Hurray, we are No 1 again 
http://www.financialsecrecyindex.com/2009results.html
Key findings
Singapore achieved a positive result for less than three of the questions we asked. A transparency score of 21 per cent has been awarded for the positive assessment of indicator number 11 and 12 and the partial positive assessment of indicator number 7. The negative assessment of all other indicators yields an opacity score of 79 per cent overall.
This weak opacity score arises because Singapore:
1. Provides banking secrecy;
2. Does not put details of trusts on public record;
3. Does not comply sufficiently with international regulatory requirements
4. Does not require that company accounts be available on public record;
5. Does not require that beneficial ownership of companies is recorded on public record;
6. Does not maintain company ownership details in official records;
7. Did respond to one of Tax Justice Network’s requests for information;
8. Does not participate in the European Union Savings Tax Directive;
9. Has few tax information agreements;
10. Does not have adequate access to banking information;
11. Does not allow company redomiciliation;
12. Does not allow protected cell companies
Read Full Report Here:
http://www.secrecyjurisdictions.com/PDF/Singapore.pdf
======================================================
Related News:
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/business/41995-singapore-among-economies-to-blame-for-financial-secrecy
Singapore among economies to blame for financial secrecy
LONDON, Nov 1 — Leading economic centres, including the United States, Britain and Singapore, are among the countries most to blame for promoting international financial secrecy, according to a new index comparing the harm allegedly done by tax havens and rich nations.
Full Story
http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/front_content.php?idcatart=2
TAX HAVENS CAUSE POVERTY
Tax havens offer not only low or zero taxes, but something broader. What they do is to provide facilities for people or entities to get around the rules, laws and regulations of other jurisdictions, using secrecy as their prime tool. We therefore often prefer the term "secrecy jurisdiction" instead of the more popular "tax haven."
The corrupted international infrastructure allowing élites to escape tax and regulation is also widely used by criminals and terrorists. As a result, tax havens are heightening inequality and poverty, corroding democracy, distorting markets, undermining financial and other regulation and curbing economic growth, accelerating capital flight from poor countries, and promoting corruption and crime around the world.
The offshore system is a blind spot in international economics and in our understanding of the world. The issues are multi-faceted, and tax havens are steeped in secrecy and complexity – which helps explain why so few people have woken up to the scandal of offshore, and why civil society has been almost silent on international taxation for so long. We seek to supply expertise and analysis to help open tax havens up to proper scrutiny at last, and to make the issues understandable by all.
Full Story
http://www.financialsecrecyindex.com/2009results.html
Key findings
Singapore achieved a positive result for less than three of the questions we asked. A transparency score of 21 per cent has been awarded for the positive assessment of indicator number 11 and 12 and the partial positive assessment of indicator number 7. The negative assessment of all other indicators yields an opacity score of 79 per cent overall.
This weak opacity score arises because Singapore:
1. Provides banking secrecy;
2. Does not put details of trusts on public record;
3. Does not comply sufficiently with international regulatory requirements
4. Does not require that company accounts be available on public record;
5. Does not require that beneficial ownership of companies is recorded on public record;
6. Does not maintain company ownership details in official records;
7. Did respond to one of Tax Justice Network’s requests for information;
8. Does not participate in the European Union Savings Tax Directive;
9. Has few tax information agreements;
10. Does not have adequate access to banking information;
11. Does not allow company redomiciliation;
12. Does not allow protected cell companies
Read Full Report Here:
http://www.secrecyjurisdictions.com/PDF/Singapore.pdf
======================================================
Related News:
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/business/41995-singapore-among-economies-to-blame-for-financial-secrecy
Singapore among economies to blame for financial secrecy
LONDON, Nov 1 — Leading economic centres, including the United States, Britain and Singapore, are among the countries most to blame for promoting international financial secrecy, according to a new index comparing the harm allegedly done by tax havens and rich nations.
Full Story
http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/front_content.php?idcatart=2
TAX HAVENS CAUSE POVERTY
Tax havens offer not only low or zero taxes, but something broader. What they do is to provide facilities for people or entities to get around the rules, laws and regulations of other jurisdictions, using secrecy as their prime tool. We therefore often prefer the term "secrecy jurisdiction" instead of the more popular "tax haven."
The corrupted international infrastructure allowing élites to escape tax and regulation is also widely used by criminals and terrorists. As a result, tax havens are heightening inequality and poverty, corroding democracy, distorting markets, undermining financial and other regulation and curbing economic growth, accelerating capital flight from poor countries, and promoting corruption and crime around the world.
The offshore system is a blind spot in international economics and in our understanding of the world. The issues are multi-faceted, and tax havens are steeped in secrecy and complexity – which helps explain why so few people have woken up to the scandal of offshore, and why civil society has been almost silent on international taxation for so long. We seek to supply expertise and analysis to help open tax havens up to proper scrutiny at last, and to make the issues understandable by all.
Full Story
