Pandora’s Papers: How Many More Revelations Do We Need Before Outlawing Tax Havens?

Adebayo Adeniran
2 min readOct 3, 2021

Another expose of the tax secrets of the super wealthy

Ronny Rondon via Unsplash

A few hours ago, millions of papers were released containing valuable information on 35 world leaders, former heads of state and 100 billionaires.

The millions of files which emerged today by far exceeds the previous version which was unearthed by the guardian newspaper called the panama papers.

In today’s expose, we learn about the extensive property portfolio of the Azerbaijan leader worth 400 million pounds in the United Kingdom. We also get to read to about the likes of King Abdullah of Jordan, who has taken great care in amassing a number of expensive properties in Malibu, Washington and London, which is all in stark contrast to the crushing poverty of the people over whom he presides.

The timing of the release of these documents will undoubtedly overshadow the Conservative conference currently taking place in Manchester not least because what we now know about the tax arrangements of donors to the Tory party under Boris Johnson’s stewardship.

Today’s revelations vindicate the article that I wrote on tax havens a few months ago. In the post, I shed a bit of light on the historical underpinnings of this conduit for hiding money away from the tax man and how little political will there has been from successive western governments to do the right thing and bring an end to legalized tax evasion.

A few weeks ago, I also wrote about the need to abolish capital gains tax. I argued that the very nature of capital gains tax had created a loophole which has been remorselessly exploited by the uber wealthy.

https://adebayoadeniran.medium.com/the-time-to-abolish-capital-gains-tax-is-now-9ce1e753a8d

Unlike most people, I am no longer shocked by the scale of today’s expose. What I am deeply unhappy about is the lack of fight from those of us who should be marching to ensure that our governments are…

Adebayo Adeniran

A lifelong bibliophile, who seeks to unleash his energy on as many subjects as possible