Combatting Offshore Tax Evasion After Brexit EmilDuvessa SondajBandeen, Han Juliette Bowen, Mark O’Brien, Will Melling and Zeki Dolen Emil Sondaj Hansen,
properly scrutinising their affairs.341 A change to this arrangement should include transferring the responsibility for the OTs to the Cabinet Office and allowing their affairs to be subject to any parliamentary select committees that have an interest.342 Assigning them to the Cabinet Office may make their administration a matter of domestic concern and increase the frequency of extension of UK legislation to the OTs. In addition, allowing other select committees to scrutinise their affairs may raise the profile of issues of tax evasion and money laundering in the national consciousness.
VI.
CONCLUSION
This paper has addressed the problem of tax evasion for the British government, analysed various efforts to combat it and proposed a series of recommendations that amount to an ambitious multilateral strategy. Brexit marks a particularly crucial juncture in British politics for considering new strategies on tax evasion, as it will no longer be tied to the EU’s unanimous decision-making process. The paper has argued that a British strategy on tax evasion must be based on multilateralism, reciprocity, transparency and privacy, as well as pay attention to the historical role played by Britain in the development of offshore.
Britain’s history shows that it has to be careful in overstepping boundaries with its OTs and CDs. Yet, it has to take seriously the problem of tax evasion in its geographic vicinity. It is therefore imperative that it aims to secure agreement with the CDs on extending SAMLA (2018) to them through Orders in Council. However, Britain’s history also offers opportunities. The paper has recommended considering the commonwealth as a forum to engage with taxation matters. It is crucial to ensure representation of smaller states, as the case of the early efforts of the OECD highlights.
341
ibid., 17.
342
House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Global Britain and the British Overseas Territories: Resetting the Relationship, 10–11.
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February 2021
