The tax haven scandal must end.

This afternoon, an international
task force will invade Jersey. A party of activists from Britain,
Italy, France and Ireland will land on the island and take control of
St Paul's centre in the capital St Helier, holding a public meeting
with local protest groups from 6.45pm. The following morning, there
will be a brief tour of a number of offshore bank subsidiaries before
the task force hands the island back to its inhabitants.The invasion plan is part of the ongoing campaign to highlight the damage done by tax havens to national economies. In the latest figures
published by the TUC, Jersey was identified as the number one centre
for tax dodging by individuals seeking to avoid payment of their UK
dues. It is also an important centre for corporate tax dodging. The big
four high street banks (RBS, Lloyds TSB, Barclays and HSBC) have 170 subsidiaries based in Jersey, making it the second most popular tax haven for banks behind the Cayman Islands.It is important to be aware of the full extent of the challenge posed by tax dodging, as much of the recent reporting
in the Guardian has focused on isolated aspects of the problem. When
tax avoidance, tax evasion and non-payment of declared taxes are added
together, the loss to the UK exchequer is estimated at a staggering
£100bn each year. Yet rather than boosting capacity to pursue this lost
revenue, the Labour government intends to close over 200 tax offices across the UK, with the loss of 25,000 jobs.With
pressure mounting, Jersey has now rushed to sign a tax information
sharing agreement with the UK, in the hope that it can escape being on
the blacklist of tax havens being drawn up in advance of next month's G20 summit. Gordon Brown, who has found himself increasingly out of step with world opinion on tax, has also been forced into a U-turn to avoid being isolated at the London summit. Despite his previous attempts to deflect attention onto Switzerland and other secretive jurisdictions, the prime minister has now been made to accept that the clean-up must start at home. Brown
is clearly vulnerable because of the central role that Britain plays in
facilitating corporate tax dodging. While the IMF has already named London
as an onshore tax haven, crown dependencies such as Jersey, Guernsey,
the Isle of Man and overseas British territories such as the Cayman
Islands, Bermuda and British Virgin Islands are all listed as "offshore
secrecy jurisdictions" in the new US legislation
against tax havens which is soon to be put before Congress. The draft
law, which is backed by President Obama, identifies these jurisdictions
from previous court cases as "probable locations for US tax evasion".The
impact of tax dodging on the economies of the rich world is bad enough.
For poorer countries, the consequences of corporations failing to pay
their dues is catastrophic. Estimates suggest that developing countries
lose up to £250bn
each year as a result of corporate tax dodging. This includes not just
the amounts tucked away into tax havens but also the sums lost to scams
such as transfer pricing,
where multinational corporations shift goods and services between
subsidiaries in various jurisdictions and fabricate charges in order to
avoid paying the tax due.The invasion of Jersey is the first of a number of actions planned in the run-up to the G20 summit, including the major national demonstration on Saturday 28 March and the activities in the City of London on Financial Fools' Day. As G20 finance ministers meet
in London this coming weekend, they must realise that fine words and
emergency stimulus packages are not enough to satisfy the call for
global justice. Decisive action to end the scandal of tax havens would
be a good place to start.




Oh dear will we be next?

they are apparently going to put the squeeze on us too.maybe they should sort out the bank accounts held in the uk from drugs etc and leave us alone

I can never get my head around some of the figure, other country's are loosing upto £250 billion a year.

how much are the so called tax havens getting between them, and what percentage of the tax haven money deposits are held in Guernsey.

I dont know what the actual figures are but

If only 1% then thats £2500m other countries loose because of us
If we we earning only 10% of what the other countries were loosing we would get £250m

Seems to me whatever the actual figures are, we are not getting enough out of it to justify what the other countries are loosing.

I agree!!!!!!

In response to your question Digger, I suspect the answer is a resounding "YES"!!

One of the main reasons for 0/10 was to encourage NEW Business, can anyone say what amount of NEW Business has come to the Island or NEW local companies set up since the introduction of 0/10 I can think of quite a few that have closed but cant think of many that started.

We tried - and the Environment dragged their feet (for 2+ years) - so we are going to take our business back to Australia!!!!

GFSC State no new banking licenses issued.

The Tax Haven Scandal Must End !

ABSOLUTELY........but

Guernsey is not a Tax haven. I would arue that it is in fact more transparent and better regulated than the City of London.

Why are our politicians sitting back and taking all this nonsense. They should be in the front line arguing that we DO NOT HAVE A CASE TO ANSWER.

Let G20 et all go look at carribean territories, Gibralter, Monaco, Andorra, Lichtenstein, SWITZERLAND and in case any US citizens are looking in, Delaware.

When I worked in Offshore Banking - Switzerland was the worst offender and I have no doubt they have not changed!!! They are now and always have been a law unto themselves.......I wonder how much 'stolen gold' they still harbour from the unfortunate Jewish people who were murdered in the war!!!!!! That would be a good place to start!!!! The world appears to be in awe of the Swiss and I for one cannot understand why except that they 'sat on the fence' in the war and remained neutral......and with Banking they appear to be pulling that one again.....