Ethics and governance in the European Financial centers

The Spiegel has reported that Germany becomes tax haven for firms and wealthy.

A completely legal tax avoidance industry is flourishing right in Germany. It is an industry that thrives on the mistakes made by ministries and the parliament in drawing up tax legislation: millionaires and corporations use aggressive tax models to make themselves appear to be artificially poor, which is completely legal.

Germany is a tax haven for large companies," says Wiesbaden-based economist Lorenz Jarass quoted by the Spiegel. "People with normal incomes are being robbed.

Germany qualified in the “white list” in April.

So did France where there are similar advantages (les “niches”)

This is the reason why the no or nominal tax criterion is not sufficient, by itself, to result in characterisation as a tax haven.

The three other factors to be considered are:  

- Whether there is a lack of transparency

- Whether there are laws or administrative practices that prevent the effective exchange of information for tax purposes with other governments on taxpayers benefiting from the no or nominal taxation.

- Whether there is an absence of a requirement that the activity be substantial

This is the difference between France and Germany and other jurisdictions, that are actual tax havens where controls are perfectible despite a so-called regulation and above all where freedom of expression on issues does not exist.

Neither in France nor in Germany, would NGOs be blocked and threaten in their financing for reporting issues, as they were in Luxembourg.