Independent UK: Europe vs the super-rich (EU declares war on tax havens)

[marmar]

EU declares war on tax havens


Europe vs the super-rich

By Sean O'Grady, Economics Editor
Tuesday, 4 March 2008


The European Union will declare war today on Liechtenstein, Monaco, Andorra and Switzerland. Weary of losing billions of tax euros, the EU's 27-strong high command of economics and finance ministers, Ecofin, is meeting in Brussels to agree a strategy aimed at bringing the continent's tax havens under control.

Their weapon of choice will be a strengthened version of the EU's 2005 savings tax directive, which has proved pathetically easy for armies of accountants, lawyers and specialist tax planners to outflank.

Urged on by Peer Steinbruck, the German Finance Minister, the new directive will seek to close the loopholes. Mr Steinbruck says tax evasion costs Germany about €30bn (£23bn) a year in lost revenue; the UK loses a similar sum; the EU may lose €100bn (£77bn) in all.

The stakes are high. But tax experts remain sceptical about the prospects for this new offensive. Mike Warburton, senior tax partner at Grant Thornton accountants, commented yesterday that, while he and his firm condemned tax evasion, which is illegal, "tax avoidance is the second oldest profession in the world, and just as difficult to control. The tax havens will survive. There are stacks of money out there. If they close down the ones in Europe, the money will move to Dubai and Singapore".

Such defeatism has not infected European governments and they are expanding their armouries. Berlin, in particular, has turned aggressive. The BND, the German intelligence service paid about €4m to a former employee of LGT, Liechtenstein's biggest bank, for a list of some 900 German tax avoiders, the most high profile being Klaus Zumwinkel, chief executive of Deutsche Post, who resigned after he was rumbled. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/europe-vs-the-superrich-790863.html

[rockymountaindem]

1. I hope the Grover Norquist types are watching

Maybe this will be the end of the "oh noes! If we raise taxes all the rich people will move away!!!" line. Oh, who am I kidding...

[krkaufman]

3. Hell, I hope Hillary, Barack, JE and every other Dem is watching ...

... and taking notes. It's high time we did the same.

[DCKit]

5. Hell no x2. Let's hope the "Deepthroat" types are listening.

A couple of hard drives with the right batch of WH emails dropped in the right mailbox and it's all over for DickieGeorge. Surely there are a couple of patriots left in gubmint and in positions where they have access to the kind of information that could bring down the malAdministration.

[krkaufman]

6. Yeah, I like how the German prosecutors paid-off some insiders ...

... to get the names of tax cheats. (Of course, it's gonna require a total overhaul of the Justice Department for this sort of prosecution to go forward -- or even start.)

[Warpy]

4. They're already grabbing their ill gotten gains and moving away

Check out Roatan Island for one of the destinations. They think as long as they've got a wire to their bank in the Caymans they'll be set for life.

My own guess is that the banks in the Caymans are among the least solvent institutions in the world considering how deeply tied into the 9000 trust funds registered there they are.

[whistle]

2. That is great news, will they expose those who profit from such tax free havens?

...Will they freeze their assets or take other actions that make the use of such havens unworkable?