Nations to Revisit ‘Tax Haven’ Debate

The fight against international money laundering and tax evasion will be rejoined in Barbados today when officials from “tax havens” and their critics in the world’s wealthiest countries debate the vexing issue of offshore financial centers. The United States, Britain and other countries grouped in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development want the tax havens to agree to a timetable for cooperation and committing themselves to easing bank secrecy laws. They say financial services industry, which has mushroomed in recent years in small nations and territories in the Caribbean and elsewhere, are awash in dirty money from the drugs trade, tax cheats, frauds and other crooks. Last June, they issued a blacklist of 35 tax havens and threatened punitive action if signs of cooperation were not forthcoming.