OECD & Tax Havens

[Chris Burford]

At 12/05/01 13:54 -0400, you wrote:
>Max Sawicky wrote:
>
>>The statement was utter demagogy.  The OECD initiative
>>is not about harmonization but about curbing tax evasion.
>
>Amity Schlaes had yet another of her mad columns in the Financial Times 
>arguing that tax havens are necessary to keep the tax maximizers at bay. 
>She says it's no accident that the thing was led by the French. Of course, 
>these clowns can't say that they & their friends would lose a lot of money 
>if tax havens were shut down, so they have to come up with some bogus 
>policy argument. And it's always nice to have an excuse to bash the 
>French, esp now that Camdessus is gone.
>
>Doug

I picked this up through the International Herald Tribune, which usefully 
extracts a slim amount of material from the US press of interest in Europe.

It recycled an article from the Washington Post (interesting in view of the 
comments Ian has about use of the Washington Times)

http://www.iht.com/articles/19707.htm

The connection with the Catholic Conference suggests that this is an issue 
where christian democracy is integral to the politics of Europe, but not to 
those of the US - and certainly not Bush.


>Opponents of the broader OECD effort said the effort to compel tax havens 
>to disclose more information would make it easier for all countries to 
>raise taxes.
>
>Frances Horner, who led the OECD initiative until December and is now with 
>the U.S. Catholic Conference, said Mr. O'Neill was wrong to assert that 
>the information-sharing provisions were too broad, arguing that they were 
>the same as those used by the United States in individual treaties.
>
>Ms. Horner also said the OECD was already moving to drop the requirement 
>that countries equalize tax rates on domestic and foreigners' accounts.
>
>"I'm not distraught about the substantive position," she said. "I'm 
>distraught at the process the United States has used. It makes it clear 
>they don't care what the response is."
>
>She added: "Diplomacy at least demands you try to put forward a sense that 
>you care. It's just another in-your-face kind of thing."

It is interesting that Ms Horner felt she could be that explicit without 
imperilling her new job.

I wonder what communication Frances Horner had with progressive democrats, 
if Max feels they were slow to react.

I note too that the US Catholic Conference site also has a statement 
against the McVeigh execution.

This is where we can see a distant connection between the struggle for 
ethical dominance and the struggle over the economic base.

http://www.nccbuscc.org/

Catholic organisations were valuable allies in the struggle against apartheid.

Despite the problems of their opposition to abortion and the pill (which 
may of course get modified after the present Pope's death) they may be 
useful allies in the present situation.

Even Bush may find his Amigo diplomacy can get outflanked.

Chris Burford
London