Financial Transparency Coalition

Is it inevitable that multinational companies pay pitifully small sums in tax relative to huge profits? Not necessarily because amid growing political and public outrage at how multinationals organise their tax affairs, a new report today suggests there could be an alternative.

Most attention at this week’s G20 summit focused on the euro crisis and the perilous state of the global economy. But the G20’s final communiqué and background papers indicate that financial transparency is integral to its high-level agenda. The communiqué from Mexico highlighted 13 jurisdictions that have failed to meet the required standards of tax information exchange.

Is it a coincidence that the UN’s International Anti-Corruption and Human Rights Days follow on consecutively. (Friday 9 and Sat 10 December)? Possibly not. After all, human rights abuse and corruption are linked. Not least by opaque corporate ownership structures that can prevent legal redress