Cayman top of list for global tax losses

| 20/11/2020 | 81 Comments

(CNS): Public purses around the world are losing over $427 billion in tax each year to international corporate tax abuse and private tax evasion, according to a new global report. The State of Tax Justice 2020, the inaugural edition of what is to be an annual report by the Tax Justice Network, found that more than $70 billion of it is lost through the Cayman Islands alone.

Based on years of research but largely data released by the OECD in July, the report found that the UK is second on the list for the loss of public revenue and the most culpable nation in the world, given its own role and that of its overseas territories and crown dependencies.

While Cayman is top of the new list in TJN’s assessment of which countries are most responsible for global tax abuse, the report found that most taxes disappear in on-shore rich countries at the heart of the global economy and not the countries that appear on the EU’s blacklist or other jurisdictions more commonly labelled as tax havens.

Higher income countries are responsible for 98% of countries’ tax losses, with Cayman blamed in the report for sucking up 16.5%, compared to the UK’s 10%. The Netherlands comes in third, blamed for some 8.5% of global losses, while Luxembourg at 6.5% is 4th. The USA rounds off the top five by sucking up 5.53% of global tax losses but it is also the biggest loser of tax revenue to other jurisdictions.

Alex Cobham, the chief executive of the Tax Justice Network, said a system that loses over $427 billion a year is not a broken system but one programmed to fail.

“Under pressure from corporate giants and tax haven powers like the Netherlands and the UK’s network, our governments have programmed the global tax system to prioritise the desires of the wealthiest corporations and individuals over the needs of everybody else,” he said. “The pandemic has exposed the grave cost of turning tax policy into a tool for indulging tax abusers instead of for protecting people’s well-being.”

The tax advocacy group is urging international governments to re-programme the global tax system.

“We’re calling on governments to introduce an excess profit tax on large multinational corporations that have been short-changing countries for years, targeting those whose profits have soared during the pandemic while local businesses have been forced into lockdown,” said Cobham. “For the digital tech giants who claim to have our best interests at heart while having abused their way out of billions in tax, this can be their redemption tax. A wealth tax alongside this would ensure that those with the broadest shoulders contribute as they should at this critical time.”

See the full report here


Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Tags: ,

Category: Business, Financial Services

Comments (81)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. Jack sparrow says:

    In other news, paid propaganda shills earn their daily wage regurgitating today’s google searches for “is the firm real” after receiving the highly sought after English lit degrees from Cracker Jack U.

  2. SSM345 says:

    The Cayman DITC Portal only came back online the other day having been off-line since 2019.

    Hold your horses TJN; we soon have all them US FATCA reports over to the IRS.

    December 16th soon reach.

  3. Anonymous says:

    $427 billion?

    Bet there isn’t enough trees on this once green planet to print that amount of money. Humans are literally dumb monkeys clinging to a space rock.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Don’t allow leftist globalists and leftist propaganda sites destroy Cayman and other offshore jurisdictions. Fight the globalist narratives.

    Look what they have done to this economy and world economies under the guise of “taking care of you” and “protecting you”

    They have caused mass destruction a kin to what a weapon of mass destruction would have done economically worldwide.

  5. Anonymous says:

    If countries around the world want revenue from the Coronavirus devastation then they should charge CHINA for causing the CHINAVIRUS TO CRIPPLE ECONOMIES AROUND THE WORLD. WHY ARE COUNTRIES SEEKING NOT SEEKING RETRIBUTION FROM CHINA????

    • Anonymous says:

      The USA is the biggest cesspool of COVID-19 (the Trump virus) right now. Why not seek something from us?

      • Anonymous says:

        Believe me, the USA needs nothing from a UK owned island that is nothing but a leech that lives off of the success of developed countries. You all produce absolutely nothing other than tax cheat schemes. The USA has every right to look for tax evaders that use your fraud land to hide assets.

