Thursday, June 23, 2011

Links Jun 23

Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) probes multinationals over tax evasion Business Daily
Jun - The KRA is'investigating 20 multinational companies for transfer pricing, and has 'intensified audits to combat the malpractice, which involves drastically reducing payable tax so as to transfer profits to associated companies in tax havens overseas. ... The revenue collector intends to triple the size of its audit staff in the next few years to handle the rising abuse of transfer pricing'

Kenya's tax authority warns defaulting MPs Africa Review

Jun 22 - 'The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has warned that it will move to auction the assets of legislators if Parliament fails to remit their taxes. The tax body said it fully expects Parliament to comply and pay the taxes of MPs backdated to September 2010.'

Angola: Clamp down on tax evasion increases government revenue allAfrica.com
Jun - The National Commissioner of Police has stated 'Actions of inspection, control and repression to tax evasion have been enabling the increase of incomes of the Angolan state, as well as reduction of tax evasion and of opportunities for committing economic crimes'. Hat tip Paul Groenewegen.


Ill-gotten gains: the public prosecutor in Paris in search of evidence Afrik.com
(In French)
Jun 17 - The Paris court has raided the offices of lawyers and notaries of African leaders Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo-Brazaville, Equatorial Guinea's Teodoro Obiang Nguema, and the late President Omar Bongo of Gabon and their relatives, who are accused of having illegally acquired the wealth that they hold in France.


India: Not all black and white Hindustan Times

Jun 21 - On the crackdown by the Indian authorities on tax evasion and 'round tripping'. Also note - 'The costs are high for Mauritius if it chooses to tell. Western hedge funds that use the island as a launch-pad into the Indian equity market do so to escape scrutiny in their respective countries.'

Small Businesses Bash 'Tax Holiday' Plan For Corporate Titans Huff Post Business
Jun 22 - On: 'the current quarrel over a corporate tax "repatriation" holiday. The plan is widely viewed by economists, tax experts and small business owners as a useless government giveaway to a handful of multinational corporate behemoths. But several companies and a Wall Street friendly think tank are now touting the idea as a new "stimulus" to create jobs.'

See also:
Chuck Schumer's Amazing Double-Somersault on the Repatriation Holiday Citizens for Tax Justice
Jun 22 - The 'American Jobs Creation Act, a bill full of so many tax breaks for special interests that one observer called it a “bacchanalia of Caligulan proportions.” The bill, which many Democrats and Republicans supported, prompted one business lobbyist to confess to a reporter that the policy process had “risen to a new level of sleaze.” '

New York closes loophole on tax evasion Reuters
Jun 22 - New Yorkers who evade income taxes will now have to face both federal and state prosecutors, now that the legislature has shut the so-called "Helmsley" loophole. New York's income taxes are a major source of its revenue, and state and federal prosecutors have been investigating whether New Yorkers are among the U.S. citizens who hid funds in Swiss bank accounts.

The Bankers Who Cried Wolf: Wall Street's History Of Hyperbole About Regulation Huff Post Business
Jun 21 - "The standard Wall Street argument is that any type of regulation will cost them money and threaten their existence, and that has not happened" ... "Despite the hyperbole, most regulation has aided the profitability of the financial sector in the long run".

British banks - assisting criminal behaviour in pursuit of profit Tax Research UK

Jun 23 - On the report we blogged yesterday by the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) - Richard Murphy asks pertinent questions of the UK's Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer.

See also:

British banks ignore money-laundering rules, says FSA The Guardian
Jun 22 : 'Scathing report by regulator says top financial institutions seem ready to ignore allegations of criminality in pursuit of lucrative clients.

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