• The report estimates that up to 13000000000000 is being kept out of the reach of the taxman in offshore tax havens
  • Secretive jurisdictions including Switzerland and Hong Kong have seen a huge influx of funds in recent years
  • Meanwhile, oil-rich nations such as Russia and Nigeria are leaking vast sums of money to the tax havens

By Tom Goodenough

|

The world's wealthiest people are harbouring 13trillion ($21trillion) in offshore tax havens, according to a campaign group.

Tax Justice Network estimate that the huge sum - which may even be as high as 20trillion - has been squirreled away overseas.

The report's author James Henry, who is a specialist in tax havens, says that secretive jurisdictions including Switzerland, Luxembourg and Hong Kong are being used to keep trillions of pounds from out-of-the reach of the taxman.

The report says secretive jurisdictions including Hong Kong are receiving huge influxes of funds from a global super elite

The report says secretive jurisdictions including Hong Kong are receiving huge influxes of funds from a global super elite

Mr Henry said that private banks - who are desperate to woo the super-rich - are helping the global elite to keep hold of their huge assets.

'(Their wealth is) protected by a highly-paid, industrious bevy of professional enablers in the private banking, legal, accounting and investment industries taking advantage of the increasingly borderless, frictionless global economy,' he was reported as saying in The Observer.

And according to the research conducted by the economist, private banks including UBS and Goldman Sachs were managing around 4trillion in 2010, which is more than a two-fold increase on the figures for 2005 before the financial downturn happened.

The analysis in the report shows that oil-rich countries such as Russia and Nigeria are leaking money to tax havens at a colossal rate.

The Cayman Islands ranked highly in a list of nations where a large quantity of the huge sums are heading annually

The Cayman Islands ranked highly in a list of nations where a large quantity of the huge sums are heading annually

Almost 500bn has left Russia in the past two decades.

And around 200bn has flooded out of the African nation since the mid-1970s.

A previous Financial Secrecy Index compiled by the Tax Justice Network ranks the jurisdictions enjoying an influx of capital in a Financial Secrecy Index.

The top 10 private banks in the world including UBS were estimated to be managing around 4trillion in funds in 2010

The top 10 private banks in the world including UBS were estimated to be managing around 4trillion in funds in 2010

In the table for 2011, it suggests that Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg and Hong Kong are amongst the nations where a large amount of the huge sums are heading.

And despite the popular perception of tax havens as being small isolated islands, the campaign group says that the biggest players in 'the supply of financial secrecy' are almost all wealthy nations.

The group also estimates that around $250bn is lost in taxes each year by governments worldwide as a result of the wealthiest individuals holding their assets offshore.

The total value of the money being leaked from some nations even dwarfs the debts they often owe to the rest of the world.

According to the Tax Justice Network, the consequences of this tax avoidance are severe.

'Secrecy distorts trade and investment flows, and creates a criminogenic environment for a litany of evils that hurt the citizens of rich and poor countries alike.

'It’s not just developing countries that suffer: European countries like Greece, Italy and Portugal have been brought to their knees by decades of secrecy and tax evasion.'

Estimates suggest that if the interest on the huge sums being lost were taxed at a rate of around 30%, around 121bn would be generated for the treasuries around the world.

Here's what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have not been moderated.

We all have a moral duty to our families to pay the minimum amount of tax legally possible to the government mafia.

Heaven forbid these useless, wasters (ALL Political parties) would be given even more money to waste or interfere in our lives with - they can't sell a £1 for 50p as it is!!!

on one hand i think maybe the economy wouldn't be in such a state if these people didn't use offshore tax havens. on the other though, surely the poor old taxman takes enough from the elderly who can barely afford to live as a result and all of us, everyday people??

This is a completely fictitious figure, made up for a loud and stupid headline. What isn't so stupid though is to calculate just how much money has been wasted in this country alone with the useless MOD, the NHS overspends and poor but huge management. Why pay tax voluntarily when it's just going to be abused?

Meanwhile just go after the easy targets. The little people and their car boot sales for example.

I feel a revolution brewing!!

No words , well at least, no POLITE words, can describe how I feel about this.

but it is more important to go after the small percentage of benefit claimaints who abuse the system for a few thousand pounds each!

So if HMRC was resourced adequately to investigate and recoup all the tax evaded we would not be in this double dip recession nor having to bear the brunt of the cuts and austerity measures. But ConDem government won't go after their cronies and donators so joe public get poorer, services cut and the country goes to the wall. We have to take a stand and support each other and the unions who are opposing the government failed plans. The IMF report indicated to Gideon his plans are failing but he won't listen but he must be made to listen.

Pass laws to properly punish the enablers.

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.