US Treasury Claims Credit For Tax Haven Agreements

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

22 April 2002

In a statement released last Thursday, US Treasury Secretary, Paul O'Neill claimed that the OECD's success in reducing the number of countries on its 'uncooperative tax havens' blacklist from thirty-five down to seven was due almost entirely to US efforts.

'I am glad to see our efforts last spring to refocus the OECD project on information exchange and transparency have led to these results. I applaud these countries for coming forward to make a commitment to improve their tax information exchange and transparency policies,' he announced.

At the beginning of last year, the Bush administration claimed that the OECD's remit had become too broad, and that the body was attempting to impose effective tax harmonisation. Although the OECD rebuffed the US Treasury's suggestion, the project was subsequently narrowed to achieving effective exchange of information, and the elimination of 'harmful tax practices'.

The US Government claimed last week that of the 28 jurisdictions on the original blacklist which have now reached an agreement with the international body, 24 signed up to the initiative after it was refocused.

However, the United States has also come under fire over the issue of tax information exchange. In the summer of 2001, the Treasury embarked on an effort to obtain bilateral agreements with individual countries, a move which some argued gave blacklisted countries less incentive to sign up to the OECD effort.

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