(PHOTO CREDITS: Courtesy FINANCIAL FORTUNE)

By Steve Umidha

A list of the owners of “shell” companies where firms keep money offshore to avoid tax should be published to discourage tax evasion, Tax Justice Network (TJN-A) urged on Wednesday.

Tax Justice Network’s Anglophone African Hub Researcher, Rachel Etter-Phoya in her presentation at the ongoing virtual forum for tax justice advocates in Africa, the tax expert said that the “cloak of secrecy” surrounding company ownership enables questionable practice and increases the risk of illicit financial flows.

To achieve that, Ms. Etter-Phoya recommends the disclosure of the real owners of companies and other legal vehicles. Progress is being made, but no country in the world has achieved an ideal level of transparency. This is something all countries, including Kenya, must strive for.

Over the years, Kenya – the largest economy in East Africa has been faulted as the region’s complicit country in helping individuals hide money from the rule of law, a tag that has shielded potential investors from investing in the country.

(PHOTO CREDITS: Courtesy PEOPLE DAILY ONLINE)

Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA) has embraced innovation to remain on course and is hosting a ten days virtual capacity building for tax justice advocates in Africa.

The activity brings together participants from civil society, media, trade unions, policy makers and academia whose goal is to create collaboration to curb Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs).

With the onslaught of the global coronavirus pandemic, there are concerns that the scale and scope of IFFs could be increasing. While authorities focus on the pandemic, other actors should not be distracted.

“For African countries to stand on their feet economically and finance their own development, they need and seal the loopholes facilitating outflow of resources, at the same time encourage creative and innovative ways to finance the development agenda. We need to pull on the same side” said Alvin Mosioma, the Executive Director, TJNA.

During the academy, TJNA endevours to empower the target groups with skills to identify, track and report illicit outflows from the continent.

While there is dependence on the academia and research institutions for publication of scientific studies, it is the role of the civil society to advocate for increased transparency around public revenues and expenditures.

(PHOTO CREDITS: Courtesy SMART INVESTOR)

Kenya and other African countries have been urged to monitor and re-evaluate current tax treaties with other nations to seal gaping holes that could facilitate flow of dirty money.

These countries have been challenged to be very keen cost benefits of such arrangement and re-look the conditions binding nations to ascertain their implications on tax revenue.

“Some of these bilateral treaties can be very harmful. Senegal cancelled bilateral ties with Mauritius, a major conduit of illicit financial flow after realising it was losing tax revenue. Other African countries can emulate the same,” said African Center for Tax and Governance, Executive Director, Mustapha Ndajiwo.

(PHOTO CREDITS: Courtesy APTANTECH)

With the onslaught of the global coronavirus pandemic, there are concerns that the scale and scope of Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) could be increasing. While authorities focus on the pandemic, other actors should not be distracted. Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA) has embraced innovation to remain on course and will be hosting a virtual capacity building activity for tax justice advocates in Africa.

Themed Tax Justice Advocacy: increasing participation of Civil society organisations and journalists through capacity building, the seventh edition of the International Tax Justice Academy (ITJA) brings together participants from the entire continent drawn from the civil society, media, trade unions and academia.

Africa is endowed with significant natural resource wealth and with good husbandry could finance its own development. There however exist illegal cross border movement of money and capital that threaten the continent’s sustainable development and have been growing every year. If there has been a growing recognition of threat that Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) pose on the continent’s integrity and stability of its financial system in normal times, how about during a pandemic?

Africa is home to the world’s largest arable landmass; second largest and longest rivers (the Nile and the Congo); and its second largest tropical forest. According to a study by the African Development Bank, the total value added of its fisheries and aquaculture sector alone is estimated at $24 billion. In addition, about 30% of all global mineral reserves are found in Africa. The continent’s proven oil reserves constitute 8% of the world’s stock and those of natural gas amount to 7%. Minerals account for an average of 70% of total African exports and about 28% of gross domestic product. Even with such enormous resources, the continent’s poverty rate stands at 41%, and out of the world’s 28 poorest countries, 27 are in Africa all with a poverty rate above 30%.

(PHOTO CREDITS: Courtesy THE STAR)

With the onslaught of the global coronavirus pandemic, there are concerns that the scale and scope of Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) could be increasing. While authorities focus on the pandemic, other actors should not be distracted.

Tax Justice Network Africa has embraced innovation to remain on course and will be hosting a virtual capacity building activity for tax justice advocates in Africa. Themed Tax Justice Advocacy: increasing participation of Civil society organisations and journalists through capacity building, the 7th edition of the International Tax Justice Academy brings together participants from the entire continent drawn from the civil society, media, trade unions and academia.

