ATTORNEY SAYS REPEALING OFF-SHORE LAWS CAN GET GRENADA OFF O.E.C.D TAX HAVEN LIST
By Linda Straker

St. George, February 28, 2008 -- Lawyer Anselm Clouden says the island needs to repeal the batch of legislation, which established the financial offshore sector, in order for the island to be removed from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) tax haven list which was released on Wednesday.

"Grenada has not cleared itself from the debacle of the collapsed offshore sector, so there is still a cloud over the island's, head in terms of transparency and exchange of information.  However, I believe that repealing the three main pieces of legislation that provide for the island to benefit from the offshore financial sector will get the island of that tax haven list," said Anselm Clouden.

The laws that Clouden referred to are: The Offshore Act, The Economic citizenship Act and the International companies act -- all pertaining to the offshore sector.  "That whole body of legislation has not being repealed, even if the sector is not being promoted.  It must be recognised that with these laws being on the books, it an indication that government can re-activate that sector at anytime; and therefore, the best thing is for the laws which established the sector to be repealed -- or else we will be labelled as a tax haven country," Clouden said.

New data from the OECD showed that Grenada and all member countries of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) were among 41 countries that have fallen short in the four decisive factors during the OECD tax haven assessment.  The following are the factors used in making the classification:

** Insignificant or non-existent tax levels;
** absence of transparency in tax matters;
** absence of fiscal data exchange with other countries;  and
** attractiveness for straw companies with fictitious activities.

In a statement, the OECD said that it recognises that "every jurisdiction has a right to determine whether to impose direct taxes and, if so, to determine the appropriate tax rate; and, an analysis of the other key factors will always be considered before a jurisdiction is considered a tax haven".

The organization said that transparency ensures that there is an open and consistent application of tax laws among similarly situated taxpayers; and, that information is needed by tax authorities to determine a taxpayers' correct tax liability.

According to the OECD three of the  41 countries are non-cooperative because they exchange no information with other states while the remaining
38 have made commitments to the OECD to ensure transparency and to exchange data.

The complete list of tax haven countries are: Andorra and Monaco, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dutch Antilles, Aruba, The Bahamas, Bahrain ,Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Cyprus, Dominica, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guernsey, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Isle of Man, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, British Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands, Jersey, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Maldives, Malta, Montserrat, Nauru, Niue, Panama, Samoa, Saint Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Martin, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Seychelles, Tonga, Turks and Caicos and Vanuatu.