Tax Haven clean-up hurts the Pacific
Updated
The international campaign to clean-up tax havens has put 3 Pacific Island Offshore Finance Centres out of business and has serious implicatons for those remaining in Samoa, Vanuatu and Cook Islands. That's the assessment of experts from the Pacific Legal Network - a Sydney-based legal firm with operations in 15 countries around the region.
Presenter: Jemima Garrett
Speaker: Kim Ralston, senior associate with the Sydney-based legal firm, the Pacific Legal Network
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It was more than a decade ago that the rich nations started to realise just how much of their tax-base was being lost as companies and high-wealth individuals joined a stampede to squirrel their money away in tax havens. Since then the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, has been leading a campaign to clean up the tax havens. 6 Pacific Island countries are on the OECD Tax Haven grey list.
An assessment just released by the Sydney-based Pacific Legal network says the OECD campaign has forced 3 of those countries, Niue, Nauru and Marshall Islands, to largely close down their offshore finance centres. The Network's Tax Haven expert, Kim Ralston, says there are also implications for Samoa, Vanuatu and Cook Islands.
Offshore Finance centres have been an important source of government revenue for Cook Islands, Samoa and Vanuatu. If those countries want to stay in the business they are going to have to get off the OECD's tax haven grey list - that means negotiating numerous complicated tax information exchange agreements.
