"Once again in a show to harass the wealthy and appease the middle class before a revolution we are hurt " by Zurich HRH
By Paul Carrel and Anna Willard Paul Carrel And Anna Willard – Fri Apr 3, 3:19 pm ET
PRAGUE (Reuters) – Luxembourg on Friday said it should be taken off a "grey list" of countries that do not comply fully with standards for catching tax cheats, as France called for sanctions on uncooperative states.
The Group of 20 leading industrialized and emerging nations pledged on Thursday to crackdown on jurisdictions that fail to cooperate in cross-border tax evasion cases.
Pushed by France and Germany, the G20 agreed that countries should sign up to global rules on sharing tax information, with a commitment to cooperate when cheating is suspected.
Faced with the threat of being added to a blacklist, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Monaco and others signed up to standards drawn up by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development just ahead of the G20 summit.
The OECD put Luxembourg, Austria and Belgium -- all European Union member states -- on a "grey list" of countries that have agreed to improve transparency standards but have not yet signed the necessary double taxation accords.
Luxembourg said the list was "fatuous."
"I find the treatment of certain states to be incomprehensible," said its prime minister and finance minister, Jean-Claude Juncker.
"We will negotiate double-taxation agreements. When we do that, we will disappear from this list," he added on arrival for a meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Prague.
Austrian's finance minister, Josef Proell, said the OECD list on tax havens must be discussed further.
"As a member of the OECD, I expect to be listened to and to be able to join in the discussion and to take a joint decision," Proell said.
"We have already given information in individual cases, without legal steps being taken. We do not need, because of that (the G20 declaration), to tackle banking secrecy as it exists in Austria in our banking practice law," Proell said.
Diplomats said the aim of the grey list was to put pressure on countries that have just signed up to the OECD rules to implement them quickly.
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said nobody could object to transparency.
"How can you be furious against a principle which consists of saying that you need transparency? That taxes are paid where they should be? The money that finances terrorism, the networks which escape thanks to obscure corners of the world, continue to finance such scandalous and uncertain causes," she told reporters.
"If certain states refuse transparency, we need the arsenal of sanctions that is already planned and on which the finance ministers have worked and which we will submit at the next G20 in September," Lagarde said.
Sanctions could include requiring significant increases in capital requirements for EU-based financial institutions that have relations with non-cooperative tax centers, Lagarde said.
PRAGUE (Reuters) – Luxembourg on Friday said it should be taken off a "grey list" of countries that do not comply fully with standards for catching tax cheats, as France called for sanctions on uncooperative states.
The Group of 20 leading industrialized and emerging nations pledged on Thursday to crackdown on jurisdictions that fail to cooperate in cross-border tax evasion cases.
Pushed by France and Germany, the G20 agreed that countries should sign up to global rules on sharing tax information, with a commitment to cooperate when cheating is suspected.
Faced with the threat of being added to a blacklist, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Monaco and others signed up to standards drawn up by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development just ahead of the G20 summit.
The OECD put Luxembourg, Austria and Belgium -- all European Union member states -- on a "grey list" of countries that have agreed to improve transparency standards but have not yet signed the necessary double taxation accords.
Luxembourg said the list was "fatuous."
"I find the treatment of certain states to be incomprehensible," said its prime minister and finance minister, Jean-Claude Juncker.
"We will negotiate double-taxation agreements. When we do that, we will disappear from this list," he added on arrival for a meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Prague.
Austrian's finance minister, Josef Proell, said the OECD list on tax havens must be discussed further.
"As a member of the OECD, I expect to be listened to and to be able to join in the discussion and to take a joint decision," Proell said.
"We have already given information in individual cases, without legal steps being taken. We do not need, because of that (the G20 declaration), to tackle banking secrecy as it exists in Austria in our banking practice law," Proell said.
Diplomats said the aim of the grey list was to put pressure on countries that have just signed up to the OECD rules to implement them quickly.
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said nobody could object to transparency.
"How can you be furious against a principle which consists of saying that you need transparency? That taxes are paid where they should be? The money that finances terrorism, the networks which escape thanks to obscure corners of the world, continue to finance such scandalous and uncertain causes," she told reporters.
"If certain states refuse transparency, we need the arsenal of sanctions that is already planned and on which the finance ministers have worked and which we will submit at the next G20 in September," Lagarde said.
Sanctions could include requiring significant increases in capital requirements for EU-based financial institutions that have relations with non-cooperative tax centers, Lagarde said.
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