Success for Cameron on Tax Evasion

David Cameron managed to score a victory for his war on tax evasion yesterday. He was meeting with representatives of 10 Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies when he managed to strike a deal with them. In attendance were Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Montserrat, and Turks and Caicos Islands, all thought of as tax havens. Cameron managed to get the dependencies to agree to a new law that would mean companies registered there would be forced to reveal who owns them. Cameron believes that shining a spotlight on the owners will help to reduce the amount of corruption in the finance world. Following the meeting Cameron said:

"The way that corrupt governments and corrupt companies pay bribes is often through shady nominee companies where you can't find out who owns what. That's why you need to have a system to find out who owns what company."

The new openness will mean that the dependencies will share data with other countries in an effort to reduce illegal tax activities.

What David Cameron also wants is a central registry where all the data will be held. This measure has caused a bit of controversy and is less likely to be implemented. The measure will be unpopular with big business, which have a lot of influence over policies, particularly in small territories like tax havens.

With the G8 meeting this week in Lough Erne, Fermanagh, this week, Cameron is hoping to put his tax evasion agenda right at the top. Unfortunately, thanks to Canada's Stephen Harper, success is looking unlikely.