This Is Guernsey

By Thom Ogier

GUERNSEY is ready to confront those who label it a tax haven, according to the Guernsey International Business Association.

Vice-chairman Paul Meader said he was tired of seeing the island being mentioned alongside harmful jurisdictions after UK politicians and the Tax Justice Network suggested it could be included on a new blacklist before the G20 economic summit.

‘If the UK wants to investigate offshore centres, then we say bring it on.

‘We see it as a great opportunity to differentiate between those that are not playing by the rules and international standards and those, like us, that are,’ he said.

Mr Meader (pictured) demanded respect for the island’s system, which he said met international standards that many larger centres did not.

‘We are tired of getting lumped in with everyone else when we are demonstrably in the first tier of financial centres,’ he said.

‘We meet, or more usually exceed, international standards in almost every respect, something lacking in many other centres, including so-called mature onshore financial centres.’

He said Guernsey must be ready to face criticism.

‘We have little to fear from a balanced, open-minded approach to the elimination of tax evasion and poor regulation.

‘The worry, of course, is that the international community will be neither balanced nor open-minded.

‘However, we must be prepared to be proactive and spread the message that Guernsey is better.’

He believed some people would never stop using the tax haven label.

‘For the more responsible politicians and media, the real debate should be about cooperative versus non-cooperative financial centres whether they are onshore or offshore,’ he said.

‘You will then find that Guernsey falls squarely into the cooperative category and as such we want the respect we think we have earned for what we have done to become transparent and eliminate tax evasion and we want to be treated fairly by the international community in consequence.’

He said UK G20 envoy Lord Malloch-Brown had hit the nail on the head and urged those pointing the finger at the islands to consider his comments.

‘It is good to see that he recognises that the economic problems did not stem from offshore finance centres but from the sub-prime mortgages debacle in the US,’ he said.

‘We would therefore urge those looking to use offshore centres as a scapegoat to focus instead on where the real problems lie.’

Article posted on 13th March, 2009 - 2.30pm