Paradise Papers increase pressure for tax transparency

RENEWED attention is focusing on the vexed topic of global tax transparency in the wake of the ongoing Paradise Papers revelations. While the disclosures in the 13.4 million newly released documents are financial in nature, they have already had significant political ramifications, including in London and Washington, especially after the release of the separate Panama Papers last year.

The latest massive tranche of papers has put new exposure on hundreds of high net worth individuals and politicians across the world, plus wide-ranging multinational firms. But it is actually the internal workings of numerous UK territories that are at the heart of the affair.

During the process of decolonisation, Britain held on to a global network of islands, which either voted to remain United Kingdom territories, or have not chosen independence. Among these are the present-day 14 overseas territories and three British dependencies, and it is these remnants of Empire that are among the world's leading centres of international tax avoidance.