Guess what? The Center for Freedom and Prosperity (the ‘tax cheats lobby’ according to David Cay Johnston in ‘Perfectly Legal’) has come out and said of Liechtenstein tax fraud:
Blame German Tax Law, Not Liechtenstein Privacy Law
Staggering.
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Forbes has a good article on this today. I admit I recognise quite a lot of what is said. What is interesting is that Forbes says:
What of the full-trained accountants, lawyers and bankers who live and work in these havens and allow such funds to be passed through? In many cases they simply don’t ask [...]
It’s now clear that HMRC have bought data on those using Liechtenstein from the same source as the German security service. They may, indeed, have paid the German security service for that data.
I have given more interviews on this today. The focus seems threefold. First, is it legal? Answer, yes it is, HMRC can do [...]
John Whiting of PricewaterhouseCoopers has told the BBC:
It has an image of being secretive but it is major financial centre. An awful lot of extremely reputable business goes on there
Well he would say that, of course. His firm is there. But what is it that you do there exactly John? And why does a legitimate [...]
The Business Spectator in Australia has said:
Tax havens are to those engaged in tax evasion what fences are to thieves. Tax evasion is a crime. It’s not harmless cleverness and fun; it’s theft from the community you live in.
Those who engage in it, and those who facilitate it, are criminals.
It is time that the more [...]
AFP has reported:
The German finance ministry threatened on Friday to tax all financial transfers to Liechtenstein unless the Alpine principality relaxed its banking secrecy codes and helped trace tax evaders.
“We are thinking of taking additional steps on a bilateral level and taxing all transfers at the source is an option,” finance ministry spokesman Thorsten Albig [...]
The world is beginning to unite behind The Tax Justice Network’s themes:
Freer, more open and better integrated financial markets have benefited people and companies around the world. They have lowered the cost of capital and encouraged greater competition in the provision of financial services. But they have also facilitated distortions such as money laundering and [...]
The FT has reported that:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said the disclosure about alleged tax evasion by German citizens through trusts based in Liechtenstein “highlights a much broader challenge in today’s globalised economy: how to respond to countries and territories that seek to profit from tax dodging by residents of other jurisdictions”.
I’ve said [...]
I note that Yahoo has reported that:
Two lawyers in Berlin on Tuesday brought criminal charges against German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck and intelligence agents for “embezzling” taxpayers’ money by allegedly buying a stolen computer disc containing confidential data from the whistle-blower.
They said the informant had “committed a serious crime under Liechtenstein law” by selling the [...]
There are 99 billion euros invested through Liechtenstein. According to the US Government’s 2007 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report. Volume 2, Liechtenstein’s has
- 16 banks, but the three largest banks account for slightly less than ninety percent of the market;
- three nonbank financial companies;
- 16 public investment companies;
- a number of insurance and reinsurance companies;
- [...]
