panama papers boost tax battle but no silver bullet
Last Updated : GMT 09:07:40
Egypt Today, egypt today
Egypt Today, egypt today
Last Updated : GMT 09:07:40
Egypt Today, egypt today

Before the world's tax dodgers run out of places

Panama Papers boost tax battle, but no silver bullet

Egypt Today, egypt today

Egypt Today, egypt today Panama Papers boost tax battle, but no silver bullet

Activists put placards reading "Panama papers, so what?" and "give back the money"
Paris - Arab Today

The Panama Papers have given ammunition to the fight against tax evasion, but much still needs to happen before the world's tax dodgers run out of places to hide money, experts say.

The papers, published a year ago, linked some of the world's most powerful leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and former British prime minister David Cameron, as well as sports stars and billionaires to unreported offshore companies.

The leaking of the more than 11 million documents belonging to Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca kickstarted fresh government action against the secretive world of tax fraud and evasion, piercing a little more of its obscurity.

"The automatic exchange of information, which is truly the end of banking secrecy, no longer raises objections from anybody," Pascal Saint-Amans, Director of the OECD's Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, told AFP.

The year since the Panama Papers has been one of "transparency", agreed Pierre Moscovici, the EU's Economics Commissioner.

"This fight is about justice," he told AFP.

"Every (tax) euro that a multinational company fails to pay is a euro too many paid by households," he said. "It's unacceptable."

Before the scandal broke, Panama was the last major financial centre refusing all exchange of banking information. This gave others a fig leaf to hide behind, using the Central American state's attitude "as an excuse to do nothing", said the OECD's Saint-Amans.

But since, Panama has adopted new legislation and signed up to the international fight against tax fraud, with all the transparency required.

- Piling on the pressure -

This change has, in turn, piled pressure on other reticent financial centres, including Lebanon, Bahrain, Hong Kong and Bahamas, to also lift all remaining veils on their banking transactions.

The G20 last November threatened to establish a blacklist of tax havens this year, adding to the squeeze on the last holdouts to sign up to a multilateral convention which the OECD calls "the most powerful" weapon against tax fraud.

But that hasn't solved the problem of tax havens within countries, like Delaware in the United States.

"The US don't practice reciprocity concerning the automatic exchange of information, or only partially. That's a problem," said Saint-Amans.

The entire US should not, however, be considered to be a tax haven, as the authorities respond to requests for information and come down hard on tax fraud, he said.

Europe, meanwhile, also has further to go, said the EU's Moscovici.

"I have two priorities for 2017," he said. "A European list of tax havens which will, I hope, lead to sanctions, and moves against intermediaries who help businesses and individuals to organise tax evasion," he said.

"There's still a lot left to do," said Manon Aubry, a spokeswoman for non-governmental organisation Oxfam.

The Panama Papers are "just the tip of the iceberg" as they lifted the veil on a single law office's activities, she told AFP.

But they're also an opening to do more.

"The Panama Papers handed us the greatest opportunity to fight tax evasion. If we don't act now, we may miss that opportunity," she said.

source: AFP

egypttoday
egypttoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

panama papers boost tax battle but no silver bullet panama papers boost tax battle but no silver bullet



GMT 08:02 2015 Tuesday ,15 September

No snow: Californian water source at 500-year low

GMT 15:25 2018 Wednesday ,14 November

Friedrich Merz vows to steal half of AfD voters

GMT 06:53 2017 Saturday ,18 February

G20 foreign ministers vow to fight poverty in Africa

GMT 14:27 2017 Friday ,10 March

Hypercars mingle with station wagons

GMT 13:13 2011 Friday ,16 December

Hyundai i-oniq Concept for Geneva 2012

GMT 11:53 2011 Monday ,26 September

Guerrero: We’ve got Peruvians dreaming

GMT 18:17 2016 Sunday ,18 December

Iraqi warplanes bomb Daesh warehouses

GMT 16:54 2017 Sunday ,15 January

26 killed as Hadi forces push Houthis back

GMT 04:29 2016 Saturday ,25 June

A New Generation of Robots is Ready for the Market

GMT 12:31 2011 Saturday ,26 November

Google working on OnLive rival for Chrome OS

GMT 23:18 2017 Wednesday ,01 March

Dh4.2m lawsuit against George Wassouf thrown out

GMT 12:57 2018 Tuesday ,09 January

German industrial orders dip in November

GMT 07:18 2018 Sunday ,07 January

Palestinians mark Orthodox Christmas

GMT 02:09 2017 Sunday ,08 January

Downtown Dubai is a place to be on New Year’s Eve

GMT 06:32 2018 Wednesday ,03 January

A Weathered Penny appoints

GMT 10:14 2015 Tuesday ,11 August

Woman drowns in Dubai after father blocks rescue

GMT 13:51 2013 Friday ,25 January

Billy Bragg to get BBC Folk Award

GMT 00:30 2012 Thursday ,27 September

Causes of snoring in pregnancy revealed

GMT 08:30 2016 Sunday ,10 April

War photographer and mother, the woman

GMT 14:06 2012 Thursday ,26 July

Depression linked to artificial light

GMT 05:44 2011 Tuesday ,19 April

New hope for secretive rare animal

GMT 18:53 2012 Tuesday ,27 November

Radio host suspended over anti-Semitism
 
 Egypt Today Facebook,egypt today facebook  Egypt Today Twitter,egypt today twitter Egypt Today Rss,egypt today rss  Egypt Today Youtube,egypt today youtube  Egypt Today Youtube,egypt today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday
egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday
egypttoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
egypttoday, Egypttoday, Egypttoday