The Netherlands ranks among the top 20 most important tax havens in the world. According to the Tax Justice Network, in collaboration with Oxfam Novib, the Netherlands ranks 12th in this ranking. The leaders in the so-called Financial Secrecy Index 2022 are the United States, Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong and Luxembourg.
This biennial ranking rates countries based on their legal and financial systems and the extent to which they can be used by individuals and companies to hide assets and launder money. Researchers argue that the Netherlands does worse than notorious tax havens such as the Cayman Islands and Cyprus.
lack of transparency
Researchers point to a lack of transparency in the area of ”ultimate stakeholders”. Secrecy at this point helps the wealthiest individuals, criminals, and corporations hide their assets. As a result, penalties such as freezing of assets and obstruction of financial transactions in the Netherlands can be avoided due to the lack of sufficient visibility of the assets. According to research, it is often difficult to trace the owner of a company incorporated in the Netherlands.
Problems with the supervision and enforcement of sanctions against Russia, for example, reveal why the Netherlands scores so high in the new rating. We should no longer facilitate tax evaders, corruption, organized crime and oligarchs in the Netherlands. This is driving global inequality even further, Milo Jones, Oxfam Novib’s tax expert, said in the report.
Make it so easy
“We are not surprised by the poor result again in the Netherlands. It is still very easy to hide property or tax evasion structures across the Netherlands. If we really want to address abuses, we must act on the investigation,” Arnold Merkes, the Netherlands tax justice coordinator, said in the investigation. change this”.
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