Welcome to the latest episode of the Tax Justice Network’s monthly podcast, the Taxcast. You can subscribe either by emailing naomi [at] taxjustice.net or find us on your podcast app.
In this episode Naomi Fowler speaks with Paul Caruana Galizia, one of the sons of Malta’s incredible investigative journalist and anti-corruption champion Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was assassinated in 2017. Paul Caruana Galizia discusses his mother’s legacy, the capture of Malta through an aggressive, over-sized finance sector with financial secrecy at its heart, and his hopes for the future.
“You need to be very strong. To do the job that she did you really have to be your own person. You couldn’t be the kind of person who worries what people might think of you, And you really have to say, no, I’m not going to adapt, I’m not going to fall into that mould. I’m going to break it and keep breaking.”
~ Paul Caruana Galizia
The transcript is available here. (Some is automated and may not be 100% accurate)
As mentioned in the show, here’s a video of the story of the ‘firestarters of the tax justice movement’ from the tax haven of Jersey:
Here’s a Taxcast special on the tax haven of Jersey: https://www.taxjustice.net/2019/04/26/inequality-and-dysfunction-in-the-tax-haven-of-jersey-a-taxcast-special-edition/
The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation: https://www.daphne.foundation
A tax haven or secrecy jurisdiction is a place that deliberately provides an escape route for people or entities who live or operate elsewhere. They shield them from whatever taxes, criminal laws, financial regulations, transparency or other constraints they don’t like. Ordinary people whose lives are affected by tax haven laws are not consulted on these laws because they live in other countries: they have no say in how those laws are made, thus undermining their democratic rights.
A tax haven or secrecy jurisdiction is a place that deliberately provides an escape route for people or entities who live or operate elsewhere. They shield them from whatever taxes, criminal laws, financial regulations, transparency or other constraints they don’t like. Ordinary people whose lives are affected by tax haven laws are not consulted on these laws because they live in other countries: they have no say in how those laws are made, thus undermining their democratic rights.
A tax haven or secrecy jurisdiction is a place that deliberately provides an escape route for people or entities who live or operate elsewhere. They shield them from whatever taxes, criminal laws, financial regulations, transparency or other constraints they don’t like. Ordinary people whose lives are affected by tax haven laws are not consulted on these laws because they live in other countries: they have no say in how those laws are made, thus undermining their democratic rights.
Revenue, to fund public services, infrastructure and administration.
Redistribution, to curb inequalities between individuals and between groups.
Repricing, to limit public “bads” such as tobacco consumption and carbon emissions.
Representation, to build healthier democratic processes, recognising that higher reliance of government. spending on tax revenues is strongly linked to higher quality of governance and political representation.
Reparation, to redress the historical legacies of empire and ecological damage.