guardian.co.uk, TheObserver, Daniel Boffey, policy editor, Sunday 15 January 2012
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| The Channel islands are among the areas Ed Miliband has demanded reveal the identities of tax evaders on the islands. Photograph: Travel Ink/Getty/Gallo Images |
Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, is to demand that the government forces Jersey,
Guernsey and the Isle of Man to reveal the identity of British tax evaders with
money hidden on the islands.
The tax
havens, which are crown dependencies, are costing the government billions every
year as the rich protect their money from Revenue and Customs probes through
front companies and trusts.
Miliband
will this week call for negotiations to begin with the governments on the three
islands. He will also demand ministers follow up the talks with threats to
shame the islands on the international stage by placing them on a globally
recognised blacklist drawn up the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD)..
The move is
part of the Labour leader's attempt to define himself as the foremost
campaigner in British politics against the excesses of capitalism. He will
claim that every £1m raised by his policy on tax havens is equivalent to a
year's salary for 50 newly qualified teachers.
UK
residents with money abroad are required to pay tax in Britain on the income
they receive, but many do not declare that they have money stashed away.
Jersey, Guernsey
and the Isle of Man have not been co-operating with UK authorities' requests
for the identity of people with money on the islands. Richard Murphy, of Tax
Research UK, said the country could recoup £2.4bn.
The OECD
has previously been criticised for not blacklisting the three islands amid
speculation that the explanation was their status as UK-owned. The US state of
Delaware is also not on the list despite its lack of co-operation with tax
officials. The G20 countries have threatened the use of sanctions against OECD-
blacklisted tax havens that have not lived up to demanded levels of
transparency.
Potential
sanctions for transgressors include extra audits of those who are found to use
tax havens and curbs on tax deductions claimed by businesses using the
territories. Such sanctions would be hugely damaging to Guernsey, the Isle of
Man and Jersey, which would be concerned that the super-rich on the islands
would take their wealth elsewhere.
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