Prominent economists are calling on the leaders of the G20 to create a global asset archive in a letter published today in the British newspaper The Guardian to identify the hidden assets of Russian oligarchs.
“The case of the Russian oligarchs is revealing in terms of concealing assets inside dark structures,” economists, including Frenchman Tomas Piquetti and American Joseph Stiglitz, said in the letter.
They own “at least $ 1,000 billion in wealth abroad,” according to estimates in the letter, which is also signed by Frenchman Gabriel Zuckman and all members of the Independent Committee on International Corporate Tax Reform (ICRICT).
These properties are often hidden in offshore companies whose owners are difficult to locate, they warn, adding that “this is the wall of opacity that countries’ efforts to impose sanctions are currently facing.”
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Western sanctions targeted the vast fortunes of Russians, including Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich or Rosneft leader Igor Setsin.
In a further step, ICRICT calls for the creation of a global archive of assets, allowing all types of assets, companies and other legal entities to be linked, not to their rightful owner, who is often just a showcase, but to the person who is the real owner.
To enhance the effectiveness of sanctions and to identify all tax evaders in the world, a network should be set up to link all the national asset records of the different types of wealth that a person may possess, where they are located. This concerns bank accounts, real estate, cryptocurrencies, works of art …
According to the model proposed in December by the World Inequality Lab of the Paris School of Economics (Ecole d’Economie de Paris), the economists signing the letter suggest that states collect data nationally and then gradually expand it. cooperation at regional and global level.
“Much remains to be done to reform the deficit international tax system, which now favors wealthy champions of tax evasion,” economists wrote, noting, however, some progress made in recent years.
The publication of the letter coincides with tomorrow’s meeting of the G20 finance ministers.
SOURCE: AMPE
Source: Capital
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