Africa is endowed with significant natural resource wealth, and with good husbandry, could finance its own development. There, however, exist illegal cross-border movement of money and capital that threaten the continent’s sustainable development and have been growing every year. If there has been a growing recognition of the threat that IFFs poses on the continent’s integrity and stability of its financial system in normal times, how about during a pandemic?

Africa is home to the world’s largest arable landmass, second-largest and longest rivers (the Nile and the Congo), and second-largest tropical forest (the Congo basin). According to a study by the African Development Bank Group, the total value added of its fisheries and aquaculture sector alone is estimated at USD 24 billion. In addition, about 30 per cent of all global mineral reserves are found in Africa.

(PHOTO CREDITS: Courtesy JUSTICE TODAY)

Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA) has embraced innovation to remain on course and is hosting a ten days virtual capacity building for tax justice advocates in Africa.

The activity brings together participants from civil society, media, trade unions, policy makers and academia whose goal is to create collaboration to curb Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs).

With the onslaught of the global coronavirus pandemic, there are concerns that the scale and scope of IFFs could be increasing. While authorities focus on the pandemic, other actors should not be distracted.

“For African countries to stand on their feet economically and finance their own development, they need and seal the loopholes facilitating outflow of resources, at the same time encourage creative and innovative ways to finance the development agenda. We need to pull on the same side” said Alvin Mosioma, the Executive Director, TJNA.

During the academy, TJNA endevours to empower the target groups with skills to identify, track and report illicit outflows from the continent.

(PHOTO CREDITS: Courtesy COUNTY YANGU)

HomeNews Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA) to host virtual capacity building for tax Justice advocates

Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA) to host virtual capacity building for tax Justice advocates

Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA) has embraced innovation to remain on course and will be hosting a virtual capacity building a for tax justice advocates in Africa.

The Network says that with the onslaught of the global coronavirus pandemic, there are concerns that the scale and scope of Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) could be increasing.

“While authorities focus on the pandemic, other actors should not be distracted,” said the executive director, Alvin Mosioma.
On June 24,2020, TJNA marked its 7th Edition with the theme: Tax Justice Advocacy: Increasing Participation of Civil Society Organizations.

“(CSOs) and Journalists through Capacity Building. The 7 the edition of the International Tax Justice Academy (ITJA), which is organized virtually, brings together participants from the entire continent drawn from the civil society, media, trade unions, policy makers and academia,” said Mosioma.

Some of the themes that ITJA id holding in this year’s session, include: taxing the digitalized economy, tax justice advocacy strategy, IFFs, and Africa’s investment regimes, financial secrecy, investigative journalism, amongst others.

“Africa is endowed with significant natural resource wealth and, with good husbandry, could finance its development,” Mosioma stated.

It says that there, however, exist illegal cross border movement of money and capital that threaten the continent’s sustainable development and have been growing every year.

(PHOTO CREDITS: Courtesy THE CAMPUS LADY MAGAZINE)

Property tax was first introduced in Kenya in 1900 in Mombasa, and the basis used was the annual rental value. In 1901, the tax was introduced in Nairobi using the same basis as Mombasa. In those years, few properties were developed.

Later on, in 1928 unimproved site value rating was applied. Dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, Kenya fully adopted a land value taxation that was influenced by the British colonial administration as it is presently practiced. Before independence 1963, the city of Nairobi accumulated 45 per cent of its revenue from rates. The revenue collected from rates continued to increase slowly until the period 2013-2015 when it began to decrease.

The property tax has been a contributive source of income to the Kenyan local authorities. It was only recently that the contribution of property tax has been surpassed by personal income tax and other taxes on goods and services.

(PHOTO CREDITS: Courtesy FINANCIAL FORTUNE)

By Steve Umidha

A new tool launched yesterday by Tax Justice Network (TJN) is hoped to be the key to identifying money flows in and out of the country – most of which is believed to be illegal.

The Illicit Financial Flows Vulnerability Tracker measures and visualizes each country’s vulnerability to various forms of illicit financial flows over different periods of time.

Illicit financial flows are transfers of money from one country to another that are forbidden by law, rules or custom. The vice has the potential to hurt economies, societies, public finances and governance of countries if left unchecked over a long period of time.

“A key challenge to tackling illicit financial flows is the difficulty countries face in identifying which financial flows carry the largest risk to their economies. The launch of Illicit Financial Flows Vulnerability Tracker will help countries identify the trading partners and channels that pose the greatest risks to their economies,” reads a statement from the tax network.