Comments on: Is Mauritius a tax haven?

By: avinash

avinash — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:48:00 +0000

The thing is that people have been abusing the system for decades now. Economists have no clue how the financial “casino” works. See this for instance.

By: Anikka

Anikka — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:11:29 +0000

No, the financial world collapsed because of a systemic problem with banks. It was in fact a lack of laws, a lack of proper regulations and sound frameworks that brought about the credit crunch.

I am no economist, but even i know that sub-prime mortgages have to be very well regulated, because of the high risk that the debts won’t be paid. Lack of regulation, and even deregulation, brought about the financial crisis.

By: avinash

avinash — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:31:04 +0000

Still…

The financial world has collapsed because of abuses. And despite laws.

By: Anikka

Anikka — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:57:16 +0000

It might be a little late, but i’d like to add something to this thread: i had the opportunity to meet the Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit last week, and i asked him to explain what a tax haven really is. He answered there is some confusion as to the term. A tax haven is most of the time a tiny country where there are absolutely no laws concerning money-laundering, there is no transparency, no accountability, nothing. People can do whatever they want with their money and nobody gives a rat’s fart. He cited Gibraltar, San Marino, etc, as example.

He also pointed out that Mauritius could not fall in that definition, because we do have laws AND institutions relating to money-laundering, corruption, etc. Our situation is not comparable to that in Gibraltar and the rest of those rock island tax havens.

We are not a tax haven. That article cited by Bahamas above suggests no more than the fact that the man had difficulty obtaining information here. That does not by any stretch of the imagination mean that we are a tax haven!

By: avinash

avinash — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 04:34:55 +0000

This is an interesting article… Il n’y a pas de fumée sans feu, n’est ce pas?

No matter how we feel about this issue, I suppose most of us will agree that our current financial system is built on some false assumptions and something needs to be done before it’s too late.

By: Bahamas

Bahamas — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:36:16 +0000

If anyone believes Mauritius can get away with dirty money for long, read this.

http://www.lesechos.fr/info/chats/300339051-quel-avenir-pour-les-paradis-fiscaux-.htm

By: carrotmadman6

carrotmadman6 — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 11:07:08 +0000

@avinash
The exact term is chaos theory.
The economy has evolved into something so complex that it’s beyond the control of market forces. It’s just an illusion of control.

By: Jin

Jin — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 07:31:36 +0000

I think OECD should have specified the criteria on the basis of which the list was drawn up (as the Swiss Finance Minister pointed out: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/function/0,,12215_cid_4149925,00.html ) then we could debate whether Mauritius should have been or not in the list…

By: avinash

avinash — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 06:11:57 +0000

I’ve just read some articles on the G-20 summit and I don’t understand why all the Western world leaders are rejoicing. For instance, they have said that they will inject 1000 billion USD into the world economy… but where will that money come from? From the BRIC countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China!

Yesterday, on Canal+, Raffarin (a previous Prime Minister of France) was explaining how China has become the banker of all Americans and many Europeans. But he also said that he does not believe any expert now and they, like most of us, cannot understand what’s happening and, more importantly, cannot possibly predict what will happen in the future.

In my opinion, the world of finance is now closer to black magic that rational beliefs…

By: selven

selven — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:31:15 +0000

seems to me more like some major reshuffling and manipulations, mauritius should have been in that [yes a mauritian saying that sounds weird], but it doesn’t make sense.

I believe its a conspiracy by bigger countries trying to build their economy by trying to kill off the major players [e.g singapore, Liechtenstein, Bahamas, cayman islands], basically the ones that seems to be amassing more money lately…

look well in that whitelist… the only odds seems to be mauritius, seychelles and isle of man. as if those are just an eye wash…

ohh well, i don’t understand much about economics :p so i guess… my analysis isn’t worth much but that’s my layman view on that.