Combatting Offshore Tax Evasion After Brexit EmilDuvessa SondajBandeen, Han Juliette Bowen, Mark O’Brien, Will Melling and Zeki Dolen Emil Sondaj Hansen,
However, these normative arguments gained considerable traction within the OECD not merely because of the power of the business lobby. As Webb writes: ‘as an institution that achieves influence largely by promoting normative consensus and voluntary cooperation, the OECD may be particularly subject to pressures to behave appropriately’.168
It was this combination of international, OECD norms, and external material power, that also led to the great influence of the US, and specifically of the Bush administration, in watering down the OECD’s efforts against tax evasion. Although the US also expressed sympathy for tax havens’ arguments about fairness and similar issues, Webb points out that ‘even the fact that all of the arguments were measured against liberal economic theory attests to the power of the advanced capitalist countries (and especially the US) in shaping the terms of international economic discourse’.169
The example of the OECD shows that the composition of an organisation and its international reputation can be highly significant in efforts to tackle tax evasion. If it was the OECD’s standing in the world, both economic and diplomatic, that allowed it to be somewhat effective in the early years of its engagement with the issue, its normative basis also prevented it from taking stronger action when required. Nonetheless, the influence of the business lobby and of the US also shows that normative arguments only hold sway if they are supported by material and ideological might. In sum, then, a combination of internal and external factors led to the limited success of the OECD in combating tax evasion between 1998-2002.
III.II THE CONTEMPORARY EFFORTS OF THE OECD
Following the initial ‘early efforts’ of the OECD, there became a renewed focus to curb international tax evasion following the 2008 financial crisis. This included the USA’s adoption
168 169
ibid. 821. ibid. 809.
The Wilberforce Society Cambridge, UK
www.thewilberforcesociety.co.uk
52
February 2021
