Wealth inequality poses serious risks to economies, to societies more broadly, and to the functioning of democracies. And yet the actual magnitude of wealth inequality is unknown because of the deep financial secrecy that surrounds it. It also allows individuals and entities to hide proceeds of corruption, engage in money laundering and the financing of terrorism, or to evade taxes.

This financial secrecy means that authorities have no comprehensive knowledge about who owns what, whether they obtained it through legal means and funds, and whether applicable taxes have been paid. Moreover, local and international authorities that do have access to information, usually work in silos, without cooperating or sharing information with each other.

A crucial tool to tackle all these issues would be to have a national or interconnected register of assets, to allow information to be complete, verified, and used by the right authorities or people.

ICRICT has been working on the concept of a Global Asset Registry since 2018. Read the full article via Tax Justice Network.