In this episode: we go to the US to look at how African Americans were overtaxed and dispossessed - a lesser known story of struggles against tax injustice, from the experience of George Floyd's great great grandfather to this day. Taxcast host Naomi Fowler speaks to historian and author Andrew W Kahrl of The Black Tax: 150 years of theft, exploitation, and dispossession in America:

"Every stage of the research on this book was one revelation after another. These legalized forms of theft actually happened at far greater frequency than historians have ever really recognized. Historically, and still today, taxes are both a problem in the US, but they're also the solution."

Plus: the OECD ignores a formal letter from UN human rights experts raising concerns about the detrimental and discriminatory impacts on the Global South of OECD and G20 tax policy:

"There has been no response. One way to describe it would be to say it's disappointing. Another way to describe it would say it's shocking and downright unacceptable."

Transcript of the show: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Transcript_Taxcast-June-2024.pdf (some is automated)

Further Reading:

OECD tax reforms risk violating human rights law, UN experts warn in special intervention:

https://taxjustice.net/press/oecd-tax-reforms-risk-violating-human-rights-law-un-experts-warn-in-special-intervention/

Formal letter from UN Human Rights experts to the OECD raising human rights concerns over tax reforms: https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=28676

Litany of failure: new briefing sets out OECD’s manifold shortcomings in international tax talks: https://taxjustice.net/2024/05/28/litany-of-failure-new-briefing-sets-out-oecds-manifold-shortcomings-in-international-tax-talks/

The Black Tax: 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America by Andrew W. Kahrl: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-black-tax-150-years-of-theft-exploitation-and-dispossession-in-america-andrew-w-kahrl/7592145?ean=9780226730592

The living new deal: a website with a collection of all the public infrastructure, bridges, roads, swimming pools, community centres etc that were built during the 1930s and 40s: https://livingnewdeal.org/

The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Souls of Black Folk, by W. E. B. Du Bois: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/408/408-h/408-h.htm

All our podcasts are available with more information on https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/production/taxcast/ and you can find all our other podcasts (all separate monthly productions in Arabic, French, Portuguese and Spanish) here https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/

In this episode: we bring you stories on how we've all been cheated, and look at some of the actors involved in the corruption of tax policy making in Australia; the consequences have rippled out to affect the rest of the world. Two of the OECD's top people seem to be compromised on matters of tax and the public interest. So what does that say about their motivations? What does it say about the motivations of the organizations they work for? Should an organisation like the OECD be so strongly connected to the big four accountancy firms? And should governments? How do we protect ourselves from the forces seeking to obstruct tax justice in the world?

Plus, we'll bring you the latest updates on historic negotiations between nations on a UN Tax Convention from a Tax Justice Network colleague who was in the room and gives us his impressions.

"There is a South cooperation and a South-South pushback against the developed countries. And that is a remarkable moment and it will change the tax world. There is no ignoring this anymore by the OECD countries."

"We need to see global cooperation from governments, clearly these tax advisor firms are operating across borders, they collaborate so I think we need to see tax authorities and governments doing similar."

Further resources:

Transcript of this epsiode (some is automated, so not 100% accurate) https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Transcript_Taxcast-May-2024_-the-corrupting-of-tax-justice.pdf

The People vs Microsoft (previous Taxcast #137) https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/episode/137-the-people-vs-microsoft/

PwC: a calculated breach of trust (Australian) Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee report https://apo.org.au/node/323246

Live rolling Tax Justice Network blog with regular updates on progress on negotiations at the UN https://taxjustice.net/2024/04/25/%f0%9f%94%b4live-un-tax-negotiations/

What happened at the first round of UN tax negotiations and what’s next? https://taxjustice.net/2024/05/17/what-happened-at-the-first-round-of-un-tax-negotiations-and-whats-next/

Litany of failure: new briefing sets out OECD’s manifold shortcomings in international tax talks https://taxjustice.net/2024/05/28/litany-of-failure-new-briefing-sets-out-oecds-manifold-shortcomings-in-international-tax-talks/

Our website with all previous Taxcasts https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/production/taxcast/

"This will supersede them all." Offshore specialist and human rights lawyer Paul Beckett of Corlett Bolton & Co sounds the alarm on the fast development of 'blockchain havens.'