      • Anonymous says:

        You are a f*cking moron. China blocked all domestic flights when the coronavirus started from Wuhan but let international flights causing global devastation. “Trump virus.. f*co you. President Trump brought the lowest unemployment rate in the history of the USA for African Americans, Hispanics and Asians because you have a businessman in the White House instead of BS politicians.

        • Anonymous says:

          He’s gone now so I shouldn’t need to hear from you yipping dogs any longer. The man is a peculiar strain of STD and if any good came from anything he ever did it was nothing more than a broken clock being right twice a day. The world rejoices at his suddenly shut mouth and will soon heal from his presidential propagated Trump Virus which he may not have invented but certainly took to heights that no one else with his resources could have.

        • Anonymous says:

          The fact that you don’t see him as the overt racist that he is speaks volumes

        • Anonymous says:

          Why would you think a businessman, a failed cheat of one at that, would be good at managing a country and taking care of people? Where do you come up with ideas like that? Would you want a businessman, a failed cheat of one at that, to set your broken leg or take care of your sick child?

          • Anonymous says:

            Donald Trump turned one million loan from his father into billions in the cutthroat Manhattan real estate market then went on to be President of the United States renegotiating trade deals, lowering taxes, got rid of job killing regulations, brought back high paying manufacturing jobs and the best economy in US history. What have you done?

            • Anonymous says:

              1. “Loan”….2. Lowering taxes for himself and other guys that frequent his women….3 regulations are for a reason. I think there is a regulation that prohibits me from peeing on your shoe. And some that keep you safe at night with smoke detectors. 4.. are manufacturing jobs those things where we dig up coal and light it on fire to keep our planet warm…. I will count as my greatest accomplishment the fact that I never dry-humped Stormy Daniels skizz onto the flag of the United States so a bunch of drunks would like me.

          • Anonymous says:

            You better be careful. Soon you’ll see a Trump tower on your island and you’ll be prohibited from entering.

        • SSM345 says:

          10:20, he created 10 million jobs and then 30+ million became unemployed due to Corona……..can you explain how it’s “lowest unemployment rate in the history of the USA”?

    • Anonymous says:

      Agent Orange …. is this you? 😜

      • Anonymous says:

        It can’t be agent orange. He’s been golfing non stop since he got his a$$ handed to him in the election

        • Anonymous says:

          Anything that keeps the dotard’s bloviating to a minimum until he is ushered out of the White House and into a courtroom is fine with me.

          • Anonymous says:

            Nice tough talk. When was the last time you sh*t your pants? Cayman stands on 2 legs – tourism and financial sector. Tourism has been pummelled… one leg left – wait till Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren get into cabinet positions and see what sanctions they strap on Cayman. Hope you have diapers when the 2nd leg gets hit. You’ll be wishing President Trump was still in the White House

            • Anonymous says:

              Last time was whwn I saw your Mrs. Btw, there will be no sanctions as long as momma UK looks after Cayman. Take your alarmist threats and stuff them when there’s no sunshine…

            • Anonymous says:

              It delights me and disturbs me both that you are thinking about me excreting. As far as wishing the world’s biggest baby back to the White House… I had my reproductive organs removed in November 2016 so I wouldn’t bring anyone into a world touched by Daddy’s Boy.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Not worth the paper it was printed on.

    • Anonymous says:

      NO, I do not accept this. TJN produce the highest quality papers, the primary feature being that the print does not come off on your arse.

    • Anonymous says:

      Unfortunately in todays world it is almost impossible to read anything that covers both sides of an issue.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Do not pay attention to the haters. They are just jealous that such a small country, nestled in the Developing World, can be so successful.

    • Anonymous says:

      Haters? Are you 12?

    • Anonymous says:

      Your not a country my friend. You are just a tiny island who is under the protection of the UK. You are smaller than most small cities in a real country. Wait a year to see how well your Leadership has done with Corvid compared to the rest of the world. You may have saved 20 and doomed your island to bankruptcy. Not to worry as Expats own most of the island and will gladly take over.

