Gov pulls Finance Bill in the 11th hour to protect Tax Havens

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SirGalahad

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This is pretty outrageous. But this is what unfortunately the mess we are in now.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...avens-westminster-commons-hodge-a8806586.html

Ministers are under fire for postponing a bid to bring transparency to tax havensover fears the government faced a Commons defeat.

At the eleventh-hour, the Financial Services Bill was pulled from debate in the Commons after backbench MPs tabled a plan to force areas under UK jurisdiction to be more open about who owns assets held there.

It would have forced Britain's crown dependencies to create public registers of beneficial ownership - something the UK has already established.
 
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Billionaire tax-dodgers and multinationals don't like paying tax.

They have friends in government.

Never mind, the rest of us can pay a bit extra to make up for them.
 
You and Ellal should swap notes, you've both put 2 threads up about the same today :)
 
;)The bill has been delayed they were talking about this on the radio a little while back


2 of the posters are as per usual being economic with the actual Alaterre

Johnd the resident Corbyn cult member and sir Galahad;)
 
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transam said:
;)The bill has been delayed they were talking about this on the radio a little while back


2 of the posters are as per usual being economic with the actual Alaterre

Johnd the resident Corbyn cult member and sir Galahad;)
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Delayed. Lol so why was it pulled at the last minute yesterday?

The Amendments would mean greater transparency - I find it absurd when you get the average person defending tax havens and then complain when they pay too much tax.
 
SirGalahad said:
Delayed. Lol so why was it pulled at the last minute yesterday?

The Amendments would mean greater transparency - I find it absurd when you get the average person defending tax havens and then complain when they pay too much tax.
Click to expand...


As was said on the radio any said Bill may not have any legal standing in Guernsey or jersey

Technically or in practice they could ignore it

But as per usual make a mountain out of a mole hill
 
transam said:
Technically or in practice they could ignore it
Click to expand...

Or maybe not.

If they get blacklisted by the big banks under government orders from, say UK, US or EU, as a non-co-operative haven for tax-dodging gangsters, business could dry up.
 
https://www.ft.com/content/1edc25e6-3e75-11e9-9bee-efab61506f44

"Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man — which bristle at being associated with the likes of BVI — have lobbied vigorously against facing the same requirement, insisting they apply tight regulation and money laundering controls. The three say their system of keeping non-public registers of verified corporate ownership, but sharing information with governments and law enforcement authorities if wrongdoing is suspected, is sufficient. Campaign groups such as Global Witness argue the system has not prevented abuses, and public registers make it easier to analyse and spot suspicious activity.

It is right that the UK cannot generally legislate for territories without Westminster representation. But tackling dirty money and tax evasion requires, above all, cross-border co-operation to close down havens and legal loopholes. It is not unreasonable for the UK to expect territories and dependencies, whose citizens carry British passports and which come under a British umbrella for defence and foreign relations, to work with it and adopt common standards in cross-border initiatives. Financial centres can legitimately compete for business by offering low tax rates or non-intrusive regulation — but not through promising freedom from all scrutiny. If financial industries are built on anonymity, they will rightly disappear if secrecy over ownership is ended. If that is not their sole or main attribute, they will survive.

Ending anonymous ownership will require countries such as the US, which has weak disclosure requirements on beneficial ownership, to follow suit. But the more jurisdictions adopt public registers, the more those that lack them will find their image tarnished. The UK has positioned itself as a global leader, calling at an anti-corruption summit last October for a “critical mass” of countries to publish ownership. Showing leadership and dealing with its own dirty money issues, however, requires the UK to clean up its backyard. The government must find a way to persuade overseas territories and dependencies that adopting public registers is in their interests as financial centres."
 
Well its lucky we are leaving the EU:

Europe home to 6 of the globe’s top 10 tax havens, Ireland tops list

Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg
Switzerland has long been known as a tax haven, attracting foreign capital due to its friendly personal tax rates for foreigners and ironclad privacy laws. However, countries like the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg appearing on the list may raise some eyebrows. The questions raised will depend on the asker’s definition of a tax haven and whether it includes a competitive fiscal environment

the EU has attacked tax havens abroad by threatening to blacklist them (implement sanctions) unless they attempt to regulate the practice. On the blacklist are the Bahamas, US Virgin Islands, Dominica, Antigua, Barbuda and Trinidad and Tobago among others scattered around the globe.

However, with such revelations that the majority of tax havens are not just in Europe, but are also members of the EU, questions about ethics are beginning to be raised by countries that are not tax havens
 
transam said:
As was said on the radio any said Bill may not have any legal standing in Guernsey or jersey

Technically or in practice they could ignore it

But as per usual make a mountain out of a mole hill
Click to expand...

Ha. You bought the constitutional argument. The Gov can impose laws on CD. If you follow your argument it would mean the UK could never deal with the issue as the CD would just ignore it, if that was the case the law would have never come to parliament, but do carry on defending tax havens.
 
Notch7 said:
Well its lucky we are leaving the EU:

Europe home to 6 of the globe’s top 10 tax havens, Ireland tops list

Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg
Switzerland has long been known as a tax haven, attracting foreign capital due to its friendly personal tax rates for foreigners and ironclad privacy laws. However, countries like the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg appearing on the list may raise some eyebrows. The questions raised will depend on the asker’s definition of a tax haven and whether it includes a competitive fiscal environment

the EU has attacked tax havens abroad by threatening to blacklist them (implement sanctions) unless they attempt to regulate the practice. On the blacklist are the Bahamas, US Virgin Islands, Dominica, Antigua, Barbuda and Trinidad and Tobago among others scattered around the globe.

However, with such revelations that the majority of tax havens are not just in Europe, but are also members of the EU, questions about ethics are beginning to be raised by countries that are not tax havens
Click to expand...

https://www.consultancy.eu/news/164...he-globes-top-10-tax-havens-ireland-tops-list

For some, the definition of a tax haven is a ‘pure’ tax haven; a country or region where no tax is paid whatsoever, be it corporate finance, personal or otherwise e.g. the Cayman Islands. However, with a broader scope, that definition can include countries like Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Belgium, which all have comparatively low effective corporate tax rates.

The authors added that this form of tax evasion is unethical and not good for the European economy. European countries with higher taxes are also lowering their rates to become more competitive in this respect, effectively stealing income from one another, and the result is that the rate of corporate tax continues to drop. In this case, the beneficiaries are usually well-to-do shareholders and few others.


You make a good point but then that shows the EU doesn' set each countrys income tax rates and the only way to stop countries lowering their corp tax rates which only benefits shareholders is to work collectively on it. Which actually is an argument to be part of the EU. :mrgreen:
 
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