GFI in the News
Death and Taxes
Christian Aid Report, May 2008
Raymond Baker is cited in a striking new report released by international poverty alleviation group, Christian Aid, on how tax evasion by the world's richest hurts the world's poorest and contributes to the rising number of infant mortality in developing countries.
Listen to podcast about the report
_____________________________________Which Is the Bigger Challenge: Tax Havens or High Taxes?
The Wall Street Journal, April 10, 2008
GFI director Raymond Baker and Dan Mitchell, senior fellow specializing in tax policy at the Cato Institute, discuss the problem of tax evasion.
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Read Raymond Baker's article Illicit Finance: The Missing Link in Development," published in the latest edition of Monday Developments.
GFI's Director discusses how curtailing capital flight out of poor countries is critical to achieving success in economic development, poverty alleviation, and international security.
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Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet.
Sachs Presses Marshall Plan for Poor, Ignores Thieving Leaders
Bloomberg News, March 26, 2008
"Western countries sink some $50 billion in aid into poorer countries annually, he wrote, then take back 10 times that amount by laundering dirty money fleeing those lands. Keeping that $500 billion at home in poor countries could do more to alleviate poverty than all our aid, export promotion, foreign investment and free-trade policies put together," he argued.
In Focus
Historic Tax Evasion Crackdown
Secrecy Jurisdiction of Liechtenstein Targeted
Tax Evasion and The Problem of Illicit Financial Flows:
Estimated at $1.6 trillion dollars a year in total, the business of illicit, cross-border monetary movement constitutes an international financial pandemic, draining capital out of rich and poor countries alike. This capital flight undermines economic development and can contribute to a country’s devolution into a failed state. Failed states are havens for criminal activity, including terrorism
Significance of Liechtenstein Tax Evasion Investigation:
The single largest source of illicit monetary flow is from corporate tax evasion.
"As long as there is a complicit global culture of secrecy jurisdictions, differing regulations, and lax enforcement, tax evasion will continue to be a problem for all nations," said Raymond Baker, Director of the Center for International Policy's Global Financial Integrity Program. "This is a wake-up call to poor and rich countries alike; there needs to be greater transparency and coordinated international regulation of financial practices."
What's New
Contact Monique Perry Danziger 202-232-3317
GLOBAL FINANCIAL INTEGRITY DIRECTOR TO ADDRESS BUSINESS LEADERS ON CHANGING LANDSCAPE FOR U.S. BANKS, BUSINESSES
May 6, 2008, New York, NY—Global Financial Integrity (GFI) director Raymond Baker will address an audience of fortune 500 CEOs, CFOs, general counsels and directors, and federal and state policy makers this Wednesday on changes in U.S. finance laws and enforcement.
“There is legislation gaining ground in the U.S. Senate that will tackle everything from money-laundering to tax haven abuse while abroad our European counterparts are pushing for similar legislative reform; overall national and international business protocols are going to undergo a facelift in the next few years,” said Baker. “It will be crucial that business people know what to expect so that they stay ahead of the curve.”
GFI Attends Second Meeting of Norwegian –Led, International Task Force on Illicit Financial Flows and Their Impact on Development
CONTACT:
Monique Perry Danziger 202-232-3317
Oslo, Norway, April 1, 2008—Global Financial Integrity (GFI) director Raymond Baker will be a featured speaker at the second meeting of a Norwegian-led, international task force on illicit financial flows and their impact on development, in Oslo, Norway. The conference will bring together representatives from 20 countries, international financial institutions, and other multilateral organizations.
“GFI has worked closely with the Norwegian government on the issue of illicit financial flows,” said Baker. “Norway’s leadership is crucial to combating a global scourge that has drained capital out some of the poorest countries and undermined efforts to alleviate poverty, spur economic growth, and bolster international security.”
The $100 Billion Lineup
By Senator Carl Levin, The Huffington Post, April 1, 2008
Tax cheats come in all shapes and sizes, so it would be hard to pick out of a lineup the 100 Americans whom the IRS suspects of hiding funds in Liechtenstein, a tiny Alpine country known for opening bank accounts and accepting large deposits of funds with few questions asked.
It is past time for Congress to get serious about halting offshore tax abuse. Last year I introduced the bipartisan Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act to rein in tax havens like Liechtenstein from aiding and abetting U.S. citizens who are dodging their tax obligations and ripping off honest American taxpayers in the process.
This bill contains innovative and powerful measures that could strike an immediate and strong blow against these tax dodges. These provisions would recover billions that could help pay for health care, education, manufacturing support, aid for wounded warriors, and more.
Today's Top Stories
Christian Aid: Tax evasion costs 1,000 children's lives a day
Reuters, May 12, 2008
The lives of 1,000 young children a day are being lost to disease and poverty in poor countries because of illegal trade-related tax evasion, says a new report from Christian Aid. It has calculated that this evasion costs the developing world at least US$160bn in lost revenue annually. The culprits are companies using false accounting to reduce their tax liability.
If that money was allocated according to current spending patterns, the lives of 350,000 children under the age of five, 250,000 of them infants, could be saved every year. The sum is almost one and a half times the amount given as aid to the developing world every year. If the amount that is also lost through legal tax avoidance dodges were added, it would be many times greater.
Ex-UBS employee charged over US tax fraud
Financial Times, May 14, 2008
Two bankers, including a former employee of UBS, the world’s leading wealth manager, have been charged by US authorities with helping a American billionaire evade income taxes on about $200m of assets deposited in Swiss and Liechtenstein bank accounts.
Bradley Birkenfeld, Mario Staggl and “others known and unknown” were accused in the indictment, unsealed on Tuesday, of conspiring to defraud the US from at least 2001 by engaging in a scheme that included falsifying documents, helping to set up shell companies and destroying banking records.
UNDP accused over firm with suspected militant links< Reuters, May 14, 2008
LONDON, May 14 (Reuters) - A U.N. agency supported a Somali money transfer firm with suspected links to Islamist militants in a project that was corrupt and failed to curb the risks of money laundering and terrorist finance, a former employee said.
Ismail Ahmed, who worked for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), said the agency's Somalia country office had provided "critical support" to the company, Dalsan, between 2003 and 2005, including intervening on its behalf with Swiss prosecutors and U.S. regulators.
World Bank Releases Loan to the Philippines
Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2008
WASHINGTON -- The World Bank's governing board approved a $232 million loan to build roads in the Philippines, which it had opposed in October on concern about corruption allegations. When the board blocked the loan, World Bank president Robert Zoellick hadn't been briefed on the proposal, and an investigation into alleged graft hadn't been completed. Investigators had uncovered evidence that China State Construction Engineering Co., a state-owned company, was involved in bid rigging on an earlier construction-loan program, bank officials said.
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Capitalism's Achilles Heel
 | Capitalism's Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the Free-Market System Raymond W. Baker |
A fascinating insider’s look at the way criminals, terrorists and businesspeople move money around the world, impoverishing billions and corrupting capitalism’s ideals of fair play.