Jersey hits back over claims it 'causes $8bn worth of tax losses'
The Tax Justice Network's Corporate Tax Haven Index 2019 estimates Jersey is responsible for the loss of almost $8bn of tax revenues in other countries.
The report claims Jersey ranks as the 15th jurisdiction most responsible for "global tax losses", accounting for 1.85% of the $427bn that is lost to tax havens worldwide.
Jersey is accused of "inflicting" $7.9bn of tax losses on other countries - $4.5bn through ‘corporate tax abuse' and $3.4bn through enabling "private tax evasion" for individual persons.
To be clear, financial flows are not simply 'lost' in Jersey
However, Jersey Finance's chief executive Joe Moynihan has said the study is one sided.
"This report regrettably only sees things from one perspective and does not give the whole picture,' he told local news outlet Jersey Evening Post.
"To be clear, financial flows are not simply "lost" in Jersey. Rather, investment is pooled in Jersey from around the world and is then packaged up and put to work elsewhere to support things like infrastructure development, businesses and the pension pots of millions of ordinary people.
"Our own analysis shows that Jersey provides a net benefit to a broad range of developed and developing countries, including billions of pounds of greenfield foreign direct investment to Africa, Asia and the Middle East."
He added: "Neither is Jersey secretive. In fact, it comes out time and again as one of the best in the world benchmarked against global standards, and it is precisely because of its tax transparency, robust regulatory framework and ability to co-operate with tax authorities around the world that Jersey is frequently recognised as a leading centre for cross-border investment."
The State of Tax Justice 2020 reveals that over $393bn in profit is shifted into the UK spider's web by multinational corporations every year, costing the world nearly $70bn in tax lost to corporate tax abuse.
TJN estimates the UK spider's web to be responsible for over a third of the world's corporate tax abuse risks as measured by the index in 2019.
The Tax Justice Network's Corporate Tax Haven Index 2019 also estimated the UK spider's web, along with the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland together to be responsible for half of the world's corporate tax abuse risks as measured by the index in 2019. This earned the group the name "axis of tax avoidance".
The State of Tax Justice 2020 reveals that over $656bn in profit is shifted into the axis of tax avoidance by corporations every year, costing the world nearly $117bn in tax lost to corporate tax abuse.
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