US Think Tank Lambasts OECD Global Tax Forum
by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels
09 June 2004

According to the free market think tank that Center for freedom and Prosperity, the OECD Global Forum on Taxation’s decision to stage the next meeting at the end of 2005 represents recognition by the Paris-based group that the 2006 target date for the implementation of its international tax law agenda is unattainable.

The Global Forum, which met in Berlin on June 3, brought together representatives of 44 OECD and non-OECD governments to discuss proposals developed jointly by representatives from Australia, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, France, Germany, Isle of Man, Japan, Jersey, Mauritius, Panama, Samoa, St. Kitts and Nevis, Seychelles and the United States.

CF&P President, Andrew Quinlan stated : "This concession is good news for tax competition, but the OECD has not given up in its effort to prop up high-tax welfare states”.

Quinlan described as “quite disturbing” the OECD’s apparent drawing up of a new ‘blacklist’ of nations which is said to include Hong Kong, Macao, Labuan and Singapore in addition to Andorra, Barbados, Brunei, Costa Rica, Dubai, Guatemala, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Philippines, and Uruguay.

Dan Mitchell of the Heritage Foundation who was present at the recent Berlin Tax Roundtable observed: "The OECD's anti-tax reform agenda is a threat to global prosperity, a scheme to promote higher tax rates and the discriminatory double-taxation of income that is saved and invested. The postponement of the 2006 deadline is good news, but the new blacklist shows that fiscal imperialism is alive and well."

The Center for Freedom and Prosperity co-sponsored the tax competition conference in Berlin, which took place June 2, 2004. Deliberately scheduled to occur the day before the OECD Global Forum, the conference featured 10 speakers who discussed the liberalizing impact of tax competition. Numerous delegates to the OECD Global Forum attended the Center's event.

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