Guernsey's Chief Minister is out there pressing the flesh and persuading the world that we have sufficient disclosure agreements (13) to avoid being black listed as a tax haven.
According to him the OECD agree with him and the G20 summit should confer a 'white list' status on Guernsey. If he is right and Guernsey is differentiated from other less open jurisdictions the local economy will undoubtedly benefit big time. If he is wrong, his reputation and the island as a whole may sustain the most damaging assault since the days of Dutch subsidies brought about the decline of the tomato industry.
It's a high stakes game for Minister Lyndon Trott and the economy of these offshore islands.
Bob
Showing posts with label tax havens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tax havens. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Amazon Defies Obama and G20 on Tax Havens
Online retailer Amazon continues to legally evade paying tax to the UK and European Governments (i.e. people) by trading through an offshore operation in Jersey.
With President Obama and the G20 leaders determined to crack down on tax havens, this blatant avoidance of sales tax seems defiant to say the least. Perhaps Amazon can put forward a convincing argument for selling to the UK mainland from a small island 100 miles away from the closest customers with a tiny internal market and the associated shipping costs?
Amazon is exploiting a legal loophole called the 'de minimis' agreement, under which goods falling below an £18 threshold can be supplied without charging VAT.
This kind of operation will not help the Channel Islands' reputation one iota as they come under the increased scrutiny of governments around the world. Whilst any job losses associated with closure of this business will be much regretted, they hardly compare with those that will be lost in the finance sector if the islands fail to convince the world they are not a centre for tax avoidance.
Bob
With President Obama and the G20 leaders determined to crack down on tax havens, this blatant avoidance of sales tax seems defiant to say the least. Perhaps Amazon can put forward a convincing argument for selling to the UK mainland from a small island 100 miles away from the closest customers with a tiny internal market and the associated shipping costs?
Amazon is exploiting a legal loophole called the 'de minimis' agreement, under which goods falling below an £18 threshold can be supplied without charging VAT.
This kind of operation will not help the Channel Islands' reputation one iota as they come under the increased scrutiny of governments around the world. Whilst any job losses associated with closure of this business will be much regretted, they hardly compare with those that will be lost in the finance sector if the islands fail to convince the world they are not a centre for tax avoidance.
Bob
Friday, January 23, 2009
Too Taxing for Ken!
The ex Mayor has got it into his head that despite all of the efforts of the Inland Revenue, Guernsey and the other Channel Islands are depriving the UK Exchequer of huge amounts of tax revenues!
What seems to have alluded Ken is that the island, like the UK, is free to set its own regime and he doesn't seem to object to the wealthy foreign nationals who use the UK to avoid higher tax rates in their own countries.
It also seems to have escaped Ken's attention that Guernsey isn't part of the UK. The island gets no National Health Service, no UK pensions, no essential services, no voice in Government, nothing much at all in fact....unless of course you count defense and perhaps Ken can remind us what happened when we last needed that!
Bob
What seems to have alluded Ken is that the island, like the UK, is free to set its own regime and he doesn't seem to object to the wealthy foreign nationals who use the UK to avoid higher tax rates in their own countries.
It also seems to have escaped Ken's attention that Guernsey isn't part of the UK. The island gets no National Health Service, no UK pensions, no essential services, no voice in Government, nothing much at all in fact....unless of course you count defense and perhaps Ken can remind us what happened when we last needed that!
Bob
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