Personal Finance

The English tax accountant Richard Murphy has done more than anyone to expose tax havens. Now Murphy says businesses are scared witless of appearing on the front pages and we are seeing a shift in their behaviour, even though there...

  The release of the Panama papers is yet to reach its endgame, but there are some clear truths we can take from it. People or businesses that don’t pay their taxes – whether deliberately or through ignorance – undermine state revenues....

Companies such as drugmaker Pfizer and medical device maker Medtronic that have used a technique called an inversion to reduce their tax bill recently got a smackdown from President Barack Obama: Companies such as drugmaker Pfizer and medical device maker Medtronic...

The so-called Panama Papers span thousands of pages, revealing that many of the world’s elite have been hiding their money in offshore accounts in an attempt to shield their income from taxes.  Their release – the biggest data leak in...

The aim of progressive taxation and the welfare state is to redistribute wealth from the richest to the poorest in an effort to erode the worst aspects of poverty and inequality. How well the British tax and benefits system is...

The Australian Taxation Office is reported to be playing a “lead role” in sharing intelligence between tax officials from OECD countries, as part of the continuing fallout from the revelations of the Panama Papers. The Joint International Tax Shelter Information...

A majority of Americans of both parties believe that the gap between rich and poor is getting larger, making the issue a prominent one on the campaign trail this year. A majority of Americans of both parties believe that the gap between...

The tax dealings of a number of politicians have come under scrutiny, following news of their offshore holdings in the Panama Papers. The leaks have led to the resignation of the Icelandic prime minister – and the UK Prime Minister,...

Early in the financial crisis, the US forced all large banks to take an infusion of capital.  This helped put a floor under the US financial system.  Regulators and stakeholders encouraged US banks to address the significant nonperforming loan problem. ...

It’s that time of year again: tax-filing season. Millions of Americans are probably downloading the latest version of their tax preparation software as we speak or picking it up at their local software store. It’s that time of year again:...

The Panama Papers is a treasure trove of information on the activities and clientele of a large, but not a typical law firm operating in an offshore financial centre. In this case, it is a firm called Mossack Fonseca, based...

The Panama Papers leak sheds some light on the intricate ways in which the wealthy can exploit secretive offshore tax regimes. As well as charging minimal or no tax to residents and non-residents, the main characteristics of tax havens are...

A great deal of attention has been paid to the obstacles African governments face in effectively taxing the profits of transnational corporations. African governments are frequently urged to widen their tax bases by reducing tax incentives for foreign investors. But...

The American Dream that has existed in this country for over 50 years is on life support. For some Americans, it may already be dead.  While recent consumer confidence surveys indicate that Americans seem somewhat optimistic about the overall economy,...

Barclays has announced it is to withdraw from Africa. It will gradually reduce its 62% stake in Barclays Africa Group over the next two to three years – and, naturally, this raises questions about the prospects for banking in Africa,...