Right time to be here, says Trott from USA
Wednesday 6th May 2009, 11:30AM BST.
CHIEF MINISTER Lyndon Trott said his visit to Washington was timely after US president Barack Obama announced a purge on offshore tax havens.
Earlier this week Mr Obama unveiled a crackdown on offshore tax avoidance by US companies in a move he claimed would raise $210bn dollars (£140bn) over 10 years.
Changes to the tax code are aimed at encouraging companies to invest in America.
Deputy Trott is currently visiting the American capital for a series of meetings with several senior tax advisers to key House and Senate members and other senior aides and opinion formers.
‘Many will already be aware that Guernsey is a well-regulated, internationally-compliant low tax jurisdiction and that we signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement with the USA in 2002 and have signed 12 more since with countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany and France and are negotiating with several others at present,’ said Deputy Trott from Washington.
‘Our longstanding commitment to transparency was recognised by the G20 last month when we were white-listed as a jurisdiction which has embraced internationally-accepted standards of transparency and cooperation. Our visit is timely as it will allow us to better understand the proposals announced by President Obama.’
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We can be as white as snow from a regulatory, transparency and secrecy perspective but if we are handling business in a way some big country doesn’t like, or if they don’t like our low tax rates, then the whiteness won’t help.
There have been many posts recently on this subject from people who point out that these corporate tax structures are perfectly legal etc. But if the US decides they don’t like them any more, however legal they may be, then ……
As an analogy, if a restaurant has modern kitchens, impeccable hygiene, excellent staff and value-for-money prices – but serves food of a style or culture that is not popular then it may not get much business.
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A more fitting example would be the online gambling industry.
The US decided it didn’t all that money leaving the country so made the use of offshore gambling sites illegal in the us.
The US tax regulation is so messed up and full of holes that no matter what they try to right into it there will still always be openings if people look hard enough
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And as a matter of course Trottski is bound to say his eeny teeny little bit.
Anything to cover up a waste of tax payers money
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