Corruption, Black Money Catch Govt Eye Before Polls
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has cleared the long-pending proposal to set up income-tax overseas units (ITOUs) in eight more countries, finance ministry officials said. Interestingly, the decisions came after the results of Assembly polls last month, characterised by Congress' defeat in four major states and the impressive debut of AAP in Delhi.
ITOUs, which facilitate and expedite the exchange of information process under double-taxation avoidance agreements (DTAA), were established in Mauritius and Singapore earlier. Later, the government announced to create ITOUs at Cyprus, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, the UK and the US. The decision, however, has come only now. India has been putting pressure on tax havens to share information in whatever way it can. DTAAs are being renegotiated and new Tax Exchange Information Agreements are being signed. When it blacklisted Cyprus for not sharing information, the move was to send a strong message to other tax havens that India could take a similar action against them.
Acting upon the list shared by France giving names of Indians with secret bank accounts in HSBC Geneva, the tax department has been issuing notices to people who are not sharing information. In this case, Finance Minister P Chidambaram recently wrote to Switzerland as without its help the Indian government cannot make much headway.
Switzerland is one of the countries along with the UAE, Samoa and Seychelles, giving taxmen a tough time in dealing with people who have stashed money aboard. "We are taking whatever measures could be taken to unearth black money. The finance minister's letter can build ground for a Cyprus-like action against Switzerland, but it may not be required as the country may share information now," said an official requesting anonymity.
Corruption is also a key item in the five-point agenda of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi. In the Budget Session of Parliament next month, the last session before the general elections, the government is planning to ensure the passage of some anti-corruption legislations, which have been flagged by Gandhi and are part of the Congress agenda. These include Whistleblowers Protection Bill, Judicial Accountability Bill, Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, Citizens Charter Bill, Timely Delivery of Services Bill and Public Procurement Bill.
India has also prevailed up on Mauritius to insert a clause on limitation of benefit in their DTAA to address round-tripping of funds.
Besides, the finance ministry is also trying to streamline the process to resolve tax disputes and avoid base erosion. It is negotiating with the US and other countries over mutual assessment process and brought in advance pricing agreements.
India is also becoming part of a global crusade against tax evasion. It is working closely with G20 on formulation of Common Reporting Standards. This will allow all the member countries to automatically share information pertaining to tax.
http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/corruption-black-money-catch-govt-eye-before-polls-114011000036_1.html
Tax Haven countires like Seychelles must surely end the culture of secrecy or should face sanctions.Of course the system is a lucrative business and often hide illicit transanction,encourage corruption,bribery and so ,something rogue regimes Like PP do not want to give up.
ReplyDeleteCivilization only work if those who enjoy its benefit also preparted to pay their share of the costs.Countires lie Seychelles infested by economic problems created by corruption,mis-management,embezzlement, and all the other vices,and who want to make their countires work better should focus instead on cleaning up their own backyard and reforming their tax system rather than engage in illicit practices as a means of survival.
The question that crops up is when would PP government stop this illicit practice that has already tarnished our country's image abroad.PP regime has been challenged on several occassions by USA and other Inrernational body to take actions against Tax Haven but nothing has been done so far,in fact the more the owrld ask Pp to tackle the problem the more the problem aggravated ,for PP corrupt system find it hard to give away such a lucrative means of pocketing millions of dollars to sponosr the party,feeds it memebers and keep the party alive.
Pp thugs,has in the past reject the fact that Seychelles under PP thugtocracy is a world known tax haven.It is seems the temptation and addiction to continue this illicit practice and to pocket of easy money is stronger than to recognize the problem ,dealt with and finally re-instore our country's once positive image in the world.Illicit practices haver become like a hard drug for PP that they seem unable to give up for them.
Pp might tell us ,Seychelles is not a tax haven?But if it is not a tax haven what is Pp?
Cracking down on rax havem is a necessity----It protect domestic revenue,it provide a good means to track the Interantional flow of fund use for terrorist activities or money laundering,deter tax avoidance,it ensure and attract geniune licit foreign investors,it deter financiall leakage etc.....
Most democratic countires around the world have abided by Interantional regulations in dealing with this devastating problems,often those countires who refused to take actions are crooked government whose regime benefit inmmensely from such illiegal pratices.So the question is when would PP regime abid by Interantionl ruls of the game,set up indepednet institutions or bodies to deal effectively with the problem PP has allow to ddevelop,propagatem,proliferate in Seychelles which is having desastrous consequences on our Nation's reputation?Is the wickedness that flows in the PP ' bloodstream stopable?Well, the ball is in Pp's court,we will see if PP thugs are capable of detoxicating themsleves from this addiction that is having grave consequences on our land.
Jeanne D'Arc
Jeanne D'Arc
Crack down of tax haven-----correction
ReplyDeleteLook at the case of nominee Director Stella Port Louis. $15 Billion laundered with her power of attorney according to USA and not a single cause of action in Seychelles.
ReplyDeleteThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs said they are too busy to deal with it.