The States of Jersey has released a letter from United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown which urges the Crown Dependencies to put 'clear water' between themselves and those territories which have done the bare minimum to meet international standards on tax transparency.
While fully supporting the efforts already made by many of the UK's offshore territories in meeting the OECD's target of signing 12 Tax and Information Exchange Agreements, Brown's letter, addressed to Chief Minister Terry Le Sueur, stressed the importance for the Crown Dependencies (Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man) - all of which appear on the OECD 'white list' - to "set the pace" in the process.
"Recent developments have underlined the importance of embracing international standards on tax transparency," Brown's letter began. The letter continued:
"I fully support the current initiatives and believe it is strongly in the interests of all jurisdictions - including the Crown Dependencies - to meet these international standards."
"This standard should be seen as an indicator of commitment to the principle of tax transparency. I think it is particularly important that the Crown Dependencies continue to set the pace in this process and put clear water between themselves and those jurisdiction which only just meet the international standard. If genuine progress in agreeing, implementing and abiding by these agreements does not continue to be made I will encourage the G20 to look at the issue again until all abide by the highest standards."
"Similarly, as all international efforts on harmful tax practices start to refocus on the issue of tax avoidance, it will be vital to the interests of the Crown Dependencies that they can readily meet the new international standards which emerge."
Brown concluded that the Foot Review of UK offshore territories, due to be published on April 22, will provide "support for the Crown Dependencies on these matters" over the coming months.
A comprehensive report in our Intelligence Report series examining offshore confidentiality is available in the Lowtax Library at http://www.lowtaxlibrary.com/asp/subs_reports.asp and a description of the report can be seen at http://www.lowtaxlibrary.com/asp/description_report1.asp
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