The island’s Chief Minister has been interviewed in UK media ahead of the G8 meeting in Northern Ireland next week.
Allan Bell is due to meet David Cameron in London tomorrow (Saturday) as the international spotlight falls on ‘tax havens’.
‘Tax haven’ is a term that Mr Bell, Treasury Minister Eddie Teare MHK and mandarins in the Manx civil service hate because of its pejorative overtones.
They have been trying to distance the island from any suggestion of sleaze or secrecy with several initiatives, including tax information sharing agreements with dozens of countries and the FATCA deals {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Account_Tax_Compliance_Act|Click here to read Wikipedia’s take on FATCA} with the US and the UK.
In the Guardian’s article today, the term ‘tax haven’ is used to describe the island, but the article is not as hostile as the Guardian tends to be when reporting about the island’s political and fiscal status.
{http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/13/g8|Read the Guardian’s story here}
Mr Bell has also told the BBC that big countries ‘love scapegoats’ and that the Isle of Man could be seen as one by bigger nations eager to blame others for their financial plight.
{http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22888306|Read the BBC’s account here}