In a new report released on July 12, 2012, CCFD-Terre Solidaire shows
that, unlike what these sensational announcements suggested, the
presence of French banks in tax havens has increased, in terms of
absolute numbers, especially for BNP-Paribas and Société Générale and as
a percentage of subsidiaries for Crédit Agricole. The seven French
banks studied have 547 subsidiaries (nearly 21% of all their
subsidiaries) in tax havens, as defined by the the Tax Justice Network’s
2009 Financial Secrecy Index . For example, they have 24 subsidiaries
in the Cayman Islands, 12 in Bermuda, 19 in Switzerland, 29 in Hong Kong
and 99 in Luxembourg.
Rather than endlessly debating which list of tax havens should be used, banks should explain this disturbing concentration of subsidiaries in those secrective, poorly regulated and low tax jurisdictions. If they have nothing to hide then they should be able to publish accurate information about their activities, in each country where they operate, such as a full list of subsidiaries, the number of employees, turnover, profits and taxes paid. This way, tax administrations would be able to detect shadow companies and empty shells that record profits artificially made in normal-tax countries, particularly in France or developing countries.
Rather than endlessly debating which list of tax havens should be used, banks should explain this disturbing concentration of subsidiaries in those secrective, poorly regulated and low tax jurisdictions. If they have nothing to hide then they should be able to publish accurate information about their activities, in each country where they operate, such as a full list of subsidiaries, the number of employees, turnover, profits and taxes paid. This way, tax administrations would be able to detect shadow companies and empty shells that record profits artificially made in normal-tax countries, particularly in France or developing countries.
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