Prime Minister David
Cameron of Britain with President Obama in Lough
Erne, Northern Ireland. Will
the world's leading industrialized countries
finally put an end to tax
havens, where the world's wealthiest people hide
their money? Perhaps ...
G-8 Seems Ready to Turn Screws on Apples and Amazons of World
(La Republique, France)
"Undoubtedly, much can happen between now and the launch of
this new global fiscal regulation, and it is maddening to see the delay, when
one imagines the colossal sums being amassed by those benefiting from sheltering
themselves from national taxation."
Budgetary discipline can be a good counselor.
All major industrial nations are facing a crisis in public finances. This is to
varying degrees, to be sure, but the primary concern these governments share,
whatever their political stripe, is the need to replenish their coffers by
waging war against fraud and tax evasion.
The G8, held over the past two days in Northern
Ireland at the invitation of the British, resulted in a firm commitment in that
direction, and decisions that were less so. Although a unanimous agreement to share
fiscal information among governments has been reached, it stopped short of the
exchange of bank data, which remains a necessity for tracking down dirty or
"grey" money in circulation.
Similarly, two indispensable measures for identifying
the beneficiaries of shell companies and "trustees"- an opaque system that allows tax havens to escape
taxation and inheritance fees - were again subsumed to national regulation. In
this regard, we should note that Britain's David Cameron, a conservative, has been
more proactive that U.S. Democrat Barack Obama, which has less to do with
ideology than with the interests of their respective financial markets.
Posted By
Worldmeets.US
On the other hand, the G8 came together to
express a desire to impose a "common model" of taxation on new
economic giants like Google, Apple, Amazon and Starbucks, who have reached such
a level of financial sophistication that they pay laughably low taxes on their revenue.
This time, everyone has agreed to act because everyone loses, at least the
"biggest ones," because these companies manage to scatter their
profits among smaller, fiscally-friendly countries.
Undoubtedly, much can happen between now and
the launch of this new global fiscal regulation, and it is maddening to see the
delay, when one imagines the colossal sums being amassed by those benefiting
from sheltering themselves from national taxation. But at least, in the search
for more reliable and sustainable revenue streams, this is a promising start for
a turn of the screw that may have the merit of instilling volatility into the
world of "tax optimization."
Still, it is ever so delectable to hear David
Cameron express the hope that "those who want to evade taxes will have
nowhere to hide." Even Prime Minister Jean-Claude Ayrault has taken off the gloves, inviting French
fiscal exiles to get their houses in order as quickly as possible.
