"We need a kind of COP to put an end to tax havens"

• Tax havens are doing well, thank you for them.

  While many States are showing their desire to eradicate these gray areas, Renaud Van Ruymbeke, a former examining magistrate, draws up an implacable observation: tax havens have never prospered so much.

• In his book

  Offshore: Behind the Edifying Scenes of Tax Havens

  , he discusses this global inertia at length and calls for international cooperation.

• An alliance between States which promises to be difficult but increasingly necessary, even inevitable, according to Renaud Van Ruymbeke.

  Maintenance

Luxembourg, Panama, Qatar, Ireland, Cayman Island, Switzerland… In the midst of the Football World Cup, there would also be enough to organize a competition between tax havens as the list of countries seems long and the problem insoluble.

An observation that draws up as much as he deplores Renaud Van Ruymbeke, former examining magistrate, in his book

(The links that liberate, 2022).

After the quick question on the definition of a tax haven - "a country where you pay very little or no tax, which has very strong banking secrecy and from which it is very difficult to obtain information", he explains -, he returns for

to the current inaction and the importance of global cooperation. 

In 2009, Nicolas Sarkozy, then president, announced:

“

”

There is no clear political will to eradicate tax havens, and a number of countries have no interest in doing so.

We can cite dictatorships, which make embezzlement and corruption a basis of their power.

Russia or China thus enrich themselves on the backs of their people.

Others have made their tax advantage a major part of their profit and appeal.

Examples include Luxembourg, Switzerland, Ireland or Cyprus.

They too have no interest in moving.

But many countries would benefit from acting...

This inertia is absolutely incomprehensible at a time when states have to deal with a lot of public spending to finance hospitals, the energy transition... States are posting gigantic deficits but are not going to collect this money at their doorstep.

Economists estimate the value of hidden assets at $8.7 trillion, which is potentially an underestimate.

It will not be easy to recover this money, but will become necessary.

There should be an international political approach. 

There is no geographic area to deal with in particular, tax havens are everywhere, and it will take the cooperation of almost all Nations to eradicate them.

If only one part is attacked, the assets will just be transferred to other tax havens.

Countries like France or Germany, stripped of their wealth, could launch a major international movement and organize a sort of fiscal COP.

The tax fight has that carried out for ecology?

Taxation has this similarity with the environment that there are many intentions, fine speeches, but that the actions are quite insufficient.

Measures have been taken, by the G9 or the OECD, but this is not enough.

Just as CO2 emissions hit an all-time high in 2021 despite all the talk of the climate emergency, tax havens are thriving.

We are even starting further because for tax havens, we are still at the awareness stage.

Don't citizens realize the problem? 

They more or less know it exists, but it's abstract.

They don't know how it works, how much money is lost, what should be done.

We need to bring this information to citizens, and they will push for change.

To treat a patient, you need a diagnosis before moving on to treatment.

We are still in the diagnosis.

The day when citizens will be fully aware of this problem, politicians will really start to move.

It is enough to see some resounding cases, like that of Jérôme Cahuzac, to see that the subject is extremely sensitive, and therefore promising.

If there's one thing that people can't stand, it's injustice, especially tax injustice.

The principle of equality is flouted by the powerful.

Even if the European Union became the spearhead of such a movement, China or the Bahamas could reply "You are not credible with Luxembourg or Cyprus in your ranks"...

If we want the European Union to be the driving force behind this cooperation, we will first have to clean things up, whether in Luxembourg, Cyprus or Ireland.

These countries take advantage of the unanimity rule by voting “no” and escaping regulation.

Each "camp" cannot constantly pass the buck, we must learn to show our credentials and forget our personal interests.

For Luxembourg or Switzerland, being a tax haven goes beyond a simple profit, it is practically in their identity, not to mention that it represents an important

Of course they have no interest in losing their tax haven status, but in any global upheaval there are losers.

If the despoiled Nations do not put pressure, these countries will not sacrifice themselves.

It is not totally denying their identity either: Switzerland or Luxembourg do not only brew dirty money, they also set up very good business with clean money, and will keep their know-how.

And again, Luxembourg, Ireland or Switzerland, which are geopolitically dwarfs, should be able to be constrained with the will.

It will be harder for Russia or China, or even Doha and the petro-monarchies, with whom we have strong economic ties.

All this lends to pessimism about this fiscal COP...

I think one day things will change.

Look at how young people are concerned, climate activists, with an international vision.

This will be the same for tax havens.

The world is changing fast, especially as the next generation, more politicized, will have to overcome the repayment of considerable debts, in particular in repercussions of the coronavirus.

They will not be shy about demanding accountability from tax havens.

The case is not lost.

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• Economy

• tax evasion

• Tax heavens

• Misappropriation of public funds

• Silver

• Renaud Van Ruymbeke