European Disunion
The purpose of the European Union, founded formally in 1993 by the Maastricht Treaty, was to bring together the nations of Europe in common purpose and, one assumes. to better the lot of the people who live in the 27 associated countries. Inherently such a goal should not to increase the tax burden on EU citizens. But as with too many "good ideas" the goals of the elite group that promotes and manages the EU always have believed that they know better than the 500 million people they oversee. In 2004 the insiders at the EU came up with a "constitution" so at variance with what average Europeans thought that it was overwhelmingly rejected by national votes in the Netherlands and France. With the prospect of further popular rejections, attempts at ratification ended. But the Brussels bureaucrats' attitude was "to Hell with the voters." In October 2007 EU leaders did an end run and finalized a new Treaty of Lisbon which contains much of the rejected constitution, without allowing popular votes on it in individual nations. So much for democracy in the EU. Hated Tax Havens One of the leading policy demands of the EU elite has been to standardize taxes, both individual income taxes and corporate taxes. What this really means is a continuing demand from the EU socialist welfare states, such as Germany and France, for higher taxes everywhere in Europe. The high-tax EU leaders have joined with the Organization for Economic and Community Development (OECD), a paid lobbying group for higher taxes and more government spending, in attacking so-called "tax havens," those jurisdictions that impose no or low taxes on foreign capital and investors. Among the spurious anti-tax haven arguments used by the EU and the OECD is that tax havens dare to have laws that guarantee banking secrecy and financial privacy. This allows, the EU claims, criminals and drug lords to hide their ill gotten gains by "money laundering." This blatant smear of tax haven conveniently ignores two major facts: 1) most of the world's money laundering goes on in the United States, the United Kingdom and other major financial centers -- not in tax havens; 2) under outside pressure tax havens, such as Switzerland, Panama and the British overseas territories, have adopted, and are enforcing, much tougher anti-money laundering laws than those officials in the major nations who habitually criticize tax havens. Stick It to the Brits Thus it should be no surprise that last week the EU promulgated what it called a new EU-wide “white list” of financial centers that the EU claims now have top quality anti-money laundering controls. And wouldn't you know, omitted from this phony list were key British-linked tax havens. The draft document, drawn up by EU bureaucrats, omits financial centers in Britain’s Caribbean territory and gives the Crown dependencies only a qualified status, even though the list approves notoriously dirty money Russia and other countries with highly suspect anti-money laundering records. Leading British overseas territories such as the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands are excluded, while the Crown dependencies – the Channel Islands (Jersey and Guernsey) and the Isle of Man – have an "intermediate status" under which EU member states may consider their standards to be equivalent. One British official who works on anti-money laundering said the decision to include Russia while excluding the Cayman Islands was “outrageous” and seemed to reflect a historic suspicion of the Caribbean territory. Richard Hay, an offshore specialist at Stikeman Elliott, a UK law firm, said businesses and individuals operating through centers on the list would be asked for fewer “know your customer” bona fides, such as copies of passports, utility bills and company financial statements.He said: “It’s a paper chase. Those who are not on the list will be to a certain extent disenfranchised.” So the EU war against financial freedom and personal and financial freedom continues -- but recognize it for what it is -- all part of a long range left-wing campaign to raise taxes, increase government controls and diminish your liberty. http://baumanblog.sovereignsociety.com/2008/06/european-disuni.html
The purpose of the European Union, founded formally in 1993 by the Maastricht Treaty, was to bring together the nations of Europe in common purpose and, one assumes. to better the lot of the people who live in the 27 associated countries. Inherently such a goal should not to increase the tax burden on EU citizens. But as with too many "good ideas" the goals of the elite group that promotes and manages the EU always have believed that they know better than the 500 million people they oversee. In 2004 the insiders at the EU came up with a "constitution" so at variance with what average Europeans thought that it was overwhelmingly rejected by national votes in the Netherlands and France. With the prospect of further popular rejections, attempts at ratification ended. But the Brussels bureaucrats' attitude was "to Hell with the voters." In October 2007 EU leaders did an end run and finalized a new Treaty of Lisbon which contains much of the rejected constitution, without allowing popular votes on it in individual nations. So much for democracy in the EU. Hated Tax Havens One of the leading policy demands of the EU elite has been to standardize taxes, both individual income taxes and corporate taxes. What this really means is a continuing demand from the EU socialist welfare states, such as Germany and France, for higher taxes everywhere in Europe. The high-tax EU leaders have joined with the Organization for Economic and Community Development (OECD), a paid lobbying group for higher taxes and more government spending, in attacking so-called "tax havens," those jurisdictions that impose no or low taxes on foreign capital and investors. Among the spurious anti-tax haven arguments used by the EU and the OECD is that tax havens dare to have laws that guarantee banking secrecy and financial privacy. This allows, the EU claims, criminals and drug lords to hide their ill gotten gains by "money laundering." This blatant smear of tax haven conveniently ignores two major facts: 1) most of the world's money laundering goes on in the United States, the United Kingdom and other major financial centers -- not in tax havens; 2) under outside pressure tax havens, such as Switzerland, Panama and the British overseas territories, have adopted, and are enforcing, much tougher anti-money laundering laws than those officials in the major nations who habitually criticize tax havens. Stick It to the Brits Thus it should be no surprise that last week the EU promulgated what it called a new EU-wide “white list” of financial centers that the EU claims now have top quality anti-money laundering controls. And wouldn't you know, omitted from this phony list were key British-linked tax havens. The draft document, drawn up by EU bureaucrats, omits financial centers in Britain’s Caribbean territory and gives the Crown dependencies only a qualified status, even though the list approves notoriously dirty money Russia and other countries with highly suspect anti-money laundering records. Leading British overseas territories such as the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands are excluded, while the Crown dependencies – the Channel Islands (Jersey and Guernsey) and the Isle of Man – have an "intermediate status" under which EU member states may consider their standards to be equivalent. One British official who works on anti-money laundering said the decision to include Russia while excluding the Cayman Islands was “outrageous” and seemed to reflect a historic suspicion of the Caribbean territory. Richard Hay, an offshore specialist at Stikeman Elliott, a UK law firm, said businesses and individuals operating through centers on the list would be asked for fewer “know your customer” bona fides, such as copies of passports, utility bills and company financial statements.He said: “It’s a paper chase. Those who are not on the list will be to a certain extent disenfranchised.” So the EU war against financial freedom and personal and financial freedom continues -- but recognize it for what it is -- all part of a long range left-wing campaign to raise taxes, increase government controls and diminish your liberty. http://baumanblog.sovereignsociety.com/2008/06/european-disuni.html