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Guernsey 'could lose its competitiveness'

Posted: 16 June 2008

Guernsey could lose its competitive edge if it adopts too much UK legislation, a legal expert has warned. Collas Day consultant Paul Arditti spoke in light of new powers given to HMRC tax inspectors to pursue tax dodgers.

He said Guernsey should realise the UK was introducing more laws in order to stamp out competition from offshore jurisdictions such as Guernsey.

‘Because the UK and its European partners are so desperate for tax, they try to tell us that all these new laws are international standards and that we must comply. They're doing this to improve their ability to compete with us. We should scrutinise the laws and in the future make sure they conform to proper decent, democratic standards. We can say that we're not going to cooperate with this if it's not in our interests to do so.'

There was a tendency in Guernsey to assume that legislation from the UK had a quality-approved label, said Mr Arditti. ‘People are always saying we should have a law "like that one in the UK". The amount of UK legislation has doubled in the last 20 years, which shows it's a government that doesn't know how to legislate properly. The reality is that we have all the right people to come up with our own laws here in Guernsey. We just need the confidence to stop following the UK.'

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