Tax haven

CINCO ACTORES PROTAGONIZAN HOY EL MUNDO
OFFSHORE: LAS “GUARIDAS FISCALES” (PIADOSAMENTE
LLAMADAS “PARAÍSOS” POR LOS MEDIOS MASIVOS);
LA BANCA GLOBAL; LAS RESTANTES CORPORACIONES
MULTINACIONALES; LAS GRANDES CONSULTORAS
GLOBALES EN AUDITORÍA E IMPUESTOS; Y LOS ESTUDIOS
LEGALES ESPECIALIZADOS. SON LOS FACILITADORES
(ENABLERS) DE LA FUGA DE CAPITALES, LA EVASIÓN
TRIBUTARIA Y EL LAVADO DE ACTIVOS POR PARTE DE LAS
GRANDES CORPORACIONES Y LOS “RICOS GLOBALES”.
LEJOS DE CONSTITUIR UNA EXCEPCIÓN, LA ARGENTINA
SE MANTIENE EN LA “VANGUARDIA” –DICHO ESTO CON
IRONÍA– DE ESTOS “DESARROLLOS”. EL RECIENTE
DESEMPEÑO DEL PAÍS A PROPÓSITO DEL DESAFÍO QUE
PLANTEAN LAS “GUARIDAS FISCALES” AL EJERCICIO DE
SU CADA VEZ MÁS MENGUADA AUTORIDAD SOBERANA
RESULTA DIGNO DE ESPECIAL ANÁLISIS.

Abstract published on Tax Justice network Blog april 10th 2017:

https://www.taxjustice.net/2017/04/10/tax-haven-blacklisting-13-latin-american-countries/

Tax haven blacklisting in Latin America

As governments (slowly) get to grips with the fact that tax havens are inflicting great harm on economies and democracies across the globe, facilitating mega amounts of tax dodging, and vast movements of criminal money by way of the secrecy services some of them offer, the question of our times is how we deal with them. Attempts to create tax haven blacklists (in order to potentially implement sanctions for non-cooperative jurisdictions) have so far been farcical as we’ve noted many times, most recently commenting on the European Union’s current work compiling its own blacklist system, here and here. So far the criteria for inclusion in tax haven blacklists has been weak, such lists have been ineffective and it’s been far too easy for some of the world’s worst offenders to wriggle their way out of them, or simply be big and bad enough not to worry about being included in the first place – for example – Tax Haven USA. If the EU, or anyone else really wanted to do this properly, the work’s already been done for them – with the best objective ranking available – the Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index.
LatAm
Anyway, we were very interested to see that Brazil attempted to tackle Irish tax havenry in September 2016 by putting Ireland on its tax haven blacklist, effective more or less immediately.
Today we’re happy to share an article by Macroeconomics Professor Juan Valerdi [1] (of La Plata National University and El Salvador University) based on the conclusions of his research looking at the approaches of 13 Latin American governments to tackling tax havens. The full document is available here and was part of the campaign “Que las transnacionales paguen lo justo”. The Spanish version of this article was published by ALAI Magazine earlier this month and is available here. (You can read the Professor’s blog here).
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Current and future politicians must assess whether they are willing to confront the Tax Haven Network system and its powerful direct and indirect beneficiaries, or continue to be partners and face the social consequences in their countries, ultimately ending in violent repression. At the heart of this battle that is taking place and will continue to be fought in the next few years is the financing of politics. As long as the political system continues to be linked to illegal activities, donations from the beneficiaries of the Tax Haven Network and support from the media multinationals, the battle will be clearly defined, as well as the consequences.

[1] Juan E Valerdi Economist, Macroeconomic Professor in the La Plata National University and El Salvador University. Formerly part of Jorge Gaggero’s research team on capital flows and tax havens in the CEFID-AR; Consultant in Argentina for UNPD, BID, BIRF; former advisor to the President of the Argentinian National Bank, President of the Argentinian Central Bank, President of the Financial Information Unit, National Deputies of the Argentine Federal Congress; Fiscal Coordinator of the Fiscal and Social Information System (SINTyS); part of the Tax Justice Together Europe Tour 2016 and representative of the Argentinian Central Bank on the Advisor Council of the Federal Tax Administration (AFIP).
[2] This is the case, for example, of Gabriel Zucman perspective on his book “The hidden wealth of the nations” (2015) when he presents the territories that belong to the Tax Havens Network as a group of isolated and weak islands that can be easily attacked with commercial or financial measures without considering them as several networks that benefit powerful forces in central countries and financial centres. That myopic diagnosis explains why Zucman proposes the IMF as part of the solution.

