Why, despite the financial crisis and the sabre-rattling of the G-20 countries, do the ultra-rich and multinational companies still not pay tax? This extraordinary enquiry into the machinations of tax havens sends shivers down the back: nearly 12,000 billion Euros are still tucked away in these protected territories. And France is not immune from this scandal.

In a book loaded with revelations the author exposes the systems, the trusts, holding companies, redomiciliation, which enable the tax burden to be shifted onto the middle classes and small and medium enterprises, often in ways which are totally legal.

XAVIER HAREL writes for La Tribune with a special focus on the dark side of the global economy: corruption, money-laundering, tax evasion . . .

He authored Afrique, pillage à huis-clos (12,000 copies sold) published by Fayard. A critically acclaimed investigation into the disappearance of Africa’s oil wealth.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 10:39 am and is filed under Blog.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.