” The mention of tax havens conjures up images of secret bank accounts hidden in the Alps and “shell companies” in sunny exotic islands. Most people would readily point to Switzerland, well-known for its banking secrecy or the Cayman Islands, where President Obama recently described an “outrageous” situation where over 12,000 businesses claim a particular building as their headquarters.”

This is an excerpt from “The Untold Secrets of Tax Havens” by Tzi Y Sim, The Singapore Law Gazette (Aug, 2009), pp32-37, located in the Current Periodicals section of the Business Library (Call No. K23.S617S).

In the article, the author uses the scenarior-based narrative of “State A” (representing large industrialised countries) and “State S” (representing small countries) to explain the complex issues involved in the tax haven controversy. It gives some food for thought on the topic of the black, white and grey lists of OECD. You can read the full-text from The Singapore Law Gazette webpage.

For OECD publications, please access the OECD online library at SourceOECD.

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