We look at a worrying law in Malta rushed through Parliament at unprecedented speed that doesn't just decriminalise tax abuse but 'connected breaches' too:

"They've allowed the same culture to start being fomented that led to the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia." ~ Maltese journalist Julian Bonnici

Plus: the role of Britain in the tax affairs of oil companies reaping rich rewards from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, abuse of power in the US and...we have some good news from California.

Transcript of the podcast: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Transcript_Taxcast_May_26.pdf

Further Reading:

How Britain is shielding big oil's Iran war windfall, Adam Ramsay https://abolishwestminster.substack.com/p/revealed-how-britain-is-shielding

$30m an hour: big oil reaping huge war windfall from consumers, analysis finds https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/15/big-oil-huge-war-windfall-consumers

How Trump's IRS settlement could block tax audits of him, his family and their businesses https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn0pk2e22jro

Trump's investigation compensation fund draws ire of Republicans - 'Stupid on stilts' https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx21d41p6dzo

How crypto billionaires are trying to buy a Senate seat in Alabama https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/05/crypto-alabama-senate-coinbase-ripple-andreessen/

Congress Must Address Illicit Finance Gaps in Crypto Legislation Before Committee Markup https://us.transparency.org/resource/january-coalition-letter-congress-must-address-illicit-finance-gaps-in-crypto-legislation-before-committee-markup/

Committee-Approved Crypto Bill Leaves Dangerous Loopholes for Corrupt and Other Dirty Money https://us.transparency.org/news/committee-approved-crypto-bill-leaves-dangerous-loopholes-for-corrupt-and-other-dirty-money/

US drops fraud charges after billionaire Adani pledges $10bn investment https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/5/18/us-drops-fraud-charges-after-billionaire-adani-pledges-10bn-investment

A Five-Year Prison Sentence for a Public Hero https://prospect.org/2024/05/21/2024-05-21-five-year-sentence-public-hero-charles-littlejohn/

The Secret IRS Files Archives https://www.propublica.org/series/the-secret-irs-files

Bill 142: The Law Allowing Tax Crime, Fraud And Money Laundering To Be Settled Out Of Court – Amphora Media https://www.amphora.media/2026/03/bill-142-tax-crime-money-laundering-fraud-malta-law

Aron Mifsud Bonnici Avoids Prosecution After Settlement in €1.6 Million Tax Evasion and Money Laundering Case https://www.amphora.media/2026/03/aron-mifsud-bonnici-tax-evasion-money-laundering-settlement-malta

California steps up for tax fairness - Tax Justice Network https://taxjustice.net/2026/05/27/california-steps-up-for-tax-fairness/

Private Equity has gone under the radar for a very long time so – what is it, how's it affecting our lives? Our tax systems, and financial transparency are crucial for reining in damaging economic activity, something you see a lot of with Private Equity. In this joint podcast with the brilliant Byline Times podcast and its host Adrian Goldberg, the Taxcast's Naomi Fowler talks to Hettie O'Brien who's written The Asset Class: How Private Equity Turned Capitalism Against Itself and Alex Cobham of the Tax Justice Network.

A transcript of the show is available here: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Taxcast_Byline_PE.pdf

A tiny group of very wealthy people are burning through carbon like there'll be no tomorrow. Taxcast host Naomi Fowler talks to economist Tasnia Hussain about the most effective ways to tax emissions and address carbon inequality. Plus: we bring you the highlights of the ongoing historic effort at the UN to overturn a century of global tax rule setting largely by former imperial powers at the OECD to suit them and their multinationals.

With economist Tasnia Hussain, University of Toronto, also featuring Navid Hanif (UN Assistant Secretary-General), Ryad Selmani from Terre Solidaire, UN representative for Jamaica, UN represntative from the Youth Forum, and private jet and carbon emissions tracker Jack Sweeney and his lawyer (interviewed on TV). Hosted and produced by Naomi Fowler of the Tax Justice Network.

Transcript of the show: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Taxcast_March_26_Transcript.pdf (May not be 100% accurate)

Further resources:

Want to cut emissions? Young advocate says tax the rich — and what they own https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/01/19/opinion/carbon-emissions-taxation-billionaires

Optimal Carbon Policy under Carbon Inequality https://tasniahussain.github.io/assets/Optimal_Carbon_Policy.pdf

From Taylor's Jet to Taxation for Climate Rescue: Tasnia Hussain https://newsletter.economics.utoronto.ca/from-taylors-jet-to-taxation-for-climate-rescue-tasnia-hussain/

OECD collapse will lock in countries' tax losses to US firms https://taxjustice.net/press/oecd-collapse-will-lock-in-countries-tax-losses-to-us-firms/

US will be exempt from global tax deal targeting profits of large multinationals https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/06/us-exemption-oecd-global-tax-deal-multinational-companies

Washington's Proposed Millionaires Tax, FAQs: https://budgetandpolicy.org/resources-tools/2026/03/Updated-3-3-BPC-Millionaires-Tax-FAQ.pdf

Washington state's 'historic' millionaire tax takes aim at super-rich – will it succeed? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/31/washington-state-millionaire-tax-wealth

The party of the rich just taxed the rich in WA. Can that hold? https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/the-party-of-the-rich-just-taxed-the-rich-in-wa-can-that-hold/

Previous Taxcasts: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/episode/134-who-owns-the-climate-crisis/ Who Owns the Climate Crisis? and The Millionaire Exodus Myth https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/episode/155-millionaire-migration-myth/

Our podcast website with all our podcasts is https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/

"Tax is one of the smartest investments you can make." That's Professor Chris Harrop's promise to companies, and his new tax funded impact model proves it by helping quantify how paying tax is not only good for their businesses, but for the economies they're operating in, and of course for people and society.