  8. Anonymous says:

    The fact page one of their report is riddled with spelling errors doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

  9. Anonymous says:

    Alec Cobham WTF does the global tax system and its in adequacies have to do with the pandemic? I haven’t seen any sign of governments being unduly restricted in the or spending because of it – quite the opposite. Before the pandemic if you had suggested that a government actually pay people to stay at home you would have been laughed at, yet there are plenty of governments doing exactly that without any sign of fiscal restraint due your supposed loss of tax through structuring ( even allowing for the fact that you don’t bother to count the tax on repatriated profits from offshore).

  10. Anonymous says:

    Stop building multi million dollar condos and youll eliminate one source of hiding funds…(???)

    • Anonymous says:

      Evading tax and hiding funds are two separate activities. It would seem that real estate in the Cayman Islands would be more of a historical laundering mechanism, than a current source of unreported capital gain today. Unless you are suggesting there are rings of tax payers flipping condos here, with tax reporting obligations? I doubt we have that kind of turnover, market growth, or liquidity to make that attractive. Contrast with Toronto and Vancouver, who lead the planet for red flag hot money laundering transactions with ponziesque year over year returns and a no-questions-asked network of willing transactional partners. They’ll even accept Chinese UnionPay credit cards and Crypto to help corrupt Chinese officials skirt USD$50k/year export currency controls – and buyers get a WW3 “first world” passport hedge as part of the deal.

      • Anonymous says:

        You hide funds for the purpose of evading taxes due on whatever transaction generated those funds, genius. Cayman specializes in providing the best mechanisms for just that.

    • Anonymous says:

      LOL I guess you’ve never heard of New York or London!

      • Anonymous says:

        New York and Miami actually have money laundering controls in place applicable to real estate transactions involving foreign purchasers. Thresholds are 3 million and 1 million dollars, respectively. I guess you’ve never heard of that??

  11. Anonymous says:

    The assumptions they use to calculate the “Tax loss”, are just wrong and they know it. People like Richard Murphy wouldn’t have the exposure they have without stating huge numbers.

    They look at the money Cayman Funds earn and say that should all be taxed, without deducting the tax that the investors pay on receiving distributions from the fund.

    • Anonymous says:

      This. Their methodology for arriving at the most extraordinary numbers they can are childish at best.

  12. Nigel says:

    The figures for the Netherlands and Luxembourg (both EU members) show the EU is comparable with the Cayman Islands in tax management. In a global world, people and businesses are free to manage their tax affairs as they see fit. That our islands have a no direct tax system which some people and organisations choose to engage within their financial management is perfectly reasonable and ethical. If some countries are unhappy with their tax take it’s for them to alter their way of doing things and not complain merely because our approach is different

  13. Anonymous says:

    Deliberately conflating the separate issues of evasion, avoidance and secrecy to smear anyone with whom they are ideologically opposed. Simple fact is the likes of TJN and Oxfam can’t fund their socialist utopia while there is any tax competition between countries.

  14. Anonymous says:

    The world’s tax laws are what they are, paying taxes when you don’t need to is stupid. TJN wants more taxes. That much is clear. I don’t quite understand why CNS features all their press releases.

    • Anonymous says:

      We are World Class in secrecy. # 1.

      • JDempsey says:

        You really shouldn’t post your erroneous opinions as fact.

        Cayman is far more transparent than many jurisdictions (including for example, a number of US states).

        The notion that Cayman is the world’s epicenter of financial opacity is demonstrably stupid.

        Or perhaps you know that already and simply want to promote misinformation?

        Either way, you should consider not posting at all.

  15. Anonymous says:

    Kinda sounds like good old institutional colonial racism to me. Rather than confront the mostly white North American and European countries that have the flawed tax codes that allow for companies to structure offshore entities LEGALLY to avoid taxes let’s smear and bully those small countries. Just saying.

