Treasure Islands

I think Treasure Islands may well be the most influential book in tax justice.

Author Nick Shaxson, previously a journalist for the Financial Times and Reuters, became a key member of the Tax Justice Network and wrote this rollicking blockbuster. In a story that spans the globe, Shaxson captures the lurking malevolence of the men – and it is almost always men – who shaped our world so they could profit from selling opportunities for tax abuse and financial crime.

Nicholas opens the door to a parallel universe of tax havens and money laundering, where wealth flows from poor to rich, lies are traded as truth, and violence lurks beneath the smiles. This hidden world only meets normality when it needs a law to be passed – or suppressed, an election to go one way or the other, or the right leader to take power. Half the world’s trade passes through tax havens. Nicholas’s light shines into these dark corners of the world. You may not like what you see. Because far from shrinking this parallel universe is growing fast… show more.

This book paved the way for several other publications and reports that examine how tax havens are misused by rich individuals and corporate entities and private trusts and to legally avoid as well as to illegally evade taxes. The taxes not paid could have been used for supporting social welfare schemes and infrastructure projects that benefit ordinary people. In this manner, tax havens deepen and widen inequalities of income and wealth and concentrates economic power in the hands of crony capitalists.

Nicholas Shaxson’s book was of immense help to me when I wrote with Shinzani Jain a book titled Thin… show more.