Nationality for sale!

[Cade]

Today, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has released a report into international tax evasion.

http://www.oecd.org/tax/automatic-exchange/crs-implementation-and-assistance/residence-citizenship-by-investment/

21 nations were identified as being of high risk of aiding tax evasion, money laundering and sanctions evasion by selling residency and/or passports.
Of those 21 nations, 13 of them are either formerly or currently under UK control, with the Queen being head of state of most of them.

 

Antigua and Barbuda. Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II
Bahamas. Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II
Barbados. Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II
Cyprus. The Akrotiri and Dhekelia regions are British overseas Territories.
Dominica. Member of the Commonwealth
Grenada. Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II
Malta. Member of the Commonwealth
Mauritius. Member of the Commonwealth
Monserrat. British overseas Territory
St Kitts and Nevis. Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II
Saint Lucia. Member of the Commonwealth. Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II
Turks and Caicos Islands. British overseas Territory
Vanuatu. Member of the Commonwealth

 

Is this what Brexit was really all about?

Keeping the veil of secrecy around these island black holes where money goes to disappear?
 

Of course, there were another 8 nations named in the report and nobody will be surprised by who they are.

Globally, there does seem to be a growing political will to clamp down on the international elite who are hiding trillions all over the world and who seemingly have no fixed nationality.

The EU is at the forefront of stamping out this kind of behaviour, even though some of the countries named are EU member states.

Not only are governments working together to stop individuals from hiding money overseas, but there is a concerted effort to stop companies doing the same thing (Google, Amazon and Starbucks have all made headlines recently about their dodgy accounting, shell companies and other such shennanigans).

It's a big job and may take years to unravel it and get international agreements in place but hopefully it will result in transparency and accountability when it comes to global taxes.