Since the last decade of the 20th century, fiscal competition and tax havens have been the focus of attention of many policymakers all over the world. After the world financial crisis in 2008, those issues started to be perceived – together with tax cooperation and bank secrecy laws – as some of the most pertinent topics in the economic and financial discourse and even deemed partially responsible for financial crime and the crisis itself.

This paper provides an overview of modern fiscal competition topics, discussing its drawbacks and benefits for economic agents (consumers and firms) as well as governments. We start by defining the phenomenon of fiscal competition and describing its main characteristics. Next, we address the various aspects of its impact on economy based on the analysis of published papers handling the topic.
The notion of the tax haven is regarded in this essay as an instance of tax competition. After giving its definition, we discuss its qualities listing the aspects  of countries which could potentially become tax havens. After that, we discuss the pro and contra of tax havens which coincide in many ways with those proposed in the analysis of tax competition.

In this paper, we reference to published papers from Journal of Public Economics, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, National Tax Journal and other sources. The assumptions proving our opinion are thus based on the arguments expressed there which are based on the analysis of economic models and treatment of empirical data.

Offshore banking topic is infrequently explained by academicians and scholars in their researches and written articles. Offshore banks do not exist in all countries, unlike the conventional one. Hence, information regarding the offshore banking system is limited. Offshore banks collect and distribute large amount of money in international financial system. This bank type has negative perception among world societies, mainly after 9/11 incident in New York. This bank was accused as the bank that facilitating terrorists with its money to perform their terrorism act, crashing WTC building with their hijacked airplane.This article aims to acquaint offshore banking basic concept to public, particularly to this article's readers. As the writer found that there is still lack of journal articles discussing this bank type, I intend to enrich its literatures and references. This article is expected to be useful for those who want to understand offshore banking in brief explanation and financial crime inside the offshore banking system.

Offshore financial centres: The aim of this article is to introduce the concept of offshore financial centres (so‑called "tax havens”). The first section briefly reviews definitions and characteristics of a tax haven. Next, the categorisation of offshore financial centres is presented. The last section examines financial and economic competitiveness of offshore financial centres. In the context of the EU’s fiscal harmonisation special attention is given to overseas territories of EU member states that can be classified as offshore financial centres.

This paper aims to draw attention to the fact that, in a society which is constantly changing, the strategies of certain countries can easily turn them into potential tax havens. In order sustain this statement, the case study aimes to find out if Latvia may become a tax haven in the future. This question arised in the context in which even before Latvia’s accession, in 2014, into the euro zone, there were voices cautioning regarding this risk. This purpose is achieved through several goals: determining the level of taxation (profit tax, contributions, VAT, numbers of payments necessary in order to meet tax obligations), simplicity regarding the establishment of entities and also determining the existence of tax havens’ specific legislative measures and their potential impact.

Short explanation of how media corporations are using some leaks to fight political class instead of Tax Havens main users: multinationals.

Speech in the European Parliament durng the events related with the Tax Justice Together Europe Tour 2016.
Juan Valerdi (5 minutes)
(Translated By Juan Valerdi august 2016)

Tax havens and tax secrecy have risen to the top of the global policy agenda and may constitute the most important impediment for reducing inequalities. Moreover, complex corporate structures allow charging for services undertaken in various countries through one low-tax country. Transferring profits to low-tax jurisdictions will significantly reduce a multinational corporation’s overall tax burden. Individuals are assisted in opening shell corporations that officially own bank accounts where the real owner (beneficial owner) is not revealed. Reducing this practice of tax dodging (which encompasses both legal tax avoidance and illegal tax evasion) has proven to be difficult, despite substantial efforts by several international organizations and states over the last decade. It is too easy to be removed from the list of tax havens; mere membership in OECD’s Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes qualifies. Tax dodgers add to global inequalities and s...

Odebrecht and Lava Jato are far from being just corruption justice cases, they are part of an International War on Corruption that has no clear beneficiaries ... 
The interview was a result of the juan valerdi participation in the economist table of the II Latin-American Investigation Journalists Meeting in Lima peru (may 2017)
http://www.convoca.pe/agenda-propia/periodistas-de-10-paises-se-reunen-en-lima-para-analizar-el-caso-lava-jato-y-el-mundo