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Center for Freedom and Prosperity's Weekly Update 1) CFP in Panama
The Center for Freedom and Prosperity just completed a successful 5 day visit to Panama. Panama is one of the 35 regimes on the original OECD list of low-tax countries. Indeed, Panama has the unfortunate distinction of being on all three of the international blacklists (OECD, FATF and FSB). CFP was invited to participate in the First Forum on Competitiveness of Panama's Service Export Industry. The forum was very successful with more than 100 participants. During our trip, we met with senior government officials, top business leaders, local and international reporters, as well as average Panamanian citizens. Dan Mitchell of the Heritage Foundation and Mark Warner of Hughes Hubbard & Reed joined me with local speakers at the forum. Dan spoke on why tax competition is important and why the OECD project is misguided, Mark, a former OECD top trade lawyer, said the blacklist of tax havens was discriminatory under World Trade Organization rules, and I discussed the activities of the Center. Our remarks were received with much applause (see FT articles above and below). The Center also meet with the Panamanian Business Association (sponsors of our trip) and the International Lawyers Association which is made up the 15 largest Panamanian firms including Morgan & Morgan, Sucre Arias & Reyes, Mossack Fonseca, Arosemena Noriega & Contreras, and Aleman Cordero Galindo & Lee. Next week we will share with you the local stories of our visit (they are being translated as I write this update). Financial Times Story: OECD meets the XFL Financial Times Story: Acting on OECD list 'against law'
The Center for Freedom and Prosperity is scheduling a tax competition/financial privacy forum in Paris in two weeks. In our continuing efforts to make sure both side are represented in this debate, CFP will be hosting a forum prior to March 1 & 2 OECD/non-OECD task force meeting,. (place and time to be announced). We plan on bringing an international delegation of experts on tax competition, financial privacy and fiscal sovereignty. Almost certainly, this will be the first major tax competition forum to be held on "enemy" territory since the OECD's initiative was introduced. Since this will be the first open discussion on the matter in Paris, we will invite officials of the OECD to participate in the event. If you would like to attend the forum please contact us at FYI: I will be arriving in Paris Tuesday morning (2/27/01) and will be available for meetings or press calls throughout the week. UPDATE: I had planned on going to the Tokyo regional OECD meeting starting today. After discussing this with many of our friends, we decided to have colleagues from the region keep an eye on things and supply us with a report for our next update. This strategy turned out to be sound, since we are now focusing our limited resources on our Paris forum and the OECD's task force meeting.
3) Make sure you contact the IRS with your disapproval of their new regulation [Reminder] The Center for Freedom and Prosperity has criticized a proposed IRS regulation that would require US financial institutions to report interest income received by nonresident aliens to foreign governments. Andrew Quinlan, the Center's President, condemned the agency, noting that, "Major changes in tax policy should be decided by elected officials, not bureaucrats seeking to advance an ideological agenda of worldwide taxation based on information exchange." (Full Story) The Center is encouraging concerned individuals to register their disapproval during the public comment period. This can be done through the IRS website at: Here is the IRS's description of what they are doing: The Dan Mitchell op-ed that was highlighted two weeks ago appeared in the Washington Times, and was appropriately entitled, "IRS stealth attack on the economy?" This editorial largely focused on the QI regulations, but also criticized the IRS's new regulation on bank deposit interest. "What's the greatest threat to our economy? Is it that interest rates or income taxes are too high? That Americans are saving too little? That federal lawmakers have a talent for spending budget surpluses? Good guesses, all — but the answer may turn out to be the Internal Revenue Service. Why? Because the IRS has two new regulations that are going to scare away a lot of overseas investors. And the United States benefits enormously from foreign investment. (Full Op-ed)
4) Last weeks article praising President Reagan relied on a temporary link. I apologize for the mix-up. I have put it on our site and you can find it at
5) This is the hell that the OECD wants to bring to the rest of the world. Ireland is being condemned by the rest of Europe for having tax rates that are too low and growth that is too high. Fortunately, Irish leaders are resisting this attack on their sovereignty. To find out more, we attached the following two article from the Wall Street Journal Europe and Wall Street Journal, respectively. The Trouble Is With Europe, Not Ireland Review & Outlook: Green With Envy 6) Guest Article: Dr. Gilbert Morris' "Reflections on the Bahamas Blacklist Strategy" Following is a commentary by Dr. Gilbert Morris that was sent to us yesterday by Rick Lowe of the Institute for Economic Freedom in the Bahamas Dr. Morris, of the Security Policy Group International of George Mason University, explains that the OECD/FATF cabal will never be satisfied until they have destroyed the rule of law and turned sovereign nations into vassal tax collectors. ". . . Many Bahamians complain to me that they figure the Bahamas government's policy on the Blacklist is wrong. But "how", they ask, could the Bahamas have resisted the demands of powerful countries? This
leads to the last point in creating pre-text: Know your enemy! The FATF is not a direct representative of any country. And many governments in larger countries do not consider their authority final. This means that
a clever leader could have exploited this limit in FATF authority to protect its own interests. . ." Kind regards, Andrew Quinlan
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