It’s a myth. This myth is maintained by bloated, inefficient governments of the large countries, who want to maintain their expensive habits and global dominance by simply bullying the rest of the world.
The truth is, there is competition between countries in order to attract business, money and talent. Part of that competition is tax. Yet, there are some national governments who believe that they have the moral right to tax their citizens to death and the rest of the world should fall in line – or else…
Offshore tax havens have for decades been the target of blackmail campaigns by the powerful high-tax countries. Many high-taxing governments would like their citizens to believe that offshore companies are only used by terrorists and crooks. Well, by corrupt politicians, too … but that’s always the other guy. Yes, it’s partly true. It’s about 0.01% true.
Any international bank or corporate services provider will tell You that an overwhelming majority of all business transacted through international companies is completely legitimate. It’s just that – trade, business, services, finance.
More than that. Offshore financial centres – such as Cyprus – are actually much better managed, have much better regulatory standards and systems to detect and prevent crime than many of the large, high-tax states. No wonder, some of the biggest money-laundering scandals in recent history have exploded in seemingly reputable “first-world” countries – and not in tax havens.
The narrative is being maintained by the powerful. The big nations, who are quite eager to criticize the offshore financial centres, are no better themselves. Then again, it is an old story.
