Germany continues to rank among top ten in ranking of global Shadow centres: As network of tax fairness pointed out, Germany still has a place ahead of seventh place, since in recent years it is only "comparatively hesitant Improvements '.

The network of tax fairness is a merger of trade unions, environmental associations and scientific institutions. For index, which appears every two years, network collects countries that favour undergoing of tax laws and transparency rules. It consists of a "nondisclosure value" and share of territory in global market for cross-border financial services. The index also takes account of bank secrecy of a country, existence of public registers and annual accounts of companies, and willingness of authorities to share information.

The fact that Germany ranks so high – even in front of traditional tax havens such as Bahamas or Channel Island of Jersey – results from a medium level of secrecy and a high global weighting according to network. More than five percent of world's offshore financial operations are thus settled in Germany.

Places one and two to Switzerland and USA

The network described Germany's development as worrying. "Germany continues to be a secret haven for foreign assets," said Markus Meinzer from network of Tax justice. The federal government's plans to combat capital flight in response to Panama papers, which had revealed widespread practices of tax evasion and fraud in world, were "completely inadequate." It is necessary to have an "effective and consistent investigation and prosecution of tax avoidance and money laundering", says Meinzer. The network writes that re was no public, country-related reporting and a transparency register in Germany.

As in 2015, Switzerland ranked first in negative list. The country has a "strong secrecy", criticized network. The USA ranked second in third place. The reason for this is that US refused to share tax information within framework of international cooperation, authors of study write. Moreover, no efforts have been made to prevent anonymous companies and foundations from being used. Instead, some US states would even "aggressively market" m.

Date Of Update: 31 January 2018, 12:02