From the Wall Street Journal
Governments of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing nations are nearing agreement on measures aimed at cracking open secretive tax havens, but are divided over how harshly to punish those that don’t cooperate.
Officials involved in preparations for Thursday’s G-20 summit say the leaders will agree on guidelines for tax havens and outline sanctions for those that don’t sign on. But negotiations over whether to take the added step of publishing a blacklist of uncooperative tax havens — a measure that European governments have been pushing hard — were continuing.
The accord has advanced further than many governments believed possible.
I agree with this – it reflects what I hear.
13 Responses to “The WSJ on the G20 outcome”
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Guernsey is trumpeting it’s Chief Minister for having heard during a few days ‘bargaining’ in Brussels that they won’t be on any list because of pushing through a few more TIEAs in the last week or so.
Incidentally, this is the man who, as Treasury ‘minister’ sold Guernsey the corporate tax regime enabling foreign companies to pay nothing into general revenue that required 6% growth in the economy to avoid a massive budget deficit. His numbers were based on the wise men of the finance industry.
Why are governments still listening to these people?
Arnald
You know you’re going bust
I know you’re going bust
That’s another tax haven bites the dust
The rates will leave
I do have real concern for the real people of Guernsey who will be left with the mess
Richard
Will there be a financial burden on the UK government/ tax payer if the UK takes control/ introduces legislation that effectively kills off the finance industries of Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man etc? Or do you think those jurisdictions will declare indpendence before that happens?
Richard
Once again, utter garbage.
Sorry to rain on your parade but you have totally overlooked the capacity of Guernsey to restructure its tax system. A different corporate tax system or introducing GST provide ample opportunities to resolve any black hole issues. It won’t be a mess and its not unsolvable.
when the WSJ starts reporting that the game is up, the game must really be up…
But Rupert
We were told by the great and good that if the corp tax remained as it was following IoM’s rush to the bottom then ‘the banks will all leave’. What you are saying therefore that this was a blatant lie designed to pervert the course of policy making.
GST will already overburden the poorer elements in Guernsey. 1 in 4 people in Jersey went on a demonstration but were ignored. Their gov is now wanting to put it up (once the mechanism is in place it’s a quick hit to tweak it upwards).
It is a mess already with senior pollies all saying that each other is wrong over the projections.
Guernsey needs to restructure its tax system in order to help the people of Guernsey, not the banks that are causing the mess and the undue attention on the islands.
CLOSE YOUR OWN TAX HAVENS, LUXEMBOURG TELLS US
http://www.royalgazette.com/siftology.royalgazette/Article/article.jsp?articleId=7d940ab3003003e§ionId=65
Rupert
Sorry – the Guernsey tax system is in last gasp saloon
People will not vote in Guernsey to pay much higher tax to subsidise tax evaders
Why should they.
Guernsey votes won’t ask for independence – they’ll ask for the sheltering arms of the EU or UK
Richard
John
Of course there will be a cost
But the IoM already gets £250 million or so a year
And it will be much cheaper to pay than lose the tax you cost us now
Richard
Richard
I say that there are many options which have not previously been considered by Guernsey. GST is inevitable and always has been. It was left in reserve when zero-10 came in as back-up and that’s exactly what it is. It will happen – I am quite sure. 10% GST would raise around £100m a year. May I remind you that Guernsey has only a 20% income tx rate, no CGT, no IHT. A 10% GST rate would be 5% less than in the UK. It would still be a low-tax jurisdiction by anybody’s standards. albeit higher than it is today. There is lots of headroom there.
The Guernsey people will not ask for independence and neither will they ask for the sheltering arms of the EU or the UK. They don’t need to. However I can assure you that independence would almost certainly come before the UK or the EU. You clearly don’t know the people of Guernsey at all !
Sorry to have pi**ed on your fireworks.
Cut the chaff, smell the wheat.
There is nothing logical in what Richard Murphy or John Christensen says anymoe.
Rupert, do not even bother getting involved. His website is funded by a socialist charity.
Matt,
and the Blog whom you critizise is run by a Senior Adviser of the Tax Justice Network.
Did you have a look in the sponsoring organisations of TJN? Look here: http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/front_content.php?idcatart=103
In the list is Secours-Catholique Caritas (France), Christian Aid, The Uniting Church in Australia, and let me tell you that the German Catholic Aid Agency Misereor also supports TJN. Are these socialist organizations? It is rather you Matt who is increasingly identified of moving in the right-wing spectre of our society. If people fail to acknowledge the relativity of property rights and proclaim absolute property, extremism is round the corner. Demagogy like yours once brought people like Pinochet in power.
Matt, you never believed there was anything logical in opinions different from your own anyway! What’s changed? The absence of logic in your comments is increasingly clear.
I don’t really agree with Rupert but his comments are always reasoned and interesting.
I have no idea about the funding for Tax Research UK. Even if it were funded by a socialist charity, so what. Again, do you beleive in the suppression of opinions different fromn your own?