Obama administration to crackdown on tax havens
Published:Tuesday | March 10, 2009 | 9:48 AM
The Obama administration has signalled its intention to crackdown on lucrative tax havens, including some in the Caribbean.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the Government would be launching a programme to catch companies using offshore jurisdictions to avoid paying taxes.
He said Americans should pay their fair share of taxes rather than trying to avoid them especially given the fiscal challenges the Government inherited.
A recently released Congressional report found that in 2007, 83 of the 100 largest publicly-traded US companies had units in low-tax or no-tax jurisdictions, like the Cayman Islands.
Michigan’s Democratic Senator Carl Levin said he hoped a bill he is sponsoring, and similar legislation in the House of Representatives, will stop banks from helping wealthy Americans to avoid paying taxes.