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Center for Freedom and Prosperity's Weekly Update 2) Rules Committee Chairman Dreier Comes Out Against OECD/EU "Information Exchange" Scheme 5) CSE Urges Treasury to Stop the OECD/EU information exchange initiatives 6) The American Spectator (June 2001), Laetitia's Lament – a must read article! 7) St. Louis Declaration in the News 8) Financial Times: "hostility of these libertarian lobbyists" 10) CFP News Clips 1) House Majority Whip DeLay condemns the OECD's and EU's information exchange initiatives, issues warning to OECD and Treasury. In a letter to the Treasury Secretary, Rep. Tom DeLay is "strongly opposed to the 'information exchange' tax initiatives being promoted by the European Union (EU) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). These assaults on financial privacy and due process legal protection are driven by a desire to thwart international tax competition." Link to Rep. DeLay's letter: Link to Rep. DeLay's web page: News Article: June 22, 2001, Tax-News.com, by Mike Godfrey, US House Majority Whip Enters Lists Against OECD
2) Rules Committee Chairman Dreier Comes Out Against OECD/EU "Information Exchange" Scheme Chairman of powerful House Rules Committee, California Representative David Dreier, urges Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill to reject "'information exchange' initiatives being pushed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU)." Rep. Dreier goes on to say that the OECD/EU plan is "[d]esigned to thwart tax competition, these initiatives would require government to collect private financial data and then share that data." Link to Rep. Dreier's letter: Link to Rep. Dreier's web page:
3) CFP's Quinlan and Heritage's Mitchell Testify Against the IRS's Effort to Make U.S. Banks Informers for Foreign Tax Collectors The Internal Revenue Service last week held a public hearing on a proposed regulation to require the reporting of bank deposit interest paid to nonresident aliens (REG – 126100-00). The Center for Freedom and Prosperity called for the withdrawal of the regulation. According to Andrew Quinlan, President of the Center, "The Center for Freedom and Prosperity views this initiative as a part of the international assault on tax competition, financial privacy and fiscal sovereignty. As such, we are opposing this regulation with the same intensity that we are bringing to the battle against the OECD and EU anti-tax competition and information exchange initiatives." Not one speaker at the hearing spoke in favor of the regulation. Dan Mitchell, senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, also condemned the IRS proposal. "The Treasury Department should withdraw this misguided, Clinton-era regulation. As witness after witness explained at the public hearing, reporting bank deposit interest paid to nonresident aliens will drive capital out of the U.S. economy and undermine the safety and soundness of financial institutions. Indeed, this proposed regulation is an abuse of the regulatory process since it attempts to circumvent existing law." Full press release and Quinlan's and Mitchell's testimony are linked below: Press Release: Quinlan's full testimony: Mitchell's full testimony: News Article: Bureau of National Affairs, By Myrna Zelaya-Quesada, Information Reporting IRS Urged to Re-Evaluate Reporting Demands On Banks in Proposal on Nonresident Aliens Leading conservative columnist and television pundit Robert Novak spoke out against the IRS's information sharing regulation on CNN's weekly political show "Capital Gang." Link below:
4) ATR Urges O'Neill to Dump OECD/EU's Information Exchange Scheme and the IRS's Proposed Information Exchange Regulation Well-known and respected conservative leader Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform, sent two letters to Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. The first letter urges Sec. O'Neill to "fight against indiscriminate "information exchange" schemes put forth by the OECD and EU. In the second letter Mr. Norquist urges Sec. O'Neill "to permanently withdrawal" the IRS's proposed regulation regarding the reporting of bank deposit interest paid to nonresident aliens. ATR is one of the country's most effective citizens lobby. ATR serves as a national clearinghouse for the grassroots taxpayers' movement by working with approximately 800 state and county level groups. ATR's OECD/UE information exchange letter: ATR's IRS regulation letter: USA Today Profile on ATR President Grover Norquist:
