It’s always pleasant to find people agreeing with you. The FT’s editorial today says:
At the very least, it is time to rethink what we mean by “offshore”: size and proximity to the coastline do not seem to make much sense. A new definition would include anywhere that makes it easy for foreigners to reduce their [...]
The scale of the offshore problem is graphically shown by an article in the Washington Post.
If you don’t see it before, now you’ll see why this is an issue that has not just got to be solved, it has to be eliminated.
It’s good to see Cayman NetNews quoting me quoting them on the subject to their editorial on poverty in their island. Coupled with yesterday’s report here about poverty in Jersey these two stories provide compelling evidence that being a tax haven is not by any means good news for those local people who suffer the [...]
The Economist published a review of offshore finance as a supplement with last weeks edition (24 February 2007). Most is not available free on the web, but the lead article is, here. As with KPMG’s recent efforts, this is a poor piece of work. To put it another way, it’s quite clearly designed as an [...]
There was a stunning editorial on Cayman NetNews yesterday. It was entitled ‘The gap between rich and poor’. I would love to quote it in full. It’s a telling story of just what life in a tax haven is really like.
The background is simple. The Cayman government is undertaking a National Assessment of Living Conditions [...]
John Christensen reports on the TJN blog on yesterday’s launch of the new Foreign Office film on corruption. As he says:
The film is a welcome initiative, and the launch offered a useful opportunity for discussion about the UK’s role in tackling corrupt practices. However, the focus of both the film and the discussion at the [...]
I’ve been doing a lot of work with the printed media of late on both sides of the Atlantic. A couple published last week. This one was for the Wall Street Journal and concerns its Bermuda operations that are estimated to have saved it $1.5 billion in tax over ten years, basically by shifting the [...]
Any writer likes to be read. It goes with the patch. So I can’t help but say that it’s been good to note that the last two days have been the busiest in the life of this blog.
What’s got people going? Well, inheritance tax is always a sure fire winner, but that’s not number [...]
Accountancy Age has reported that HM Revenue & Customs:
HM Revenue and Customs hopes to make progress on negotiations with the Cayman Islands, China, Germany, Hungary, Faroe Islands and Saudi Arabia; and also to progress negotiations with the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories on Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs).
Apparently the hope is to be fulfilled by [...]
The Cayman NetNews reports that the people of Cayman are confused by their poor international image. They say:
There is no doubt that we have become and intend to remain a clean jurisdiction in which to do business.
But are surprised to note that:
No matter how much the offshore sector here has reportedly cleaned up its [...]
