WITH NEW & UPDATED MATERIALBillionaire Warren Buffet currently the third wealthiest man in the world paid the lowest rate of tax among his office staff including his receptionist In 2006 the world's three biggest banana companies did nearly GBP400 million worth of business in Britain but paid just GBP128000 in tax between them In January 2009 US law enforcement fined Lloyds TSB 350 million after it admitted secretly channelling Iranian & Sudanese money into the US banking system Tax havens are the most important single reason why poor people & poor countries stay poor They lie at the very heart of the global economy with over half the world trade processed through them They have been instrumental in nearly every major economic event in every big financial scandal & in every financial crisis since the 1970s including the latest global economic downturn In Treasure Islands Nicholas Shaxson shows how this happened & what this means for you