Maya Forstater

Open registers to prove beneficial ownership in the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies but also to penalise HMRC if it fails to act incl. in pursuing the freezing of assets. The UK loses billions every year due to lack of transparency. #taxhavens #tax

I agree with open registers but don’t expect much in the way of revenue. Where are you getting your figures from?

National Bureau of Economic Research and OECD. It is estimated that the equivalent of 10 per cent of the global GDP is now being held in tax havens with a significant proportion of those funds attributed to the UK, its territories and Europe.

There is considerable current data and analysis held by those two bodies and also the IMF in respect of the value and flow of untaxed revenues/dirty money by region, with hidden untaxed wealth in the trillions. Worth putting your nose in.

I am familiar with the literature. The question isn't how much untaxed wealth there is, it's how much will be collected by open registers in the OTs (when other tax havens won't have them). In the absence of any actual calculation or evidence, any figure is pure guesswork.

I think what you're objecting to is the principle of transparency, based on an argument that the precise value of tax evasion via tax havens cannot be accurately assessed. That is no reason to object to open registers being the starting point of trace and recovery for HMRC.

I am not objecting to open registers, I am in favour of them. I am objecting to the use of figures that are pure guesswork, and don't take into account either CRS or rational responses by tax evaders.

I suggest you raise an objection to the current analysis and estimates with IMF, OECD and the NBER in the alternative as it is a circular argument otherwise.