Plus: Why have OECD countries just bent the knee to Donald Trump and given up their
sovereign rights to tax US businesses operating within their own borders? Naomi Fowler speaks with Zorka Millin of the FACT Coalition about how US companies now have an exemption from the global minimum corporate tax. Also, Zorka discusses some progress on the Corporate Transparency Act's rollercoaster journey in the US towards setting up a beneficial ownership register - a court ruling has pushed things a little further forward, which is good news since the United States is the world's biggest financial secrecy offender. Now some of the watering down of the act needs to be reversed...

And finally, the UK has strengthened its whistleblower reward scheme, lawyer Mary Inman of Whistleblower Partners tells us more.

Featuring:

Zorka Millin of the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition, Chris Harrop, Professor of Sustainable Business at the Huddersfield University Business
School in the UK, non-executive director with the Fair Tax Foundation, a founding partner of the Human Centre, and lawyer Mary Inman of Whistleblower Partners. Hosted and produced by Naomi Fowler with Leo Schick.

Transcript of the show: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Taxcast_January_26_Transcript.pdf

Further Reading:

OECD collapse will lock in countries' tax losses to US firms - Tax Justice Network https://taxjustice.net/press/oecd-collapse-will-lock-in-countries-tax-losses-to-us-firms/

The OECD's "Side-by-Side" System Preserves, But Weakens, the Global Minimum Tax https://thefactcoalition.org/policy-brief-oecd-side-by-side-system/

The Corruption Diaries is a journey through the eyes of anti-corruption veterans with their unique perspectives on combating one of the most compelling ethical challenges of our time.

In Series Two: Richard Allen's passion was alternative music and he set up in the music business with his own record label, managing and touring with bands like Porcupine Tree. But a tax loophole took all of that away from him and he unexpectedly became a campaigner, taking on tax dodgers and the British authorities from his garden shed. Produced by Leo Schick and hosted by Naomi Fowler of the Tax Justice Network.

Our podcast website is available here where you can also listen to Series One featuring white collar crime lawyer Jack Blum https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/production/the-corruption-diaries/

The Corruption Diaries is available wherever you get your podcasts.

Countries can either capitulate to President Trump's tax bullying. Or come together to fight for the sovereign right to tax multinationals fairly. In this episode host Naomi Fowler explores whether US economic policy is actually good for the US economy and its people. We've done some number crunching looking at what really happened after Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. It tells us a lot about the state of tax justice, its real effects on people, and the misguided exercise of power.

Transcript of the show: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Transcript_Taxcast_Nov_25.pdf

Featuring:

The Tax Justice Network's Mark Bou Mansour, Alison Schultz and Sergio Chaparro-Hernandez. Produced and hosted by Naomi Fowler.

Further Reading:

$475bn lost to US-backed global gag order shielding corporate tax cheaters, Tax Justice Network https://taxjustice.net/press/475bn-lost-to-us-backed-global-gag-order-shielding-corporate-tax-cheaters/

UN tax convention: Everything you need to know about current negotiations on the biggest shakeup in history to global tax rules. https://taxjustice.net/topics/un-tax-convention/

Our website with all our podcasts is available here: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/

Get the Taxcast as soon as it comes out by subscribing by email to naomi@taxjustice.net

When tax officials and law enforcement do manage to recover assets and money from criminals, what happens next? How are those seizures used to benefit taxpayers and society? We think there are lots of missed opportunities here and the Taxcast goes to West Yorkshire in the North of England to see social reuse of seized assets in action. It's pretty heartening.

Plus: President Donald Trump has pardoned convicted money launderer Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire founder of the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance. We speak to Scott Greytak of Transparency International US about what this means for the financial integrity of the US financial system and the ramifications for the rest of the world.

A transcript of the show is available here:

https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Taxcast_Transcript_Oct_25.pdf

Produced and hosted by Naomi Fowler and Leo Schick.

Featuring:

Scott Greytak of Transparency International US

Dr. Amber Phillips, University of Bristol, Senior Criminology lecturer

Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire

Alison Lowe, Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime

Tasha Dyson, Fusion Housing

Derek Jones, All Saints Landmark Centre

Tony Macaluso, Chapel FM Art Centre

Nigel Crowther, senior financial investigator, West Yorkshire Police

Alysha, Dance United

Further reading:

Trump's crypto pardon delivers immediate payback: https://popular.info/p/update-trumps-crypto-pardon-delivers

From Crime to Community: The Social Reuse of Confiscated Assets in Italy, Spain and Romania https://www.scena9.ro/en/article/crime-community-social-reuse-confiscated-assets-italy-spain-romania

Website with all our podcasts: https://podcasts.taxjustice.net/production/taxcast/