This statement has been issued by Jersey this morning in response to Ed Miliband's suggestion at the weekend that more action is needed to tackle tax abuse in Jersey.
It seems only fair that he can shoot himself in the foot in full. I'll comment on them as soon as I can. I can assure you though, that as ever, this statement is utterly misleading:
Statement from Geoff Cook, Jersey Finance, relating to recent comments made by Ed Miliband
We have noted with disappointment the comments made by the leader of the opposition, Ed Miliband, over the weekend, in which he urges action by the EU against British Crown Dependencies, including Jersey.
It is disappointing when political leaders choose to make inaccurate accusations about Jersey which do not reflect the positive contribution that Jersey and the other Crown Dependencies make to the broader UK economy. Once again the confusion between the terms “tax avoidance” and “tax evasion” creates a false impression of Jersey's co-operative, well-regulated offshore financial centre.
Tax evasion is illegal in Jersey and it is a criminal offence — not a civil one —to facilitate or engage in tax evasion. The majority of Jersey's activities are focussed on the pooling of and structuring of international funds that have already been taxed.
The last Labour Government commissioned the Foot Review in December 2008. The report highlighted the value that Jersey provided to the UK during the banking crisis in the form of hundreds of billions of pounds of liquidity. That contribution continues to this day.
Furthermore, the report concluded that the amount of tax avoided by UK corporates using British Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories was “significantly lower than estimates produced by previous studies have suggested.” Therefore, the Foot report and most recent analysis from the HMRC (September, 2011), both suggest that tax avoidance is considerably lower than the wildly inflated figures produced by self-appointed lobby groups such as the Tax Justice Network.
The characterisation of Jersey as a “tax haven” fails to recognise the regular endorsements that the island has received from the OECD and IMF. Moreover, the accusation made today that Jersey is not co-operative with the HMRC is quite simply wrong: Jersey has signed both a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) and a Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) with the United Kingdom. Jersey has very clear, open and transparent lines of communication with HMRC and is fully co-operative on tax matters. We also work alongside the UK in fighting financial crime and tax evasion. Ian Gorst, the Chief Minister of Jersey has today extended an invitation to Mr Miliband to visit the island to learn first hand how Jersey actually operates as a stable, reliable and responsible international financial centre.
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OK, if Ed M comes over, what’s the first question he should ask?
“Where’s the register of beneficial owners of these trusts, Mr Gorst?”
“Why do you have this thing called a sham trust, Mr Gorst?”
or something else?
And :
Why don’t you do full information exchange?
Plus
why don’t you our company accounts on record?
There are many more…..
He could ask “how come whenever we send a civil servant over to review your activities or whenever the IMF or OECD visit to carry out a full detailed assessment you manage to pull the wool over their eyes”?
But then, why bother to find out the truth when your prejudices are so convenient?
If you ask the wrong questions the wool is not pulled over
The wrong questions have been asked
The ones asked her reveal the truth and yo do no like them
And if he did ask those questions, I would reply:
“Mr Miliband, where is YOUR register of beneficial owners (sic) of trusts? Where is YOUR regulation of fiduciaries to prevent UK trust and company law being abused? Where is YOUR regulation of who owns beneficially owns all UK companies? Why do your UK company accounts on record only show very abbreviated information which is not worth the paper it is written on?”.
Once we are on a level playing field, it might be a worthwhile conversation.
I would also reply: “Why, Mr. Miliband, should we be criticised for accepting an option issued to us by the EU re information exchange? If it wasn’t meant to be an option for us to accept, why was it offered to us?”.
But this are not answering he questions – and yes, h UK fails het but so do you
So just answer the questions that are relevant for now
But isn’t the point that the UK is a major jurisdiction able to set the agenda for the international community. Whereas Jersey just follows the rules set for it. And whenever its compliance with the rules is checked, Jersey gets the seal of approval.
Why should Jersey meet standards that no international body recommends and no other jurisdiction meets? Because you say so???
Because the UK will be saying so – even if Luxembourg objects to the eu saying so
As a Jerseyman and a Labour Party member, I would absolutely love for Ed to come to Jersey having done a bit of research and take on the islands establishment to tell them what they can expect from a Labour government in the UK. It would be a great PR stunt for Ed who would be very popular amongst ordinary people for having done it and it would hopefully scare the Jersey government into thinking about sorting out our problems.
I used to work in a trust company in Jersey in which I read many trust documents that stated that no beneficiary of the trust was allowed to be a resident of Jersey… how can Jersey think it is not a tax haven if it allows people who have nothing to do with the island (and are encouraged to have nothing to do with the island) arrange there affairs in the island so that they can avoid UK taxes? At the very least, they should not be allowed to create a trust outside of the jurisdiction where all of their assets are based.
Precisely
And all the trolls from the finance industry know it is exctly as you describe it
[…] supported by the island’s government) that is I think word for word the same as the statement I published here yesterday. The content is predictable: Ed Miliband (leader of the UK parliamentary opposition) is wrong to […]