A very interesting history and analysis of the OECD by Daniel J.
Mitchell of the Centre for Freedom and Prosperity.
Abstract:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has a campaign against tax competition – largely targeting so-called tax
havens. After being threatened with financial protectionism by the OECD, many low-tax jurisdictions made "commitments" to weaken their
attractive tax and privacy laws. But these nations and territories also stated that their commitments would be valid only if all OECD
nations agreed to the same flawed rules. Fortunately, this "level playing field" requirement does not exist. In its original form, the European Union's Savings Tax Directive might have satisfied that condition, but the EU failed to convince nations like Switzerland,
Luxembourg, and the United States to share confidential information about nonresident investors with foreign tax authorities. Nonetheless, the OECD is still using threats and extortion in an effort to bully low-tax jurisdictions into helping high-tax nations enforce their bad tax laws. In so doing, OECD officials are acting in a dishonorable
fashion. They failed to live up to their end of the bargain, but they still want low-tax jurisdictions to surrender their fiscal sovereignty and compromise their economic futures. Moreover, the OECD also is proposing discriminatory sanctions against blacklisted jurisdictions, a policy that is completely inconsistent with previous commitments to
impose uniform sanctions on all nations and territories with market-based tax laws. The OECD's anti-tax competition project has
always been fundamentally flawed, but it has degenerated into a sordid and discriminatory campaign to inhibit the development of poor nations to serve the narrow interests of rich countries.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
The full paper is here.
Mitchell of the Centre for Freedom and Prosperity.
Abstract:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has a campaign against tax competition – largely targeting so-called tax
havens. After being threatened with financial protectionism by the OECD, many low-tax jurisdictions made "commitments" to weaken their
attractive tax and privacy laws. But these nations and territories also stated that their commitments would be valid only if all OECD
nations agreed to the same flawed rules. Fortunately, this "level playing field" requirement does not exist. In its original form, the European Union's Savings Tax Directive might have satisfied that condition, but the EU failed to convince nations like Switzerland,
Luxembourg, and the United States to share confidential information about nonresident investors with foreign tax authorities. Nonetheless, the OECD is still using threats and extortion in an effort to bully low-tax jurisdictions into helping high-tax nations enforce their bad tax laws. In so doing, OECD officials are acting in a dishonorable
fashion. They failed to live up to their end of the bargain, but they still want low-tax jurisdictions to surrender their fiscal sovereignty and compromise their economic futures. Moreover, the OECD also is proposing discriminatory sanctions against blacklisted jurisdictions, a policy that is completely inconsistent with previous commitments to
impose uniform sanctions on all nations and territories with market-based tax laws. The OECD's anti-tax competition project has
always been fundamentally flawed, but it has degenerated into a sordid and discriminatory campaign to inhibit the development of poor nations to serve the narrow interests of rich countries.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
The full paper is here.
