Under pressure from corporate giants and the super-rich, governments have programmed tax and financial systems to prioritise the wealthiest over everybody else, wiring financial secrecy and tax havens into the core of the global economy, says the Tax Justice Network (TJN). The organisation released the 2025 edition of its annual State of Tax Justice report Read more >
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OPINIONS
By Janine Erasmus, with collaboration from Transparency InternationalFirst published on BusinessLive In July finance ministers from G20 countries met in Durban and issued their first joint statement since October 2024. As the first G20 presidency on African soil is now in its final quarter, the communique provides important indicators of how the forum is faring Read more >
CORRUPTION NEWS
By Miroslav Palanský and Moran Harari First published on the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre blog Corruption happens in two main stages. The first is the actual act of receiving something of value: a monetary bribe passed under a table, a public procurement contract awarded to a classmate from high school, a law quietly rewritten to Read more >
CORRUPTION NEWS
Image: International Monetary Fund The G20 Development Working Group (DWG) has released a document outlining its call to action for countries to adopt what it terms voluntary and non-binding high-level principles for combating illicit financial flows (IFFs). The DWG falls under the G20’s Sherpa track and is the key G20 forum for the discussion of Read more >
CORRUPTION NEWS
The Tax Justice Network (TJN) released the 2025 edition of its Financial Secrecy Index (FSI) on 3 June 2025, following on the previous edition released in 2022. The key finding, says the organisation, is that those countries who provide the most financial secrecy are clearly moving towards autocracy. Of this year’s top 10, says TJN, Read more >
CORRUPTION NEWS
The concept of a wealth tax is a current hot topic of discussion around the world. There are numerous arguments for and against the practice, with some saying a wealth tax might be inequitable and place more of a burden on the middle class than the rich, and others saying a moderate, progressive tax is Read more >
CORRUPTION NEWS
For those who wonder why such a fuss is made about illicit financial flows in the form of tax abuse, here is the reason – countries around the world are losing US$492-billion in tax a year because multinational corporations and wealthy individuals are able to use tax havens to avoid or underpay tax. Nearly half Read more >
CORRUPTION NEWS
Image: International Monetary Fund Illicit financial flows (IFFs) have been, and continue to be, a huge problem for developing countries, especially. They hinder countries’ ability to meet the UN sustainable development goals, because they undermine the fiscal systems which are in place to collect government revenue, and reduce the amount of funds available for development Read more >
CORRUPTION NEWS
Image: Flickr/Ryan Morrison Just weeks ago we reported on moves by UN member countries to begin the development of a UN tax convention under resolution 78/230. This would shift the responsibility for setting global tax rules from the OECD to the UN, a move which is expected to help to cut down on global tax Read more >