5) CSE Urges Treasury to Stop the OECD/EU information exchange initiatives Citizens for a Sound Economy's President Paul Beckner urges Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill to "reject the information exchange schemes being pushed by the OECD and the European Union." CSE believes that "[l]ow tax jurisdictions, including the United States, should not be under any obligation to help enforce the oppressive tax laws of other nations." CSE is one of the countries leading grassroots taxpayer groups with more than 250,000 members. Link to CSE's letter:
6) The American Spectator (June 2001), Laetitia's Lament – a must read article! "The most beautiful French woman alive sits in London avoiding taxes. There are two ways to get her back. One would plunge Europe even deeper into economic sclerosis. The other could make the Old
World the center of the New Economy. The decision will be made by Eurocrats in Brussels. Good Luck." Full article linked below:
7) St. Louis Declaration in the News Bureau of National Affairs, By Myrna Zelaya-Quesada, International Coalition Faults OECD, EU Efforts to Limit Tax Competition 8) Financial Times: "hostility of these libertarian lobbyists" The FT once again is missing the point (see article linked below). We are not in favor of tax evasion. Instead, the real question is how to deal with evasion. Should countries reform their tax codes and lower tax rates, as the Center urges? Or, should countries conspire to eliminate financial privacy to enforce oppressive tax laws on an extra-territorial basis? In reality, the FT, EU and OECD are the ones showing "hostility." In fact, "libertarian lobbyists" are having fun watching government bureaucrats from all over the world squirm. June 21, 2001, Financial Times, "Fight against tax evasion persists" EXTRAORDINARY ITEMS
9) Guest Paper: Dr. Gilbert NMO Morris and Padideh Tosti on "The Coming Anti-climax: Review of the OECD/FATF Initiatives" We have several papers from scholars from around the world on our web site. Periodically we will feature one of these articles. Today's selection is by Dr. Gilbert NMO Morris and Padideh Tosti on "The Coming Anti-climax: Review of the OECD/FATF Initiatives" "The Bahamas, and sundry other Off-shore Banking Centres (OBCs) will likely be removed from the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) "Blacklist" later this week. If that is so, it cannot be regarded as anything but a pyrrhic victory. Principally, removal from the list means only that the relative OBC has adopted the plethora of legislation which the FATF requires in its fight against money laundering. This means that the tireless efforts of a variety of groups highlighting the collateral effects of the OECD/FATF initiatives will have had little effect on policy. The Financial Times reports (June 18, 2001) that the OBCs are rolling over themselves to comply before the mid-summer deadline. The Bahamas – instead of leading the intellectual case for a more subtle approach - has become a member of the Egmont Group, having established a Financial Intelligence Unit – the objective of which is to provide financial intelligence. The U.S.'s attitude to all this is still unclear. After meeting with OECD officials this month - June 2001 – the Bush administration has given positive signals to both the OECD and those opposing its initiatives." Full paper linked below: 10) CFP News Clips June 26, 2001, The Washington Times, by Dan Mitchell, Vote that spooked Europe June 26, 2001, The Wall Street Journal Europe, International Commentary: Don't Blame Wim June 25, 2001, The Wall Street Journal Europe, International Commentary: Why I Voted Against Nice June 20, 2001, Daily Telegraph, By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, EU elite 'is building a superstate' [This email address may be too long for one line. Make sure to add back remaining web address to browser, Thank you.] June 26, 2001, Tax-News.com, By Jason Gorringe, As OECD Debates Tax Competition, Offshore Jurisdictions Wait Outside Link to International Tax and Investment Organisation's (ITIO) web site: June 22, 2001, Financial Times; By Michael Peel, SURVEY - PRIVATE BANKING: Havens make room for the mass affluent: OFFSHORE by Michael Peel: Once the enclave of the seriously wealthy,
offshore jurisdictions now cater for a wider, but still well-heeled clientele Jun 23, 2001, Financial Times, By Michael Peel, EUROPE: US 'failing to do enough' on financial crime Sunday June 24, 2001,The Observer, US in no hurry over rogue tax havens June 22, 2001, Bermuda Sun, Airing dirty laundry [This email address may be too long for one line. Make sure to add back remaining web address to browser, Thank you.]
Best regards, Andrew Quinlan
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