Mapping Financial Secrecy

General anti-avoidance principle: The idea behind a General Anti-Avoidance Principle is simple: it states that if a step is added to a transaction with the aim of securing a tax advantage (which is defined as a saving in tax) but which yields no other material economic benefit, then that step in the transaction is ignored when computing the resulting liability to tax. In other words, it tackles pre-meditated attempts to subvert the intention of the tax system. The advantage of a GAntiP is that it does not require substantial volumes of legislation to tackle tax abuse through tax avoidance as and when it is discovered, retrospectively. Instead it provides a universal power to tackle abuse, which works best when coupled with equitable interpretation of tax law. Compare with a general anti-avoidance rule.

Gross Domestic Product: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a measure of the economic output of a country. It is the total value of all goods and services produced in a country in a period, irrespective of who produced them. The method for computing the GDP involves statistical inference: it is not an accounting process. The GDP is usually expressed in the national currency. GDP is usually calculated as GDP = consumption + gross investment + government spending + (exports − imports).

A general anti-avoidance rule seeks to tackle those who try to break the rules of taxation through the use of further rules. Rather than considering intention, it lays downs ways of interpreting a series of events to determine whether the benefit of tax legislation can be given to the taxpayer. Because rules are invariably open to interpretation a general anti-avoidance rule runs the risk of increasing the opportunity for abuse.

Taxes charged on gifts either during life or on death. The charges may be on the donor or on the cumulative value of gifts received by the recipient. Sometimes called Inheritance Taxes or Estate Taxes. Popularly characterised as ‘Death Taxes’ in some jurisdictions.

The Gini coefficient is a measure of income inequality within a country. It is usually expressed as a percentage or index where either 1 or 100% indicates "perfect" inequality and 0 or 0% indicates "perfect" equality of income distribution. The compiling of the Index requires that costly surveys be undertaken. Neither the IMF nor the World Bank computes Gini coefficients as part of their country missions and programs. Thus, the Gini coefficient has a rather sparse coverage in terms of countries and years available. Scandinavian countries have Gini coefficients of around 25%, continental European countries of around 30%, Anglo-Saxon countries of around 40%, many Latin American Countries of around 50-60%, and some African countries reach Gini coefficients of 60-70%.

Goods and services tax: Another name for a Value Added Tax (see VAT)