Editorial

Abstract

Suggestions that offshore jurisdictions are somehow responsible for our current economic woes are largely misplaced. They overlook the high regulatory standards operated in many offshore jurisdictions and the fact that failed institutions—such as RBC and Lehman—were the subjects of onshore regulatory oversight. Two possible conclusions are that such criticisms have more to do with finding convenient scapegoats and trying to protect the tax base of onshore jurisdictions. The latter raises the philosophical question; what is so bad about tax competition? It is part of the rationale for the long established rule—articulated by Lord Mansfield in Holman v Johnson (1775)—that no country takes notice of the revenue laws of another. Competition is justified when the UK sets out to attract international capital with their benign approach to the taxation of non-domiciliaries. Initiatives such as those pursued by the OECD create a sense of injustice and of double standards. Such attention is particularly unwelcome at the present time, when offshore jurisdictions are struggling to come to terms with the effects of the economic hurricane.