Ethics and governance in the European Financial centers

Tax Justice Network has designed a very interesting dictionary of Offshore Obfuscation. It's currently a very short dictionary, but they will be adding to it over time.


"We are not a tax haven" actually means "We are a tax haven, but don’t tell anyone"
"We offer agile and flexible / 'light touch' regulation" actually means "We offer lax / complacent regulation"
"We respect privacy" actually means "We will turn a blind eye to your dirty money"
"Tax-friendly" actually means "Friendly for us, but probably not for you"
"This should be regulated elsewhere" actually means "This will be regulated nowhere"
"We maximise our tax efficiency" actually means "We avoid tax"
"No tax was due, so no tax was avoided" actually means "We dodged the tax, so it was not due"
"We manicured our tax affairs" actually means "We evaded our taxes"
"We use innovative tax planning" actually means "You paid your taxes? Sucker!"

The Telegraph has reported that the former Liechtenstein bank employee who sparked an international tax evasion probe after allegedly handing over stolen information on ex-clients is now wanted by Interpol himself.

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Ten years ago the OECD published its report on Harmful Tax Competition: An Emerging Global Issue. This was followed by a series of concrete measures designed to limit some forms of harmful tax competition, such as preferential regimes in OECD countries and offshore tax havens. The OECD initiative has met considerable resistance and in some ways has fallen short of its goals.

Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, from the University of Michigan - Law School, argues in a paper that it has been a worthwhile effort and has achieved some measure of success and outlines some future directions for the project.

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