(English) Letter from Dr. Eduardo Morgan Jr. to the editor of The Journal-STEP commenting the article “Banking Secrecy-Where will OECD´s Hunger for Tax Information Stop?” September 27, 2010

Dear editor,

I want to refer to the article BANKING SECRECY – Where will OECD’s hunger for tax information stop? 

The OECD is not an international organization but a Think Tank of rich countries. International Organizations are the IMF, the IMO, and othes that were created openly for all countries and have special links or relationships with the UNO. Look at The Economist, September 11, edition and to some of the articles in The New York Times of Paul Krugman. Both refer to the OECD as a Think Tank.

The OECD goes even further than being a Think Tank. It is really a Cartel of Rich Countries. Its aim is to destroy the competency that the so call OFC represents to its members on financial activities. The OECD even accepted that expressly on its paper Improving Access to Bank Information for Tax Purposes (which was kept secret until March 24, 2000) which establishes the following:

“36. One of the elements that has fuelled globalization in the last decade has been the liberalization of financial markets, a trend which the OECD has promoted. This liberalization was in part a response to the threat to financial markets posed by offshore financial centres. Such financial centres in the 1960’s and 1970’s were able to attract foreign financial institutions by offering a minimally regulated banking system and minimal taxation at a time when technological advances made them more readily accessible. As capital flows to offshore financial centres threatened to undermine the traditional financial markets, a number of regulatory reforms were undertaken to level the playing field between onshore and offshore banking. 12 Exchange controls were eliminated. Some countries established markets to compete directly with the offshorefinancial centres. In addition, efforts were made to harmonise the regulation offinancial markets on a global basis. (https://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/3/7/2497487.pdf)”

The number one tax haven in the world is the more influential member of the Cartel. The US do not tax foreign passive investment on its economy, does not give information to third countries on these investments (only to Canada)  but also guarantees  total anonymity to the investor through the Qualified Intermediary Agreement (QI). Not even the IRS has the name of the investor. The only condition the Foreign Financial Intermediary has to fulfil is always to disclose US tax payers.  Apparently the genius of the OCDE are not aware of this, or they are, as we maintain, nothing more than a cartel which aim is to destroy the so call OFC.

I end my comments referring to : IMF Executive Board Integrates the Offshore Financial Center Assessment Program with the FSAP Public Information Notice (PIN) No. 08/82   
July 9, 2008
The OFC program began in 2000.2 Of the forty‐four jurisdictions that were initially contacted, 42 were assessed and two jurisdictions received technical assistance in lieu of assessment. The first phase of assessment was completed in 2005. Typically, the assessments reviewed a jurisdiction’s compliance with supervisory standards in banking, and with the anti‐money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) , and where applicable also assessed compliance with supervisory and regulatory standards in the insurance and securities sectors. Adherence to all four international standards among OFCs was broadly comparable or better, on average, than other countries, reflecting the higher than average incomes of OFC jurisdictions. All but one jurisdiction assessed in the first phase published the results of their assessments.