The past week’s revelations through the “Pandora Papers” – the largest exposé to-date of how global politicians, business leaders, celebrities, and multinational companies use and abuse the “offshore” financial system – are both shocking and surprisingly familiar.
The stunning front-page coverage of the Pandora Papers and the harms caused by anonymous shell companies and trusts based in U.S. states such as South Dakota reinforces the need to ensure that the landmark Corporate Transparency Act.
The Treasury Department, in parallel with state and municipal actors, should implement permanent reforms to pull back the veil on the anonymous purchase of U.S. real estate to fight money laundering and corruption and, as a result, cultivate fairer housing markets here at home..
The United States has just delivered a clear message to the world’s kleptocratic elite: we’re back, and you’re on notice. The past few weeks have brought a whirlwind of developments toward the international anti-corruption agenda.
The FACT Coalition offered a blueprint to the Biden Administration on how the Treasury Department should draft the rule for a landmark anti-corruption and anti-money laundering law, the Corporate Transparency Act, enacted by Congress in January.
Over the past month, there has been an unprecedented global focus on corporate tax loopholes and profit shifting amidst reporting that at least 55 of America’s largest corporations paid no federal corporate income taxes at all in 2020. Since the dawn of civil society campaigning for international tax justice, this may be the closest activists have come to ending the era of tax havens and massive tax avoidance and it is increasingly clear to many lawmakers that corporations need to pay their fair share to help pay for COVID recovery programs, infrastructure, and other needs.
