#64 The Panama Papers, 1 year on
#63 The High Cost of our Finance Sectors
#65 Britain’s Second Empire

In the April 2017 Taxcast: the Panama Papers, one year on – we talk to the journalists who got the scoop. Plus: we discuss the raid on Credit Suisse, and new data exposing the profit shifting shennanigans of the EU’s biggest banks.

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Sep 26
2025
The Taxcast
#157 Banking on Opus Dei
We look at the outsized influence of a small and secretive Catholic institution, Opus Dei, from Spain's dictator Franco to Trump. And the bank it controlled for sixty years. Plus: in the latest twist in the epic battle to end anonymous ownership in the United States, the US's financial regulator FinCEN has announced plans to actually delete company ownership information. We look at the options to stop the US sliding even further into a corruption abyss.
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Jul 24
2025
The Taxcast
#156 Immigrants, tax and bullying in the USA
The persecution of anyone suspected of being an undocumented immigrant in the United States is not only taking the form of armed, masked ICE agents. Tax is being weaponised against them too. An estimated 10.9 million undocumented immigrants are the powerhouse of the United States economy, and also an exploitable workforce with minimal rights. It turns out that they're paying a higher effective tax rate than 55 mega-corporations and several billionaires. We look at the data that show how devastating it is for the economy and public services too. Plus: bullying at home, bullying abroad: President Trump is deploying tariffs and threats of tariffs against countries who have the audacity to want to tax US multinationals fairly.
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Jun 27
2025
The Taxcast
#155 Millionaire exodus myth
Millionaires are not fleeing countries to escape taxes. The Tax Justice Network has analysed these claims and found it's questionable data published by a firm that helps the super-rich buy their way out of rules that apply to everybody else. In fact, things are changing for people in the business of helping to sell passports and residency. Some doors are closing...Plus, we look at the latest results from the Financial Secrecy Index - what are the latest global trends and have you heard of an anocracy?!
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May 29
2025
The Taxcast
#154 How to spend 14 billion
The life-changing, life-saving, transformational nature of tax - for people and planet. Ireland's got a tax windfall of about €14 billion - that's roughly  $15 billion. What are they going to do with it? We don't do enough about blue sky thinking on how tax can transform our lives. This is our chance to unlock our imaginations. It's also time for Ireland to rethink its tax haven model and for many countries, not just Ireland, to ask who it's economy is serving.
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Apr 29
2025
The Taxcast
#153 Criminalising journalists
The Taxcast looks at the battle for freedom of the press in Switzerland and the implications for the rest of the world. Investigative journalists like Bastian Obermayer risks arrest, fines and imprisonment if he sets foot in Switzerland again, and Swiss journalists are having to turn away strong public interest stories - for fear of not just rich and powerful people coming after them, but also the Swiss state. Switzerland's always been famous for its banking secrecy laws and it's never been the friendliest place for investigative journalists. Now the situation threatens to get even worse.
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Mar 28
2025
The Taxcast
#152 The Chinese Phantom
How easy is it to get filthy rich selling arms to anyone who'll pay? There may be sanctions, there may be laws, but even though he's the FBI's most wanted fugitive, a Chinese arms dealer and manufacturer has evaded arrest for two decades. Who could be better to investigate one of the world’s most dangerous men and tell this story than Panama Papers journalists? What does their investigation tell us about sanctions and financial secrecy at a time of rising autocracy and global insecurity?
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