europe, which effectively co-operated to strangle terrorism financing after the Sept. 11 attacks, “have an obligation to force (tax havens) to comply with global transparency standards.”

“That they have the instruments to do so has been forcefully shown in the fight against terrorism. That they do not do so in the fight against corruption and tax … evasion is testimony to the power of the interests of those who benefit from secrecy.”

Seven months after the Panama Papers detailed a pervasive network of offshore tax havens that siphon money out of government coffers while fuelling corruption and organized crime, pressure is building to curb this dark side of globalization. Joining efforts in dozens of countries, the Canada Revenue Agency revealed this week it is investigating 85 suspected tax cheats identified in the data leak.  (more...)


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