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The UK Government Has Set Its Sites On Offshore Jurisdictions - Once Again

It seems that barely a month passes without yet another attempted attack on offshore jurisdictions (such as Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man) from from the UK Government Treasury. This time a select committee is asking for input into the investigation of what they like to call "tax havens". They have come up with a number of questions that they'd like interested parties to answer. The questions themselves appear to be little more than having a go at how the offshores operate. Perhaps if the current Labour Government hadn't worked so hard on throwing their own economy into turmoil then these sort of desperate measures to back track on already agreed treaties wouldn't be needed? Offshore jurisdictions are a very easy target for the UK Government and one it doesn't appear to want to let up on anytime soon. Some of the questions being asked include:-

• To what extent does the use of offshore financial centres threaten financial stability?
• To what extent have offshores ensured that they cannot be used in terrorist financing?
• What has been, and is, the extent and effect of double taxation treaty abuse with offshore financial centres?

I'm sure that the UK Treasury are looking for an interesting debate here and not just to try and undermine the value that offshore centres offer to the global enonomy....then again maybe not.