In 2006 I co-authored a report with two Dutch colleagues. The message of the report was pretty clear from the cover:
The report was a big hit, in the Netherlands. It was discussed in the Dutch parliament, was a shock to many as it was just about the first time such a thing was said by a Dutch NGO, and has led to ongoing debate continuing to the present.
This morning the FT says:
The Netherlands has 23,000 ... “letterbox companies”, managed by 176 licensed trust firms. These companies attract huge flows of money, making €8tn worth of transactions in 2011 — 13 times the country's gross domestic product.
They conclude that the Netherlands is now embroiled in political debate on this issue. It's good to see the FT is catching up, at last.
Even better to see agreement across the political left in the Netherlands that this now needs to be tackled.
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I have just read ‘Ship of Fools’ by Fintan O’Toole (2010) about the Republic of Ireland’s Walter Mitty politicians and their Land developer etc pals who have brought the RoI to its knees and got away with it. Tax avoidance was abetted by the Netherlands and Germany. It all shocked me to the core. I fear the same might be happening in the UK and we don’t know it. What is wrong with our bureaucracy that they cannot track down these crooks? Should there be more well-qualified tax inspectors who can thoroughly investigate company shenanigans? Their salary would certainly be offset by the amount of outstanding company tax collected. Accountancy firms have recently made self-righteous claims that what they do regarding company tax avoidance is legal. Why is this situation not being addressed most urgently? What are politicians for, in the UK, if not to make amendments to laws to stop legal cheating like this?
Great book
Good journalist