Okay, tax is not the sexiest subject ever. But I learned some pretty worrisome stuff at the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) press conference at the G20 media centre.
With 31 member countries, the OECD is the main group charged by the G20 with working towards "a fairer world where there will be no more safe havens for tax evaders." And they report that the political push to their cause that came from Pittsburgh last fall, has amped up the drive toward transparency.
Proponents of the global bank tax have suffered a major setback this past weekend in Pusan, South Korea. The G20 finance ministers decided to drop it under pressure from its chief opponent, the Canadian government, as well as Australia, Japan, and Brazil. The decision was based on the usual argument that the levy would punish banks that had acted responsibly, and that other mechanisms such as increased capital requirements were more appropriate for dealing with future bank crises.
Says Humberto:
"Politicians all profess to want to hear it from the kitchen table. Well here it is.
Conservative cabinet ministers are jetting off on global junkets to fight the bank tax.But Why ? It's not like Canadian banks didn't want to be too big to fail!
In Conservative Canada everyone is paying more taxes except for banks, corporations and the rich. So why is the government trying to keep the banks from sharing the tax burden?"