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"G8: progress in the fight against tax evasion sums up French business daily Les Echos, at the close of the June 17-18 summit, which saw world leaders reach a very broad consensus on the issue.
For Les Echos —
The wager made by Prime Minister David Cameron, who presided the the summit [...] has almost been won. [Although] concrete reforms are lacking.
In their final communique, the paper notes that the G8 countries made a number of commitments, such as "implementing automatic data exchange between fiscal authorities," and "publishing action plans to determine who is profiting from shell companies". Nonetheless, on this latter point, the newspaper remarks that some countries – Germany, the United States and Canada – "are not ready to go as far as the United Kingdom, which had suggested a public register".
Another issue on which the leaders remained vague is the abusive use of tax shelters by multinationals such as Apple or Starbucks.
Le Echos concludes —
The few disappointments of the G8 demonstrate that the pressure must not be relieved.
A conversation with investigative reporters Stefano Valentino and Giorgio Michalopoulos, who have dissected the dark underbelly of green finance for Voxeurop and won several awards for their work.
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