Are these events related? The European Savings Directive does not generate as much revenue as was expected; investigation into Barclays' offshore accounts reveals poor declaration of offshore accounts, and there is a strong increase in the amount of money being attracted into offshore life bonds.
First, let’s consider the European Savings Directive. Reported figures show that there was not as much tax revenue was collected as expected. In true Eurovision song contest style, the half-year figure was $100m from Switzerland, $48m from Luxembourg, $13m from Jersey, $9.7m from Belgium, $4.5m from Guernsey and $2.5m from Liechtenstein (according to Acuity Monthly bulletin, August 2006). Why? There are a number of possible explanations including money being moved to jurisdictions not covered by the ESD such as Hong Kong and Singapore. I hope it is because everyone, rather than having t...
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