Nick Shaxson and John Christenson at the Tax Justice Network have pointed out that a Luxembourg think tank, the Cercle de Coopération, has been forced to withdraw a report that it published which was critical of Luxembourg’s status as a secrecy jurisdiction and highlighted the negative effect it had on developing countries.  From the TJN blog:

The Cercle has made an extremely important step towards a public debate on tax issues that is long overdue. The study has prompted a furious reaction from various quarterse including, for obvious reasons, Luxembourg’s finance industry, represented by the Luxembourg Bankers’ Association.

The bankers’ attacks, however, fail to address the main issues that the report identifies, but instead focuses on minor technical details — suggesting the study has correctly analysed the problem caused by Luxembourg. It is extremely important that this debate continue– and let us not forget that development NGOs have a moral responsibility to point to the negative effects of tax flight on development, under their mandates.

Read the full TJN blog post and link to the report here…

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