Onshore secrecy versus offshore transparency

(STEP.org): In the wake of the London G20 Summit leaders on both sides of the Atlantic have denounced ‘tax havens’. Despite the lack of an obvious link to the current economic crisis, ‘tax havens’ are said to undermine global financial transparency and stability while facilitating a range of criminal activities. The crux of the issue is information, or the extent to which actors and transactions can be cloaked in a veil of financial secrecy. But contrary to conventional wisdom, it seems that OECD countries are far worse offenders in relation to global standards mandating financial transparency than the small countries usually labelled as ‘tax havens’.

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