Evidence continues to accumulate indicating that tax havens (as they are familiarly called) account for a staggering multi-trillion-dollar loss of tax revenues worldwide. Yet, as this crucially important book shows, such offshore financial centres (OFCs) represent merely the 'low-hanging fruit' of a massive malaise reaching into every corner of today's global financial services landscape with the so-called New York-London axis at its root.
In a biting critique and analysis of the tax and regulatory environments from which OFCs operate, the author demonstrates that OFC-like features exist in almost every jurisdiction as a virtually inevitable outcome of the transformation of economies worldwide over the past three decades, as nations and economic blocs compete for foreign investments, and as nations seek expansion of markets to accelerate growth. Covered aspects of this phenomenon include the following:
With its insights into why OFCs persist despite tightening of the rules regarding tax and financial transparency, and its insistence that the blameworthiness of large-scale tax avoidance should be assessed as a global tax problem requiring coordinated and collaborative response from both developing and advanced economies, this book takes a giant step towards genuine international tax reform. It will prove of enormous value to financial institutions, multinational corporations, tax experts, and lawmakers seeking to mend a world increasingly troubled by illicit financial flows, and problems posed by large individual and corporate tax escape artists.
Disclaimer: This title is in pre-production and any names, credits or associations are subject to change. The current table of contents and subject matter is for pre-release sample purposes only.