The United States has ranked first – and worst – in a global ranking for countries which provide financial secrecy to dictators, oligarchs, organized criminals and wealthy tax dodgers.
The US comfortably beat out perennial tax-dodge-enablers Switzerland into second place due to its refusal to reciprocally exchange information about who is using its financial services with other countries’ tax authorities.
The Financial Secrecy Index 2022, released yesterday, ranks countries by combining how intensely each country’s financial and legal system allows individuals to hide and launder money extracted from around the world with the volume of financial services the country provides to non-residents.
The US’ secrecy ranking is not so far from the norm at 67 out of 100 (with 100 being total secrecy), but as it provides some 25 per cent of the world’s financial services, it is deemed to be the world’s number one financial secrecy provider by the Tax Justice Network, the charity which…
