Tax Havens
Posted at 1:29am on Apr. 11, 2008 What Is The Single German Word For "Stories That Make You Wonder Whether People Are Sane"?
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development admits that tax competition will bring about "a tax mix that is better for growth."
Then it goes ahead and argues that we shouldn't have tax competition.
I'm all out of snark. Insert your own.
Posted in Bureaucratic Bungling | Economy | Tax Competition | Tax Havens — Comments (14)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 7:37pm on Mar. 1, 2008 In Praise Of Tax Havens
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
Yes, yes, I know; tax havens are a resource for the rich and a terribly unethical way of getting out of paying taxes, which we should all actually enjoy because giving lots and lots of our hard earned income to the State is the most delightful activity imagined by the human mind. Or something like that, according to the conventional talking points we are all supposed to spout in Pavlovian fashion.
Dan Mitchell--that fiendish, mischievous heretic--offers a different view, one that is likely to wreck the next bien pensant cocktail party if a guest there actually has the nerve to speak well of Mitchell's writings:
The German government's purchase of data stolen from a Liechtenstein bank has reinvigorated longstanding debates about privacy, law enforcement and international relations. Much of the fallout has followed predictable patterns. Some argue that Germany's richest citizens should be brought to justice for failing to comply with the tax laws, while others point out that it is unseemly for a nation to spy on a peaceful neighbor.
The conflict between Germany and Liechtenstein also has triggered a broader debate about tax competition and the role of so-called tax havens. The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is trying to use the imbroglio to resuscitate its initiative against tax competition. Willem Buiter, a professor at the London School of Economics, is using the issue to push an even more radical agenda: the forcible annexation -- by nations like Austria and France, under some unknown authority -- of jurisdictions such as Liechtenstein, Andorra and Monaco.
At best, these crusades against tax havens are misguided. At worst, they are an effort to create a tax cartel for the benefit of high-tax nations. This OPEC for politicians would mean higher tax rates for everyone and bigger government.
Wealthy tax evaders may not be sympathetic figures, especially to those of us who meekly comply with the law. But low-tax jurisdictions serve a valuable role in the world economy. Simply stated, they keep other governments honest. Globalization makes it easier for labor and capital to cross national borders, forcing governments to improve tax policy to keep the geese with the golden eggs from flying away.
The chutzpah! How dare Mitchell actually interfere with the sacred and holy mission of the exceedingly zealous tax collector with something as nettlesome, annoying, inconvenient and absurd as actual facts? How dare he seek to overturn the conventional wisdom? How could he be so unkind? After all, the State is your friend. Surely, you can give it your money.
We'd all better be careful. If the kind of critical thinking exercised by Mitchell catches on, we might end up actually implementing intelligent policies.
And boy, won't the Heavens fall when that happens.
Posted in Economy | Putting Tax Collectors Out Of Work | Tax Havens | Tax Policy — Comments (15)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 3:59am on Nov. 4, 2007 In Which Success Comes Under Siege
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
Tax havens make for extremely wealthy and prosperous jurisdictions, raise living standards and provide competition that has the effect of preventing high tax jurisdictions from raising their taxes to astronomical levels, lest obscene amounts of business is lost to those low tax jurisdictions.
So naturally, tax havens are under attack as criminal locales and instruments that would frustrate a supposedly "progressive" redistribution of wealth in which non-wealthy jurisdictions get to dictate policy to their wealthy counterparts and unfairly prosper at the expense of those wealthy jurisdictions.
Quelle surprise. Just imagine how much more life would make sense if success were admired and emulated instead of pilloried and scorned.
Posted in Economy | Free Market Competition | Tax Havens — Comments (2)/ Email this page » / Read More »
