Tax haven label 'extremely damaging' - Dunne
Big risk to New Zealand.
Former Revenue Minister Peter Dunne told TV One’s Q+A programme over the weekend, "if the label ‘tax haven'" is being bandied about now as it is, sticks, then that’s extremely damaging.
"You think of the way we perceive other countries that we’ve historically labelled as tax havens. We don’t view them credibly, and I think that’s the big risk to New Zealand.
"As you said, we’ve had a good reputation for a long period of time for a robust, transparent and an open tax system – good rules, a clear guidance, etc. That is being potentially misused in this situation."
Mr Dunne told the programme, "what we’ve got to get to the bottom of is the extent of the activity, what the profile of people using these trusts is, what the implications are for our reputation, and how we work in concert with other countries to make sure, as I say, a robust international system can be developed to combat them."
Mr Dunne said the IRD had concerns about this country’s international reputation when he was in the job he would have taken them "very seriously."
"And the way it works is that it reports on a series of issues that are both current in the New Zealand tax environment or the international tax environment, and clearly the government would be foolish not to take heed of that advice."
Tune into NBR Radio’s Sunday Business with Andrew Patterson on Sunday morning, for analysis and feature-length interviews.
Staff Reporter
Sun, 01 May 2016
Sun, 01 May 2016
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Tax haven label 'extremely damaging' - Dunne
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