Travers: Miliband Is “Hopelessly Out Of Touch”

February 10, 2015

The chairman of the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange has accused UK Labour Party leader Ed Miliband of being “hopelessly out of touch in relation to international tax avoidance.”

Chairman Anthony Travers’ comments follow a letter from Mr Miliband to the leaders of Britain’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.

Mr Miliband’s letter was sent to British Overseas Territories – Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Gibraltar and Montserrat – and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.

The UK Opposition Leader said that within 6 months of the election of Labour government, Overseas Territories will be required to produce a publicly accessible central register of beneficial ownership.

“If any Overseas Territory or Crown Dependency does not meet this deadline, we will ask the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to put them on the OECD’s tax haven blacklist,” he said.

However, Cayman Islands Stock Exchange Chairman Anthony Travers said: “With his comments on the role of the Overseas Territories, Mr Miliband shows himself as more hopelessly out of touch in relation to international tax avoidance than in relation to domestic matters .

“In fact the Overseas Territories have maintained complete records on ultimate beneficial ownership to the international gold standard set by the OECD for over two decades.

“What quite the OECD would make of Mr Miliband’s threatened report given the OECD’s own verification on the subject and the Overseas Territories commitment to the OECD Automatic Reporting Standard is a matter for conjecture and possible further embarrassment.

“Nor, in the light of the unlimited powers to undertake investigation of these beneficial owners granted by the Overseas Territories to the IRS and HMRC by treaty, does his suggestion that the “authorities” have been hampered in undertaking tax investigations bear any relation to the reality.”

“OECD Secretary General Mr Angel Gurria has stated that companies cannot be blamed for taking advantage of lawful tax avoidance and indeed it is to domestic tax legislation on transfer pricing [ironically based on the OECD model] that Mr Miliband should look if he wishes to capture the ‘billions” to which he refers.”

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  1. Coffee says:

    Miliband if elected, could do exactly as he pleases , with the Queens blessings of course . Just like Fayhe did with the PRC to status decision .