Tax havens - why the fuss?

Kristine Sævold
Chr. Michelsen Institute

Tax havens have been climbing the international political agenda, peaking at the 2009 G20 London summit, when member countries pledged to "end the era of banking secrecy". Since then, the international community has heavily engaged in a clamp down on financial secrecy and tax loopholes. However, despite these efforts, illicit capital flows still have many hiding places and aggressive tax planning is still well and alive.

This means that tax havens still contribute to an overwhelming amount of global challenges such as the erosion of tax bases, drug sales, human trafficking, corruption, poverty, manipulation of climate mitigation policies and terrorism – and ultimately challenging democracy and state`s sovereignty. Sævold will address the background for why tax havens create so much fuss these days.

Kristine Sævold is an historian, focusing on Norwegian political and administrative approaches directed towards tax havens/secrecy jurisdictions over the last four decades.

This is an event in the Global Semminar Series at UiB Global.

All are welcome!