The Jersey Evening Post has reported:
JERSEY could be left vulnerable to being blacklisted as a ‘tax haven' by the EU as the UK's influence in Brussels fades during the Brexit process, a top adviser to the States has warned.
Speaking at an Institute of Law seminar on the implications of Brexit for Jersey, Colin Powell said that when Britain leaves the EU, the Island and the other Crown Dependencies could soon need to ‘bat for themselves' as offshore finance centres, as they will no longer be represented by the UK in Brussels.
Three immediate thoughts. First, the UK has been batting for its tax havens is the clear message. Second, it is clear it's stopped them being treated as tax havens by the EU. Third, what harm has it caused as a result?
And then a slightly longer term thought: the UK and its tax havens are not separate entities, as Colin Powell makes clear. In that case why won't the EU list the UK and its tax havens as a whole when the UK leaves Europe? I think the risk that it might is real.
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You can file this prospect under ‘Better Off Without Us’ then.
Probably the biggest issue I have with the MSM’s coverage of the pre- and post-Brexit debate is the (to my mind completely ungrounded) assumption that ‘our voice’ in Europe or ‘on the world stage’ is always a good thing. From the behind-the-scenes watering down of environmental, financial and tax regulations to the push for TTIP to the race-to-the-bottom opt-outs, the evidence for this is simply non-existent.
Why should the UK not bat for its tax havens while the Dutch and Germans continue to bat for theirs (Switzerland in the case of the Germans), and while the EU encourages the tax havenry of members such as Ireland, Luxembourg and Malta?
That’s rather like asking why shouldn’t the UK bat for its international criminals because other countries also have them
They may be criminals/tax havens but their OUR criminals/tax havens.
I don’t think anybody would expect the UK to bat for its international criminals, but I wasn’t aware that any country is batting for its international criminals, so I don’t think the comparison works.
You mean tax havens don’t knowingly facilitate crime by providing secrecy they could eliminate at a stroke of a pen?
Come on!