Tackling Tax Havens in the US and EU. A Strategy of Not In My Backyard (NIMBY)

Abstract:

The question of how to tackle the problem of tax havens has never before been so pressing. In April 2009 a G20 communique announced the intention to take action against non-cooperative jurisdictions, proclaiming themselves to be, ‘ready to deploy sanctions to protect [their] public nances and financial systems’, and the, ‘era of banking secrecy is over.’ This coupled with the increasingly corrosive impact of tax avoidance and evasion on the tax bases of states that are negotiating the politics of austerity has proved fertile grounds for a plethora of policy debates and initiatives. While these policy debates and processes are nascent, numerous and now unfolding, this Brief seeks to take stock of the current direction of travel.