    • Anonymous says:

      Taxation is abuse

      • Anonymous says:

        And yet Cayman islands is one of the most expensive places in the world to live because of it’s….taxes.

    • Anonymous says:

      Up here in mostly white America we don’t really care what Cayman gets up to so long as you hold down the drug money laundering and terrorist financing, which you seem to be doing. It’s the EU socialists such as the TJN that are your distant problem. Meanwhile, feel free to “confront“ us up here in North America but don’t be surprised if we don’t notice.

  16. Anonymous says:

    tax evasion enabled by the great christian nation, the cayman islands????….never!

    • Anonymous says:

      Its not illegal under Cayman law so where is your criticism of the North American and European countries who allow people to avoid tax?

  17. Anonymous says:

    it’s only ‘financial services’….

    • Anonymous says:

      Exactly. It’s like the escort that says she makes an honest living and is not a prostitute. She also goes to church.

  18. Anonymous says:

    Get rid of the ridiculously complicated tax codes in these countries which allow wealthy individuals and corporations to game the system. Replace it with a simple revenue tax, not income tax. 5% to 10% on gross revenue, collected every month. No deductions or loopholes for anyone. Paid by all corporations and individuals.

    • Anonymous says:

      Simple, but also economically stupid.

    • Anonymous says:

      Won’t work. As the cost would need to be passed on to consumers (some companies don’t even make 5-10% in net margin!), you’d have to also ban imports or domestic goods would be uncompetitive with imports from countries that didn’t have this form of tax.

      If you think we should just go ahead and ban imports then, you need to read Adam Smith.

  19. Anonymous says:

    According to Wikipedia the Tax Justice Network has an annual income of over a million pounds. It’s good thinking on their part that they have structured themselves as a non government organisation (NGO). This means that they can legally avoid paying income tax.

  20. Hubert says:

    This report certainly paints the Cayman Islands in a very negative light from a tax secrecy perspective.

    • Anonymous says:

      Tax secrecy? With all the the tax information exchange agreements in place? It has zero to do with tax secrecy. Lot more to do with the TJN being composed of big government fanatics and individuals with a deep seated hatred of wealth however it is generated. In their view a company like Amazon doesn’t deserve to make its money because it supplies a service that everyone wants, but Amazon makes “ too much” money and should give it governments to spend on whatever they like.

    • Miami Dave says:

      Wonder how much of that secrecy in the Cayman Islands is related to money laundering in real estate?

  21. Anonymous says:

    Does this broken record even play? Foreign tax revenues are undermined by overly complex, and often flawed foreign domestic tax codes – authored and amended by political decision-makers thousands of miles from the Cayman Islands. I’ve never understood what TJN expects Cayman to do about fixing the planet’s tax regimes, This is the occupational fuel for the big four accounting firms based in those countries. Their frustrations have had nothing to do with us from a legal standpoint since the get-go. It would be nice if Cayman Finance or a Financial Minister pointed that out from time to time.

  22. Anonymous says:

    Simple, change the laws in the countries who feel they are losing out on taxes, no one is breaking any laws, it is just that their laws are inadequate or outdated. This will probably lead to inward investment in those countries drying up, but they can’t have it both ways.

  23. Tax Savior Okie Dokie! says:

    No worries Joey Biden soon make the State of Delaware the top tax destination after January 2021and then Tax justice network will keep their little hypocritical mouths shut then!

  24. Anonymous says:

    Sounds more like strategic tax planning, than abuse if you ask me. Sick to death of Cayman getting the flack for these ridiculous headlines.

  25. Anonymous says:

    Gibberish written by racists to further their “justice” careers.

    • Anonymous says:

      The racist card has been played out. You sound like one them fools who cries racism if you get wet when it’s raining. Hahahaha

  26. JTB says:

    All you need to know about this report is that it’s produced by the Tax Justice Network.

    File it in the bin.

Leave a Reply to Miami Dave Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.