The Tax Justice Network's Bob Michel speaks about the challenges regulators, anti-corruption campaigners and poorer nations face.

A transcript of the podcast is available here: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Blockchain-havens-transcript-2.pdf

Further reading/resources:

• Paul Beckett's book: An Anatomy of Tax Havens: Europe, the Caribbean and the United States of America https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110985108/html
• Beneficial Ownership and Legal Responsibility: Concealment, Avoidance and Impunity, also by Paul Beckett https://www.routledge.com/Beneficial-Ownership-and-Legal-Responsibility-Concealment-Avoidance-and-Impunity/Beckett/p/book/9781032537603
• Offshoring DAO Foundations: Top Legal Considerations https://dilendorf.com/resources/offshoring-dao-foundations-top-legal-considerations.html

You can find all previous Taxcasts on the Taxcast website: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/production/taxcast/

Crime doesn't pay - or does it?! Taxcast host Naomi Fowler talks to former police investigator, asset recovery specialist and co-author of The War on Dirty Money Tristram Hicks about the state of criminal asset recovery: "We haven't started the war on dirty money. There's this disconnect that's taking place at a strategic level."

PLUS: The Tax Justice Network's Alex Cobham analyses Australia's much awaited, revised (aka watered down) legislation to tackle multinational tax abuse - disappointing but still significant. AND: a model wealth tax law has been agreed by consensus at the United Nations. We expected the OECD to try to block it but they didn't - why?

A transcript of the show is available here: (some is automated)

https://taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Taxcast-March-2024-Transcript.pdf

Further reading:

The War on Dirty Money, by Tristram Hicks and Nicholas Gilmour

Dirty Money: Tristram Hicks on Substack

UN agrees plan for wealth tax law blueprint https://taxjustice.net/press/un-agrees-plan-for-wealth-tax-law-blueprint/

The Tax Justice Network hails a breakthrough in corporate tax transparency https://taxjustice.net/press/tax-justice-network-hails-a-major-breakthrough-in-corporate-tax-transparency/

The country by country reporting path to global justice https://taxjustice.net/events/the-country-by-country-path-to-global-justice/

The FT confirms the OECD lobbied against Australian tax transparency
https://taxjustice.net/press/ft-confirms-oecd-lobbied-against-australian-tax-transparency/

The investor case for public country by country tax reporting https://thefactcoalition.org/report/a-material-concern-the-investor-case-for-public-country-by-country-tax-reporting/

Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 https://www.ukciu.gov.uk/(xwxqxm55yk5tzxbr0dznv2en)/Information/info.aspx?InfoSection=Legislation

HMRC/UK tax authority staff paying for themselves many times over https://www.taxjustice.uk/tax-takes-6.html

Our website with all our podcasts is https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/

On the Taxcast this month: People power for tax justice is on the rise like never before. We kick off 2024 with inspiring stories on campaigns for tax reform from around the world: strategies, successes, limitations, and what we can learn from the first in-depth studies of their kind by International Budget Partnership.

Plus: Malawian poet and Senior Tax Investigations Officer Robert Chiwamba pays tribute to tax collectors everywhere. You can watch him perform We Will Count Them here.

Transcript of the show: https://taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Taxcast_transcript_Jan_2024.pdf (Some is automated)

Guests:

Robert Chiwamba, Malawian poet and Senior Tax Investigations Officer (his youtube site is here, WATCH him performing his poem We Will Count Them https://youtu.be/V95_Yd8Dfhs )

Greg Leroy of Good Jobs First

Paolo de Renzio, formerly Senior Research Fellow with the International Budget Partnership, now Senior Lecturer at the Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration of Fundação Getúlio Vargas in Rio de Janeiro.

