US Government agencies confirm that low‐tax jurisdictions are not money‐laundering havens

Abstract

Refers to the conclusion by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and State Department that low‐tax jurisdictions do not attract a disproportionate share of dirty money; the Financial Action Task Force agrees, even though it is part of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), notorious for its anti‐tax haven initiative. Points out that in fact so‐called tax havens are not money laundering centres, and that most money in tax havens is institutional investment; all rating systems of money laundering find that non‐tax havens outnumber tax havens. Argues that high‐tax nations’ laws against money laundering are not very successful, as the US Treasury estimates that 99.9% of the criminal money in the USA is laundered successfully; the laws tend to focus on process rather than results. Makes suggestions for improving international cooperation against money laundering.

Citation

Mitchell, D.J. (2003), "US Government agencies confirm that low‐tax jurisdictions are not money‐laundering havens", Journal of Financial Crime, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 127-133. https://doi.org/10.1108/13590790410809130