18 July 2011
The Assistant Chief Minister, Senator Freddie Cohen, and Treasury Minister, Senator Philip Ozouf have issued a joint statement in response to a new bill proposed this week by US Senator Carl Levin.
This is the second time Senator Levin has tried to introduce a ‘Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act’ following a failed attempt in 2009 which listed all crown dependencies as secrecy jurisdictions.
Senator Cohen said "Jersey welcomes the announcement this week of the removal of the list of Secrecy Jurisdictions from the US ‘Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act’ that has been re-tabled by Senator Levin.
“Jersey has made strong representations to the US Treasury and Senate officials that Jersey's inclusion in the list of jurisdictions in the previous version of the act was subjective and took no account of the Island’s tax information exchange agreement with the US and our good record of responding to requests for tax information, for which we have been congratulated by the US tax authorities."
Senator Ozouf said “We are delighted therefore to see that we have been listened to, along with other jurisdictions that were also on the list who have made similar representations to Washington, and that there is now greater understanding of our position as an open and transparent regime.
“We have regular meetings and good contacts in Washington, which have helped to develop recognition of Jersey as a responsible and transparent jurisdiction.”
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