Produced and presented by Naomi Fowler of the Tax Justice Network.

Further reading:

A Taxing Journey: How Civic Actors Influence Tax Policy (open access – free pdf from International Budget Partnership https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/monograph?docid=b-9781350344648 and a summary paper on that work here: https://internationalbudget.org/publications/a-taxing-journey-how-civic-actors-influence-tax-policy/ 

Beneficial Ownership reporting begins in the US: https://thefactcoalition.org/u-s-beneficial-ownership-reporting-begins-groundbreaking-anti-bribery-bill-signed-into-law-just-the-facts-1-8-24/

Proud to Pay More: 260+ millionaires and billionaires from 17 countries ask governments to tax them more https://proudtopaymore.org/

The EU Court ruling on Beneficial Ownership registries in 2022 https://taxjustice.net/press/eu-court-returns-eu-to-dark-ages-of-dirty-money/

A Tax Justice Network report on how to fix beneficial ownership frameworks https://taxjustice.net/2023/12/20/new-report-on-how-to-fix-beneficial-ownership-frameworks-so-they-actually-work/

In this brand new Tax Justice Network weekly podcast we take listeners on a journey through the eyes of anti-corruption veterans who were on the frontline of events that have defined our world today, with stories and perspectives on reform you won't hear anywhere else.

In Series 1 we sit down with leading white collar crime lawyer and senior Tax Justice Network adviser Jack Blum who tells us about his life's work during a period of huge geopolitical change and transformed global tax and financial systems. From the BCCI scandal, to Panamanian dictator Noriega’s cocaine trafficking, to Lockheed Aircraft’s overseas bribes - Jack was there.

Every Wednesday we'll release a new episode. Don't miss it! Subscribe on your podcast app: https://pod.link/1721797109 

The Corruption Diaries is produced by Naomi Fowler and Jo Barratt of the Tax Justice Network. Interviews with Jack Blum were recorded over several days at Jack’s home in Maryland by journalist Zoe Sullivan.

In an extended Taxcast edition this month, a century of tax rule setting by the former imperial powers has been overturned: we look at the UN vote on global tax reform. Taxcast host Naomi Fowler follows events at the UN, the failed efforts to block it and explores what it all means with Alex Cobham of the Tax Justice Network.

Featuring:

Alex Cobham of the Tax Justice Network

UN representatives from Nigeria, South Africa, the Bahamas, the UK, the US, Spain, Russian Federation, Cameroon.

Hosted by Naomi Fowler of the Tax Justice Network, produced by Naomi Fowler and Jo Barratt.

Transcript available here: https://taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/TRANSCRIPT_Taxcast_Dec_23.pdf

"If the time of crisis imposes the time of change, then it's time for cooperation to take precedence over competition. It's time for international solidarity to take precedence over particular and selfish interest in the short term. African people are tired of numbers about assistance for development. They do not request more assistance. They request every partner running business, the physical or digital, individuals and companies making profit should pay the right price, the fair and just percentage in terms of tax. Then we could keep our promise to transforming our world, to ensuring the world we want, the future we want is a reality."

~ UN Representative from Cameroon

"It's a century waiting to have a globally inclusive body to set tax rules to throw over the decisions made by the League of Nations in the 1920s and 30s that we're all stuck with the consequences of today. We don't actually need tax rules that were set by the imperial powers, honestly, we can do better."

~ Alex Cobham, Tax Justice Network

Further reading:

The UN adopts plans for historic tax reform, Tax Justice Network

“No” voters on UN tax reform enable 75% of global tax abuse, Tax Justice Network

Follow developments on tax reform at the UN on the Tax Justice Network's live blog: Road to UN vote on global tax reform

Decolonising the International Tax System from Fadhel Kaboub's blog

A new UN Tax convention – how will it change global tax governance? From Martin Hearson

You can WATCH the vote at the UN here (the discussion on tax matters starts around 35 minutes)

More Taxcasts on https://www.thetaxcast.com