LONDON, (Reuters) – Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron will press its overseas tax havens to sign up to an international transparency treaty in London today, hoping to bolster British credibility ahead of next week’s G8 summit.
Britain is looking to ensure its self-governing regions, some of which are world-leading tax havens, are taking action to improve information sharing before Cameron meets leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) major economies to push for coordinated global action on tax avoidance and evasion.
A government statement said Cameron would be asking 10 territories and self-governing regions to sign up to the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Assistance in Tax Matters – an initiative led by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). “He will argue that there is no point in dealing with tax evasion in one country if the problem is simply displaced to another,” a government statement released ahead of the talks said. Bermuda, one of Britain’s overseas territories said on Thursday it had agreed to back the OECD treaty, which is signed by more than 50 countries and requires them to share information on individuals who hold bank accounts in their jurisdictions.
