George Osborne gave his mid term report on the Crown Dependencies today, saying:
British overseas territories "need to do more" to end tax evasion.
Asked about the future of tax havens such as Jersey or the Cayman Islands, he said he had already been very tough in his message to them but wanted to see more action.
"Of course you have to respect that many of these territories have important industries and we don't want to unnecessarily damage them.
"But it is necessary to collect tax that is owed and it is necessary to reduce tax avoidance and the crown dependencies and the overseas territories need to play their part in that drive and they need to do more."
All of which sounds like huff and puff to me: he doesn't want to harm the finance industry in these places but does want tax paid. The two goals can't be reconciled. Which one gets priority George?
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What about the UK itself as a tax haven for the film industry. Surely this tax competition is a race to the bottom and we should boycott the new Star Wars when it is out? Lucas Films UK will also fail to get the new TJN fair tax mark as the actual tax rate will be less that the prevailing UK rate. Surely we would be better off without this type of economic activity in the UK which deprives governments of tax revenues. Or is The Force With Us Yoda?
We constantly say the UK is a tax haven
He is just a politician who doesn’t want to choose now. But in times of systemic crisis, this will only turn to let others choose for himself, and he’s in position to loose any leadership.
Et pendant ce temps là , 400GB over 2M files tax havens accounts leaked, more than a magnitude over OffshoreLeaks, countries unite against tax dodgers and the whole english tax havens network… https://twitter.com/bruno_paul/status/333561769073197056