Senator Frank Walker has submitted a 4,000-word statement to the Senate Finance Committee which is reviewing offshore tax evasion after three US Senators – including Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama – co-sponsored the ‘Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act’ which names Jersey as one of 34 offshore secrecy jurisdictions. The act, also sponsored by Senators Carl Levin and Norm Coleman, states that offshore tax evasion costs the US $100bn per year and proposes severe sanctions on tax havens, saying that cracking down on tax abuse was ‘a basic issue of fairness and integrity’. Senator Walker’s statement highlights the Tax Information Exchange Agreement signed with the US in 2002, the ‘generally compliant’ verdict the IMF gave the Island in 2003 and the praise the US Department of Justice gave the Island’s Attorney General for help in the investigation of former Sao Paulo mayor Paulo Maluf this year. In his statement, Senator Walker writes: ‘Jersey is a long-standing international finance centre providing a wide range of financial and professional services and in compliance with international standards.’
