'Panama papers' in a nutshell

The 'Panama papers' have shone new light on the practices, policies and measures used by tax-payers and tax jurisdictions which render revenues and tax bases opaque, thus reducing tax bills and resulting in lost revenue for countries. However, even before this story broke, the subject had not been out of the headlines in recent months, and the main difference to previous revelations is the sheer bulk of cases, covering a huge number of tax-payers in many countries.